Monchka, who holds a computer science degree from the University of Manitoba, is also a data analyst at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) — a UM/Shared Health research unit. 

He completed a master’s degree with the department of community health sciences (now CCGH) at the Max Rady College of Medicine and recently received a prestigious 2025 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to fund his PhD. 

We spoke with Monchka about his path to health sciences and his research. 

What inspired you to pursue a career in health research and drew you to community and global health?  

I worked as a software developer in industry for a few years before pursuing a joint role at UM with CHI and the Vaccine and Drug Evaluation Centre. That exposure to population health research sparked my passion for the field, and I’ve now been with CHI for 10 years. 

I find it extremely satisfying to contribute to our understanding of human health and produce findings that inform health-care policy and planning. I also enjoy improving the methods we use to ensure research findings are reliable.  

Can you tell us about your research and how it could impact health care in Canada? 

Barret Monchka presents his research in a meeting room at the University of Manitoba’s Bannatyne campus.

My research focuses on improving how we link data from multiple sources such as education and health records, using datasets securely accessed from the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository at Rady Faculty’s Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centre. Better linkage helps us understand how social factors like education, income and living conditions influence health.  

Linking data across systems is challenging. For example, schools and health-care systems use different identifiers, so we rely on non-unique information like names and birthdates, which can lead to mismatches. If these mistakes disproportionately affect certain groups — by gender or age, for instance — they can distort study results and worsen health inequities.  

The development of AI models can improve these datasets to more accurately and equitably predict health outcomes. I’m also evaluating privacy-protecting techniques that encrypt personal information before linking, and assessing whether using AI to accelerate linkage increases errors or introduces bias.  
 

How does your role at CHI complement your research at CCGH? 

At CHI, our focus is on the patient’s perspective. Patients, caregivers and their families are involved in every step of the research process. 

Patients are increasingly concerned about data privacy — how their personal information is used and who has access to it. Participants may be reluctant to join health studies if they feel their data isn’t secure.   

In response to these concerns, I’ve spent the past few years at CHI investigating current data linkage practices and identifying key areas for improvement — work that laid the foundation for my PhD research. 
 

Who has mentored you in your research?  

CCGH faculty are experts in their fields, and I’ve been fortunate to learn from many of them. Dr. Lisa Lix, professor at CCGH and Canada Research Chair in methods for electronic health data quality, has been instrumental in guiding me. She’s helped me hone my research skills, especially in developing improved statistical and machine learning methods. 

Dr. William Leslie, professor at the Max Rady College of Medicine and director of the Manitoba Bone Mineral Density Program, is a leading osteoporosis researcher. He mentored me in using AI for medical image analysis. We’ve worked on novel research projects to assess how AI can automatically identify vertebral fractures — fractures in the spine — in bone mineral density scans. 

How has CCGH supported your learning? 

CCGH has a strong reputation for producing outstanding graduates skilled in community health research — both qualitative and quantitative. The program gave me a solid foundation in applied biostatistics and quantitative epidemiology through high-quality courses and mentorship. 

The college is very supportive of graduate students applying for competitive funding. The recommendations and advice I received from CCGH faculty were instrumental in helping me secure awards, including the Vanier Scholarship.

This initiative aims to support the design and conduct of clinical trials in the province by investigators, research teams and pharmaceutical and bio-tech companies.

Dr. Ryan Zarychanski

“Manitoba has a rich history of participating in clinical trials, but our ability to lead and sponsor investigator-initiated trials, particularly in complex regulatory environments, has been limited,” says Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, scientific director of CHI, professor of internal medicine in the Max Rady College of Medicine, and a researcher with CancerCare Manitoba.

The aCRO can provide the essential services necessary to conduct a successful clinical trial that is in full compliance with all regulatory standards including Health Canada and the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans and Good Clinical Practice.

“Clinical trials are essential for testing the safety and efficacy of various drugs or health interventions and contribute greatly to improving patient care and innovative breakthroughs, but strict regulations can be barriers for many scientists,” says Zarychanski, who has served as principal investigator of several national and international randomized trials in the fields of sepsis, anticoagulation and blood conservation. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Zarychanski and team developed novel clinical trial methods to speed knowledge generation and facilitate global collaboration.

Services at the aCRO include assistance with study design, statistical analysis and sample size planning, budgeting, trial and site management, data co-ordination and management (including but not limited to randomization, electronic case report forms and data validation).

The aCRO will also offer trial monitoring, manage safety reporting and coordinate data analysis.

Carmella Angus

The newly formed aCRO is currently led by Zarychanski and aCRO Director of Operations Carmella Angus, B.Sc.N., M.Sc., MBA.

“Our vision is for investigators to feel empowered and supported to lead clinical trials in Manitoba, and we will work with them to ensure clinical trials sponsored by UM and external clients meet the highest of scientific and regulatory standards,” says Angus, a former business executive involved in health sector product development, acquisition and launch.

To ensure trial teams have sufficient expertise or access to trial management expertise, the aCRO will conduct compliance regulatory reviews for all UM-sponsored trials prior to trial activation.

A formal launch of the aCRO is expected in the coming months. Meanwhile, investigators planning to sponsor clinical trials at UM are encouraged to connect with Angus (carmella.angus@umanitoba.ca) as early in the process as possible and take advantage of the resources available to support their project’s development and meet Health Canada’s mandate for ethical and regulatory compliant clinical trials.

Governments have responded with increased funding for youth who need supports, but there continues to be a lack of understanding of the root causes of mental illness. New research is examining whether mental illnesses are passed down through generations and the implications for policymakers and care providers working with children.

Dr. Amani Hamad, assistant professor of community health sciences at the Max Rady College of Medicine in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, is studying the multi-generational occurrences of mental illnesses and other chronic conditions. She will now be supported through the Canada Research Chair program (Tier 2), allowing her to continue and expand upon her work.

Her appointment as a Canada Research Chair in population data science and data curation comes with $100,000 annually in funding over five years, with the possibility of renewal for a further five years.

Hamad earned her PhD at UM’s College of Pharmacy. Her research focuses on analyzing administrative data (routinely collected, anonymized government data, such as records of doctor visits, diagnoses, hospitalizations and prescriptions) in order to construct family health histories for the Manitoba population and investigate the intergenerational transfer of mental illness.

She will use data stored in the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository held at UM’s Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. This world-class repository includes records of Manitobans’ contacts with the social service, justice and education systems, as well as the health-care system. It’s a unique and powerful resource for answering questions about the well-being of the entire Manitoba population, and especially about health care, public health and the social determinants of health.

“Manitoba is unique with an exceptional collection of administrative data that is unmatched in its comprehensiveness. This repository is one of very few in the world, and the only one in North America, that allows for the linkage of both health and non-health data for the entire population and across generations,” says Hamad.

Her research goals are to 1) build and document population cohorts that are linked to health and social data and ready to use in research; 2) develop and test methods (including machine learning methods) to assist researchers in accurately identifying chronic diseases and family disease histories; and 3) study the effects of prescription medications on mental illness in children.

The third research goal addresses an important knowledge gap. The much-anticipated results will inform clinicians on how they can safely prescribe medications to children with mental illnesses.  

Hamad’s research program aims to transform complex administrative data, such as records of patient encounters with the health-care system, into standardized research-ready data, making it easier to use and reuse for research while ensuring that it is of high quality. This is an ideal time for this research with the global move toward making timely administrative data research-ready, comprehensive and cost effective to expedite studies and efficiently produce new insights about population well-being.

“Congratulations to Dr. Hamad for receiving this prestigious appointment that reinforces the strength and breadth of health and machine learning research excellence at the University of Manitoba,” says UM Vice President (Research and International) Dr. Mario Pinto. “Her significant contributions to knowledge and the development of data will be invaluable in helping advance the collective understanding of the social determinants of health in populations.”

More information on Hamad’s work can be found in these open-source articles: The Intergenerational Transfer of Mental Disorders: A Population-Based Multignereational Linkage Study, Data Resources Profile: The Manitoba Multigenerational Cohort and Developing a Prediction Model of Children Asthma Risk using Population-based Family History Health Records. See her speak about her research in this CTV interview on CTV Morning Live: Winnipeg.

Hamad is a member of the Pediatrics Special Interest Group at the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology, the Society for Epidemiologic Research and the International Population Data Linkage Network.

She acknowledges her mentors who supported her as an immigrant scholar from Jordan and plans to continue mentoring other new researchers as she develops her research program at UM.

Café Scientifique brings experts together with non-researchers for a discussion about the questions their work has raised for a non-research audience. Café is sponsored by the office of the vice-president (research and international) VPRIO and is a part of the Learning for Life Network.

“Our Café presentations this year were an engaging and insightful look into some of the extraordinary research breakthroughs that take place every day at UM,” says Annemieke Farenhorst, associate vice-president (research). “Researchers are working to improve the lives of people in our communities, and Café is a wonderful opportunity to share this progress with the public. I want to extend my gratitude to the researchers and content experts who presented this year, as well as everyone who joined us and asked questions in-person and online.”

All Café Scientifique presentations are permanently featured on the University of Manitoba Youtube channel:

Technology for Healthcare Service and Public Input, Feb.22, 2023 – Understanding patient experiences, perspectives, and outcomes is critical to improving healthcare services and how it is delivered. Today, input from patients informs new developments in technology that provide a more person-centered and accessible healthcare experience for all.

Featuring UM researchers: Alanna Baldwin, Gayle Halas, Jennifer Henzel, and special guest Sarah Kirby from the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation.

Time is Brain: Preventing, Treating, and Recovering from Stroke, March 15, 2023 – As part of International Brain Awareness Week and in conjunction with the Manitoba Neuroscience Network, UM researchers highlighted new methods to identify those at highest risk, and innovative rehabilitation techniques to help patients recover from stroke, third leading cause of death in Canada.

Featuring UM researchers: Jillian Stobart, Jai Shankar, Amir Ravandi, & Ruth Barclay.

Racism and COVID-19: Understanding Racism during the pandemic in Canada, USA and Mexico, March 29, 2023 – During the COVID-19 pandemic, an international team of researchers led by experts at the University of Manitoba examined conditions that contributed to a rise of racism across North America.

Featuring UM researchers: Lori Wilkinson, Jeremy Patzer & Kiera Ladner.

Wellbeing in Youth: Supporting Teens with Higher Body Weight, April 26, 2023 – Teens with higher body weights face a significant risk of mental health difficulties, due to the complex intersections of weight-related stigma and other related adversities.

Featuring UM researchers: Leslie Roos, Jon McGavock, Emily Cameron, and special guest Mae Santos, Registered Dietitian.

Windows on the Universe, May 10, 2023 – We have entered a new era where astrophysicists and nuclear physicists can work in concert to piece together the puzzles that astrophysical observations present. Physicists and astronomers are exploring new frontiers in understanding the ultra-small and mega-large in this next era of precision astrophysics.

Featuring UM researchers: Kyle Shiells, Juliette Mammei, Samar Safi-Harb, and special guest Jorge Piekarewicz from Florida State University.

On a Shaky Podium, May 24, 2023 – To address recent allegations of abuse in sporting organizations in Canada, organizations receiving funding from Sport Canada must provide Safe Sport Training to help prevent maltreatment in sport. This extensive toxicity led Canada’s federal Minister of Sport to declare that we are experiencing a safe sport crisis. UM experts are working from legal, pedagogical, psychological, and sociological perspectives to make sport safe(r) for all Canadians.

Featuring UM researchers: Sarah Teetzel, Martine Dennie, Shannon Moore, Lori Wilkinson & Leisha Strachan.

Join us again for the next Café Scientifique season, planned to begin in November 2023.

Consumption of artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose and stevia, is widespread and increasing. Emerging data indicate that artificial, or non-nutritive, sweeteners may have negative effects on metabolism, gut bacteria and appetite, although the evidence is conflicting.

To better understand whether consuming artificial sweeteners is associated with negative long-term effects on weight and heart disease, researchers from the University of Manitoba’s George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation conducted a systematic review of 37 studies that followed over 400,000 people for an average of 10 years. Only seven of these studies were randomized controlled trials (the gold standard in clinical research), involving 1003 people followed for 6 months on average.

The trials did not show a consistent effect of artificial sweeteners on weight loss, and the longer observational studies showed a link between consumption of artificial sweeteners and relatively higher risks of weight gain and obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other health issues.

“Despite the fact that millions of individuals routinely consume artificial sweeteners, relatively few patients have been included in clinical trials of these products,” said author Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, Assistant Professor, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. “We found that data from clinical trials do not clearly support the intended benefits of artificial sweeteners for weight management.”

“Caution is warranted until the long-term health effects of artificial sweeteners are fully characterized,” said lead author Dr. Meghan Azad, Assistant Professor, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. Her team at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba is undertaking a new study to understand how artificial sweetener consumption by pregnant women may influence weight gain, metabolism and gut bacteria in their infants.

“Given the widespread and increasing use of artificial sweeteners, and the current epidemic of obesity and related diseases, more research is needed to determine the long-term risks and benefits of these products,” said Azad.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Manitoba’s George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

WHO: Dr. Salah Mahmud is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Canada Research Chair in Pharmacoepidemiology and Vaccine Evaluation. In 2012 he received the Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life Junior Investigator Award.

HIS INSPIRATION: Dr. Mahmud’s motivation stems from a personal account with the disease when he was a child. He says, “One of my first childhood memories was the memory of my grandfather taken out of our family home for the last time because he was dying from bone cancer. He essentially had no effective treatment. That personal memory and what I encounter in my clinic practice is what keeps me going”

HIS GOAL: In July 2014, Dr. Mahmud was also appointed the Director of the Clinical Trials Platform at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare and Innovation. Dr. Mahmud is now engaging in high quality, practice-changing, and patient-oriented research to study the effects of commonly used medication such as Aspirin, in the prevention of cancer.

The George and Fay Yee Centre for Health Care Innovation (CHI) believes that the meaningful involvement of the community (including patients, families, friends, caregivers, and members of the public who may not have access to the health care system due to geography or systemic barriers) throughout the entire research process will lead to improved patient outcomes, enhanced patient experiences and improved access to care for Manitobans.

For example, in clinical trials, community involvement will enhance the quality, appropriateness, acceptability, transparency and relevance of research, ensuring it addresses first and foremost issues of importance to patients and the community. Through the Manitoba Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (SUPPORT) Unit, CHI has been moving the community involvement in health research agenda forward since its inception in 2013, and as part of the establishment of the Manitoba Patients as Research Partners Network, they will host a workshop in April 2015, bringing together members of the community, health care consumers, patient engagement experts, health care providers, decision-makers, and health researchers from across Manitoba to help both inform and launch the development of a provincial engagement strategy.

SUCCESS: With combined funding from the Government of Canada, Government of Manitoba, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canadian Cancer Society and the University of Manitoba, Dr. Mahmud has developed a Canadian Centre of Excellence, the Vaccine and Drug Evaluation Centre. His work looks into how common drugs affect the development and prevention of cancer in large groups of people. Combing through mountains of data using Manitoba’s Health database, Dr. Mahmud’s funding has allowed him to expand his team of researchers to over 20.

FUNDERS: Canada Research Chairs program, Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Manitoba Government, University of Manitoba, Canadian Cancer Society – Manitoba Division

LEARN MORE:

• George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation
• Evidence Network
• University of Manitoba
• In the Winnipeg Free Press
• In the Muslim Observer
• World Cancer Day

To see the impact the University of Manitoba has on the global community take a look at this map. If you have a community-minded story to tell, please do so by submitting your story here.

George Yee [MD/60] grew up in one of Winnipeg’s poorest neighbourhoods, and despite his family’s financial challenges his parents supported and encouraged his pursuit of a university education.

“I was born a galaxy away from academia,” he noted in his address at the U of M Faculty of Medicine convocation in 2012 at which he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Sciences.

Growing up in poverty didn’t impact the Yee family priorities; from a young age George Yee was told by his parents that he would have to go to university.

The U of M Medical School opened up a different world to Yee. “I was accepted. The Hippocratic Oath says you accept your colleagues as brothers. Everybody looked at me as though there weren’t any differences,” he recalled in a 2009 interview with Manitoba Medicine. “I was inspired by the dedication of my professors, the other doctors, how much they gave, and I was helped… I was in pretty tough financial straits but the Dean came to me and said ‘you know George you need some money’ and gave me a bursary. That had a big impact on me because I came from a place where nobody helps anybody out; you got to fight for whatever you have

“Education enabled me to achieve success and I vowed that if I was ever fortunate enough, I would give back.”

That vow to himself has turned into a lifetime of philanthropy for George and his wife Fay. The Yees recently donated $500,000 to support the new Anatomical Sciences Laboratory at the Faculty of Health Sciences. In total, George and Fay Yee have contributed more than $3.3 million to the University of Manitoba, illustrating a commitment to Yee’s alma mater, medical education and medical student support.

In 2006, Dr. Yee’s class held their 46^th reunion and he generously matched his classmates’ total gift amount to support the Medicine Class of 1960 Entrance Scholarship award. This gift, a group effort, helps medical students with the financial pressures of medical school, a pressure he remembers himself as a medical student.

“The University of Manitoba is very proud of all of its graduates and in particular graduates like Dr. Yee who remember the days of getting in to medical school, always grateful for the support he received, and ready to give back to the school that gave him his start in life,” said Dr. David Barnard, University of Manitoba President and Vice-Chancellor. “Dr. Yee exemplifies what we like to see in graduates: he is a thoughtful and humane person. It’s that humane exchange between people that actually shapes the university experience.”

Editor’s note: George Yee passed away on November 11, 2014. He was a great friend to the University of Manitoba and his legacy will live on through the students and researchers whose achievements are fostered by his contributions.

Their team reviewed data from 20 clinical trials in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan involving more than 4,800 children whose mothers either received probiotics (live ‘beneficial’ bacteria) during pregnancy or gave probiotics to their babies in the first year. The rate of doctor-diagnosed asthma was 11.2 per cent among infants who received probiotics and 10.2 per cent among babies who received the placebo.

“Taking probiotics had no effect on the asthma rate,” said Azad. “They can’t be recommended to prevent asthma, given the current evidence.”

She was quick to point out that probiotics remain useful for other purposes. “Other studies have shown that probiotics offer health benefits to infants who are born preterm and suffer from certain bowel conditions. There’s also evidence that probiotics might prevent eczema.”

The study was conducted as part of a new course offered jointly by the U of M and the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI).  The course employs a unique format where each student assembles a research team and conducts a systematic review of a pressing health topic.

“The final assignment is not an exam, but a scientific paper that can be published in a top medical journal,” said Zarychanski, assistant professor of internal medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and clinician-scientist at CancerCare Manitoba, who developed the course to train upcoming Manitoba scientists in a method of research called ‘meta-analysis’.

“The course teaches students to summarize and analyze data from multiple studies conducted in all parts of the world, so that doctors can make clinical decisions based on all of the available evidence – not just the latest or biggest study,” said the critical care physician.

“One of our goals at CHI is ensuring that service providers integrate the latest research into their work to improve care for patients. This innovative course and the research produced by it have far reaching impacts. They positively change care for patients in Manitoba and in the wider sphere,” says Terry Klassen, academic director of CHI.

Azad was visiting research colleagues at the U of M when she saw the course advertised.  “I wanted to learn meta-analysis but never had the opportunity in Alberta, so I jumped at the chance.”  Her primary research involves studying infant gut bacteria to understand the recent epidemic of childhood allergies and asthma.  “We’ve learned that gut bacteria help train the immune system, and that asthmatic children have different gut bacteria than healthy children,” she explains.  “So I wanted to know whether probiotics might be useful in asthma prevention.”

As it turns out, the answer is “no” – or at least, “not yet.”

The study shows that at present there is no clinical evidence to support the use of probiotics for asthma prevention. But, Azad noted, the strategy may still have potential. The clinical trials she reviewed varied widely in the type, dose and duration of probiotic supplementation (among 20 trials, over 15 different probiotic strains were tested with a 1000-fold range in dose and a 24 month range in duration).

Furthermore, she said that most trials were not originally designed to detect asthma, so they did not always follow the children long enough to accurately diagnose this condition. “These issues should be addressed with extended follow-up of existing studies, and with new basic research and clinical trials,” she said.

Zarychanski expects that more research will be published from the CHI course: several other students have submitted their studies for publication, and a new class is set to begin in January.  This type of research is a key priority for the CHI, a joint University of Manitoba and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority initiative.

Azad is being recruited to continue her research in Manitoba, and is set to join the University of Manitoba and CHI as an assistant professor in 2014.

For more information contact Ilana Simon, Director of Communications & Marketing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, 204-789-3427, (cell) 204-295-6777 or ilana.simon@med.umanitoba.ca

Founded in 1883 as Western Canada’s first medical school, the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine has graduated more than 7,000 physicians who have become influential medical leaders, world renowned health researchers and dedicated doctors. As Manitoba’s only medical school, the U of M Faculty of Medicine has educated and trained the majority of our province’s physicians.