Dr. Tracie Afifi, UM Canada Research Chair in childhood adversity and resilience and professor of community health sciences, and Dr. Marni Brownell, senior scholar, community health sciences, are among the 47 new CAHS fellows for 2025.

“Congratulations to Drs. Afifi and Brownell,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, UM vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine. “As a CAHS fellow myself, it is my honour to welcome you into this nationwide group of world-class scientists and scholars working to advance the health of Canadians and people around the world.”

Dr. Trevor Young, CAHS president, said that election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences acknowledges outstanding contributions to the health sciences.

“We are proud of these fellows’ accomplishments, and we are honoured to welcome them to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,” Young said.

Afifi is an international leader in childhood adversity and resilience research. Afifi, who has published more than 245 peer-reviewed journal publications, has built her research program using a public health approach.

Afifi is the recipient of several awards and honours, including the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Gold Leaf Award and the Alexander Leighton Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology.

“It is a great honour to have been selected as a 2025 Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,” Afifi said. “The CAHS does excellent evidence-based work to improve health for all Canadians. I look forward to contributing to the academy in the area of childhood adversity and resilience with the aim of promoting health and well-being for child and families in Canada.”

Brownell conducts research using whole population administrative health and social services databases to examine child health and well-being, focusing on social and structural influences on health. She leads research projects focusing on the health and well-being of children in the child welfare and youth criminal justice systems.

Brownell is the founding director of SPECTRUM, a large research partnership between representatives of community organizations, government staff, academics and trainees from multiple disciplines who work together to address complex social challenges. She is the 2019 recipient of the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Geoffrey C. Robinson award honouring excellence in population health research.

View the full list of UM CAHS fellows.

The funding for 10 UM research projects was awarded through the CIHR’s Project Grant Program, which is designed to support ideas with the greatest potential to advance health research, health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health systems, health care or health outcomes.   

“Congratulations to the individuals from the Rady Faculty that secured funding for their important research,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, UM vice-president (research and international). “I’m thrilled to see that three of the teams were ranked No. 1 by their respective peer review committees. This demonstrates the leading-edge health research being conducted at UM.”

Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, said the projects also reflect the diversity of health research taking place at UM.

“The studies are led by scientists from many different fields – from community health sciences to oral biology to pharmacology and therapeutics. This funding will help our researchers carry out their projects which will inevitably have an impact on the health of Manitobans, Canadians and people around the world,” Nickerson said.  

One of the UM grant recipients is Dr. Soheila Karimi, professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine, and founding director of the Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis Research Centre. She and her team received $1,143,675 over five years to study what could one day be a new treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).

“MS happens when the body’s immune system attacks and damages myelin, a protective layer around nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. My research group has identified that Neuregulin-1, which is an important protein for proper function of the brain and spinal cord, is depleted in MS lesions. We have strong evidence that Neuregulin-1 holds promise as a potential treatment to promote myelin repair in progressive MS when repair fails, resulting in increased neurological impairments,” said Karimi, who is also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).

Karimi’s project will evaluate Neuregulin-1 as a future treatment to prevent the progression of MS and support tissue repair. A new treatment is much needed, Karimi said, because Canada is home to the world’s highest prevalence of MS and current medications are minimally effective for the progressive phase of the disease.

“We are really hoping that this research will set the groundwork for conclusive findings which would justify going to clinical trials, especially for progressive MS, because there is a critical treatment gap,” Karimi said.

Learn about the other UM projects funded through the latest round of CIHR’s Project Grant Program. More information about the research teams and the work they’ll be doing is available here.

Dr. Tracie Afifi, professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in childhood adversity and resilience; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Afifi will focus on updating and expanding her 10-year-old study related to child maltreatment across Canada. The team will update national and provincial prevalence of child abuse statistics and aim to understand the experiences of child abuse among those with different gender and sexual identities and how this impacts mental health and substance use outcome across age groups.

Dr. Heather Armstrong, assistant professor of internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in integrative bioscience; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $814,725 (five years)

Armstrong’s team will study the reasons why some dietary fibres are not well tolerated in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). She hopes these findings support development of personalized dietary fibre guidelines for IBD patients, based on the individual’s gut and microbiome health to ensure only safe fibres are consumed, therefore promoting improved microbe and gut health.

Dr. Prashen Chelikani, professor of oral biology, Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry

Grant: $1,319,625 (five years)

Chelikani and the team will work to understand why some dental fungi are associated with tooth decay in preschool children and the local environmental factors that might influence them. This research on the dental mycobiome associated with severe tooth decay will assist with the development of new tooth decay prevention strategies for young Indigenous children.   

Dr. Keith Fowke, department head and professor of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $956,250 (five years)

Fowke will partner with organizations and community members in Nairobi, Kenya, to better understand the immune system among women who clear human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. The project aims to identify the immune cells that are important in the natural clearance of HPV with the goal of identifying these HPV clearance associated immune factors that are important for a therapeutic HPV vaccine to mimic.

Dr. Nathan Nickel, associate professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; director and senior research scientist, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $577,574 (three years)

In partnership with the Manitoba Métis Federation, Nickel and his team’s study will shed light on whether a Manitoba Health campaign that promoted the importance of childhood vaccinations improved childhood vaccination among Métis families. The study’s findings will support the development of strategies aimed at keeping childhood vaccination rates high in Manitoba as well as nation-specific strategies for Red River Métis citizens.

Dr. Christopher Pascoe, assistant professor of physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $784,125 (five years)

Pascoe seeks to better understand why exposure to diabetes during pregnancy makes airways twitchier in asthma. The team will learn whether reducing blood glucose levels during pregnancy is an effective way to prevent changes from occurring and this information may allow them the ability to stop asthma in children exposed to diabetes from developing before it’s a problem that requires treatment.

Dr. Joel Pearson, assistant professor of pharmacology and therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, CancerCare Manitoba

Grant: $983,025 (five years)

Pearson will lead a study aimed at understanding the underlying causes of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and how non-small cell lung cancer can change to SCLC. This research will help them identify new and improved treatments for SCLC so patients living with this cancer will have longer lives and better outcomes.

Dr. Souradet Shaw, assistant professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in program science and global public health

Grant: $883,576 (four years)

Shaw’s study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of trends, determinants and responses to sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections (STBBI) in Manitoba over a 30-year period. Collaborations between community, public health and academics will be at the forefront of this project, with the goal of co-learning and co-designing interventions to ensure no one is left behind while addressing current and future STBBI outbreaks.

Dr. Roberta Woodgate, distinguished professor of nursing, College of Nursing; Canada Research Chair in child and family engagement in health research and healthcare; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $768,824 (four years)

Woodgate will lead a study to gather evidence to inform the co-design of policies and research priorities meant to enhance the health and well-being of young people who care for family members or other loved ones. Young carers will co-design the policy recommendations and research priorities by gathering evidence grounded in their experiences and providing them with a leadership role in the process.

The project will be co-led by Dr. Tracie O. Afifi and Dr. Ashley Stewart-Tufescu. Dr. Afifi is a professor in the department of Community Health Sciences and world-renowned expert in child maltreatment and Canada Tier 1 Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience. Stewart-Tufescu is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work and international leader in global child protection and child welfare practices. Afifi and Stewart-Tufescu’s research has informed the global debate on the use of physical punishment as a means of child discipline and its associations with negative mental and physical health outcomes, and child maltreatment prevention and intervention initiatives.

“No child should ever have to endure child abuse, family violence, or neglect – yet so many children and families across Canada do,” said The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health. “The funding announced today for the University of Manitoba is an important step forward in advancing the field of child welfare and enhancing violence prevention efforts.  Our government will continue to take action against child maltreatment and family violence, so we can build a future where all children have safe and nurturing environments where they can grow and thrive.”

This investment will support the development of a national research training platform for over 60 trainees in disciplines related to child maltreatment. and child welfare, as well as knowledge users and scientific experts. The aim is to create a collaborative and sustainable network that will enhance impactful research, and help to advance the field of child welfare, child maltreatment and family violence prevention in Canada.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe and protected from physical violence, but for many children, that isn’t the case,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “This project will address research knowledge gaps in child maltreatment and child welfare to support those who are at risk of experiencing family violence in Canada. By developing a national research training platform for over 60 trainees and experts, the project aims to develop impactful research outcomes to protect children and help caregivers use positive parenting strategies.”

To learn more about Afifi and Stewart-Tufescu’s project, please visit: CAReRTP.ca.

CRCs are world leaders in their field funded by the Government of Canada in the areas of natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities. “These symposia were a wonderful opportunity for researchers to get to know each other’s specialties, and to spark new collaborations with students and the wider community,” says Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “I thank all the CRCs for their groundbreaking contributions to address the issues faced by society today.”

This thought-provoking look at current UM research is available to view online, each featuring a brief presentation from the gathered CRCs followed by a question-and-answer period with the audience.

CRC Symposium 1, February 2, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Heather Armstrong, Chair in Integrative Bioscience; Guozhen Zhu, Chair in Mechanical and Functional Design of Nanostructured Materials; Trust Beta, Chair in Grain-Based Functional Foods; Eric Collins, Chair in Arctic Marine Microbial Ecosystem Services; Britt Drögemöller, Chair in Pharmacogenomics & Precision Medicine; Ned Budisa, Chair in Chemical Synthetic Biology and Xenobiology; Lori Wilkinson, Chair in Migration Futures; Jason Kindrachuk, Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health; Sabine Mai, Chair in Genomic Instability and Nuclear Architecture in Cancer; Jörg Stetefeld, Chair in Structural Biology and Biophysics; Carl Ho, Chair in Efficient Utilization of Electric Power; and Nandika Bandara, Chair in Food Proteins.

CRC Symposium 2, February 27, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Tracie Afifi, Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience; Robert Lorway, Chair in Global Intervention Politics and Social Transformation; Janilyn Arsenio, Chair in Systems Biology of Chronic Inflammation; Puyan Mojabi, Chair in Electromagnetic Inversion for Characterization and Design; Annette Desmarais, Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty; Zulma Rueda, Chair in Program Sciences & Global Public Health; and Kathryn Sibley, Chair in Integrated Knowledge Translation in Rehabilitation Sciences.

CRC Symposium 3, March 28, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Ties Boerma, Chair in Population and Global Health; Kiera Ladner, Chair in Miyo we’citowin, Indigenous Governance & Digital Sovereignties; Rotimi Aluko, Chair in Bioactive Peptides; Zahra Moussavi, Chair in Biomedical Engineering; Terry Klassen, Chair in Clinical Trials; and Galen Wright, Chair in Neurogenomics.

CRC Symposium 4, April 24, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Lisa Lix, Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality; John Ataguba, Chair in Health Economics; Nicole Wilson, Chair in Arctic Environmental Change and Governance; Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Chair in Molecular Cardiology; Meghan Azad, Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease; and Kristine Cowley, Chair in Function and Health after Spinal Cord Injury.

CRC Symposium 5, May 16, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Kristina Brown, Chair in Arctic Marine Biogeochemistry; Nicole Rosen, Chair in Language Interactions; Robert Mizzi, Chair in Queer, Community & Diversity Education; Samar Safi-Harb, Chair in Extreme Astrophysics; and Susan Logue, Chair in Cell Stress and Inflammation.

CRC Symposium 6, June 19, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Andrew Halayko, Chair in Chronic Lung Disease Pathobiology and Treatment; Colin Gilmore, Chair in Applied Electromagnetic Inversion; James Blanchard, Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health; Marcelo Urquia, Chair in Applied Population Health; and Souradet Shaw, Chair in Program Science & Global Public Health.

“These new studentships provide important support to graduate students who have displayed excellent academic achievement and pursue vital research endeavours,” said Dr. Brian Postl, dean, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and vice-provost (health sciences). “Congratulations to all recipients on this well-deserved recognition and we look forward to seeing your impact as researchers in the years to come.”

Studentships for master’s students are valued at $14,000 per annum and studentships for PhDs are valued at $18,000 per annum.

The deadline to apply for the next round of graduate studentships is September 15, 2022. Other eligibility requirements and application forms can be found on the Student Experience section of the UM website.

Featured graduate studentship awardees:

Ariyan Alaei

Ariyan Alaei

Ariysn Alaei is an international master’s student in the department of oral biology, Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry. Alaei started a M.Sc. in September 2021 under Dr.Kangmin Duan’s supervision.

“My M.Sc. research project is in the area of new antipathogenic agents against bacterial pathogens. The spread of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens leaves us a very vulnerable line of defense against some of the most formidable human pathogens. There is an urgent need to develop new effective drugs to counter antibiotic resistance.

“My project aims to identify and characterize active antipathogenic compounds from natural sources that potentially treat infectious diseases but also avoid the rise of resistance in pathogens. So, the results of the project can lay some basis for the development of arsenals against antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases.”

What does it mean to you to receive the graduate studentship?

”I feel honoured to be considered for this graduate studentship which means my studies are meaningful and valuable and can be an encouragement to work even harder! Furthermore, as an international student, it is hard to live and study in a foreign country without any financial support, so receiving a studentship could help me to focus on my research with peace of mind without worries of financial issues.”

Meher Kantoo

Meher Kantoo

Meher Kantoo is pursuing a M.Sc. at the College of Pharmacy and joined the University of Manitoba in the fall of 2021. Currently, Kantoo is working in Dr. Jillian Stobart’s lab on his master’s thesis.

“My project involves using mouse as a model system to study the functions of astrocytes, a type of brain cell. Recent studies have shown that astrocytes can influence that activity of brain by releasing certain molecules. However, it is now known how these cells modulate brain activity. I will be using experimental techniques like two-photon calcium imaging, lentivirus induced astrocyte cultures, biosensor probes to investigate the contribution of astrocyte N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors to calcium physiology and behavior.”

What does it mean to you to receive the graduate studentship?

“I feel extremely honoured and excited to receive the graduate studentship. Apart from the financial support, this studentship is important to me as it has also recognized my hard work towards academics and research work. I hope to continue working diligently in my research as well as course work and make a worthwhile contribution to my field.

“I am grateful to my advisor Dr. Stobart for her guidance and I am excited to continue working on my thesis project and uncover some interesting mechanisms about the role of astrocytes in brain function.”

Julie-Anne McCarthy

Julie-Anne McCarthy

Julie-Anne McCarthy a first-year PhD student in community health sciences at the Max Rady College of Medicine. McCarthy has a M.Sc. in community psychology and interests in population health, mental health promotion and mental illness prevention. McCarthy’s current research focuses on factors that contribute to promoting and protecting child and youth mental health and overall well-being.

What does it mean to you to receive the graduate studentship?

“It is both humbling and an honour to receive a graduate studentship. This represents invaluable protected time to work on research- that’s the dream! Furthermore, the community health sciences program is filled with incredibly high calibre educators and students. I see the studentship as a responsibility to meet the high standards set by my peers and mentors.

“I am grateful to the CHS program and to my supervisor Dr. Tracie Afifi for the support in my graduate studies so far. I am also very cognizant of past mentors who have helped me get to this point in my career. There is so much to learn about doing mental health research equitably and this is something that is very front of mind as I continue down this path.

“As a Franco-Manitoban, I also hope to represent my community through my work. Merci beaucoup pour cette merveilleuse opportunité.”

Carly Proctor

Carly Proctor

Carly Proctor is a master of science student in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences. Proctor’s research project is focused on physical activity interventions for diabetes management and is under the supervision of Dr. Cara Brown.

“I have worked as a physiotherapist clinician for 15 years and have always been passionate about how physical activity is not only important in disease prevention but also is an effective treatment for many chronic diseases. In diabetes care, physical activity is an underutilized intervention and I wanted to understand the role that exercise specialists like physiotherapists and kinesiologists could play in this area of clinical practice and support their work with interprofessional teams.

“The outcome of this study will be a referral pathway tool that will help primary care teams work effectively with exercise professionals in diabetes care by clarifying how physiotherapists and kinesiologists are similar and how they are distinct.”

What does it mean to you to receive a graduate studentship?

“I am very grateful and honoured to have been awarded a RFHS graduate studentship. I am thankful for the opportunity to perform research and for the support of my advisor Dr. Cara Brown and my committee members. As a working clinician and mom of small children, this studentship goes a long way to support my academic journey.“

In the Fall 2021 funding competition, the CIHR awarded a total of nearly $8 million to UM in the form of 11 grants.

“This is an excellent showing by our faculty members and their research partners in obtaining support for projects that will advance vital knowledge and benefit people’s health and well-being,” said UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Digvir Jayas.

“It’s impressive to see the breadth of health research taking place at UM in areas such as trauma recovery, mental health, kidney disease, HIV, cancer, diabetes and chronic pain.”

Dr. Myrle Ballard

Dr. Myrle Ballard, assistant professor and Indigenous scholar of chemistry in the Faculty of Science, is Anishinaabe from Lake St. Martin First Nation (LSMFN). She leads a research project that received a five-year grant of $2,067,415.

The LSMFN community’s traditional homelands have been uninhabitable since a human-made flood destroyed them in 2011. LSMFN members experienced trauma when they were forced to evacuate.

With input from community members, Ballard’s project will focus on implementing an Elder-Youth mentorship program to promote health and well-being.

“The post-traumatic distress suffered by LSMFN members requires culturally appropriate research interventions to lessen their grief and heal into a healthy community,” the researchers wrote.

Dr. Garry Shen

Dr. Garry Shen, professor of internal medicine in the Max Rady College of Medicine, co-leads a team with First Nations partners that received a five-year grant of $1,155,150.

A recent study by Shen and partners showed that an online and locally broadcast prenatal education program significantly increased participation rates in prenatal programs and breastfeeding when it was piloted in three First Nations communities.

The new project will enhance the program, which is community-based and incorporates both Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge about healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding. The goal is to improve pregnancy outcomes and maternal/child health in rural and remote First Nations communities.

Here’s a look at the other funded studies. More information on the studies and research teams is available here.

Dr. Tracie Afifi, professor, community health sciences/psychiatry, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in childhood adversity and resilience; researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)

Grant: $75,000 (one year)

Afifi’s study focuses on adverse childhood experiences and peer bullying. She seeks to identify which protective factors during adolescence help to reduce the likelihood of substance use problems and mental or physical health conditions among those who have had these negative experiences.

Dr. Robert Lorway, professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in global intervention politics and social transformation

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Lorway’s community-based study in Nairobi, Kenya aims to understand and confront the role homophobia plays in men who have sex with men not seeking treatment for HPV-related and other anal diseases until their illness is extremely advanced. 

Dr. Dylan MacKay, assistant professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $320,534 (three years)

MacKay will compare two groups of people with chronic kidney disease in a randomized feasibility trial of methods to reduce dietary acid. Half the patients will take baking soda pills, while the other half will have fruits and vegetables delivered to them to reduce acid through diet.

Dr. Lyle McKinnon, associate professor, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $837,675 (five years)

McKinnon’s team has previously found that vaginal inflammation increases a woman’s risk of becoming HIV-infected if exposed. His study focuses on regulatory T cells and their potential to control female genital inflammation as an HIV prevention strategy.

Dr. Gerd Prehna, assistant professor, microbiology, Faculty of Science

Grant: $596,700 (five years)

Prehna will investigate how, during an infection, disease-causing bacteria kill beneficial bacteria by loading deadly toxins onto a “crossbow-like” secretion system. A detailed understanding of this process may make it possible to “disarm” many species of bacterial invaders.

Dr. Tanveer Sharif, assistant professor, pathology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $956,250 (five years)

Sharif’s study will build on the finding that metabolism plays a role in how a particular mutated gene promotes the spread of tumor cells in aggressive medulloblastoma brain tumors. His team will investigate using metabolism-targeting agents to suppress this process.

Dr. Roberta Woodgate, distinguished professor, College of Nursing; Canada Research Chair in child and family engagement in health research and healthcare; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $600,524 (four years)

Woodgate will lead a cross-Canada study in which young people with chronic pain will be engaged as co-researchers. The goal is to better understand the experiences, needs and priorities of young people with chronic pain in order to provide better patient-centred care.

Grant: $546,976 (three years)

Woodgate’s team will also implement a youth mental health program in Winnipeg, partnering high schools in the Seven Oaks School Division with NorWest, a community youth hub. Multiple data collection strategies, including arts-based methods, will be used to evaluate the program.

Dr. Jennifer Yamamoto, assistant professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $609,835 (four years)

Yamamoto’s project builds on a previous study of glucose monitoring in mothers with Type I diabetes during pregnancy. It will examine the possible relationship between the blood sugar patterns of these mothers while pregnant and learning difficulties and behaviour problems in their children.

Launched in 2003, WXN is Canada’s national organization that propels and celebrates the advancement of women at all levels, in all sectors and of all ages. The winners range from rising stars to top of their fields to advocates to champions for others to community leaders to teachers and students. The 2021 winners will be celebrated virtually from November 24 to 25.

Read about these inspiring and accomplished women:

• Tracie Afifi (Rady Faculty of Health Sciences), a professor and Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience – winner in the Mercedes-Benz Emerging Leaders category
• Patricia Birk, head of the department of pediatrics and child health (Rady Faculty of Health Sciences) who is focused on addressing inequities in care and leading systemic changes – winner in the Intact Professionals category
• Tina Chen, a Distinguished Professor of history (Faculty of Arts) and a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion – winner in the Intact Professionals category
• Joanne Embree, a professor of pediatrics and child health (Rady Faculty of Health Sciences) and a pioneer in the study of childhood infectious disease – winner in the CIBC Executive Leaders category
• Melanie MacKinnon, head of Ongomiizwin Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing (Rady Faculty of Health Sciences), whose patient-centered and culturally safe approach to health program design and delivery has modernized the outreach medical model – winner in the Intact Professionals category
• Melanie Morris (Rady Faculty of Health Sciences), the first Indigenous pediatric surgeon in Canada who has created a minimally invasive program of pediatric urology – winner in the Mercedes-Benz Emerging Leader category
• Janice Ristock (Faculty of Arts), a professor of women and gender studies and the former UM Provost and Vice-President – winner in the CIBC Executive Leaders category

CIBC Executive Leaders category recognizes women who not only exemplify what it means to be a great leader, but also build confidence and champion others.

Intact Professionals category recognizes women who are professionals in practice and play a leadership role within their organizations.

Mercedes-Benz Emerging Leaders category recognizes women who have been targeted for successive leadership positions within their organizations and have a proven passion for learning and innovation.

These seven winners join 20 previous UM recipients named Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 since the awards began.

Dr. Afifi studies the long-term physical and mental health effects of child maltreatment. Her goal is to help parents change their behaviour to promote healthy child development and well-being. Over the last 10 years she has created an innovative research program aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect, fostering resilience, and improving mental health.

She founded the Childhood Adversity and Resilience (CARe) Research team at UM, one of the most original and innovative research programs on child maltreatment and health worldwide, and is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience.

“Working in the area of child maltreatment, resilience and mental health can be difficult,” Dr. Afifi says. “But it’s important to provide better ways to respond when children and families need help. If we can intervene early and effectively, we can change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

Dr. Afifi’s work has informed health policy and legislative changes at the national and international levels, and led to collaborations with a number of prominent organizations. She serves on the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) advisory committee for the Canadian Reported Child Maltreatment Surveillance System and has been an invited external expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) Milestones meetings in a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention since 2015.

In 2019, she was an invited participant to the Finding our Path Toward Childhood Free from Violence in a Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children hosted by UNICEF Canada, and she is also a frequent collaborator with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States to study adverse childhood experiences. Her work with the CDC resulted in the 2017 Child Abuse & Neglect publication that won article of the year (out of 238 manuscripts) in the International Journal Child Abuse & Neglect.

A prolific author, Dr. Afifi has published 161 peer-reviewed journal publications and presented research at 160 national and international conferences. She also adopts innovative methods of sharing her research findings with a broader audience, including social media, infographics and her own website with easy-to-understand descriptions of her research and links to free open access academic publications.

“I was overwhelmed when I received the news that I had been selected for this award,” says Dr. Afifi. “It is so important to recognize the achievements of women in Canada, and for my work to be recognized among them is a true honour.”

Dr. Afifi has been recognized with numerous awards and prizes, including the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children “Children’s Rights Support Award,” the 2016 CBC Manitoba Future 40 award, the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research, the Alexander Leighton Award and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Gold Leaf Prize for an Early Investigator, one of the highest honours given to an individual for excellence in health research and its translation into benefits for Canadians.

This year, seven UM community members have been named to the WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

The study, titled Older adolescents and young adults willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine: Implications for informing public health strategies, published in the Elsevier journal Vaccine, found that 8.5 per cent of the 664 adolescents and young adults who took part in the research said they would not get a vaccine and 26.1 per cent said they were unsure.

“There hasn’t been very much research on COVID-19 vaccine willingness and hesitancy among this age group. It’s really important that we focus on this age group because some may be less likely to adhere to public health guidelines,” said the study’s principle investigator Dr. Tracie Afifi, professor of community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, and Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience. 

The top three reasons the young people gave for being unsure or unwilling to get a vaccine were concerns about safety, lack of knowledge about the vaccines and concerns about effectiveness.

Young people who were less willing to get a vaccine included those who had a financial burden because of COVID-19, lower household income, household that runs out of money, a parent with lower education, a spanking history, household substance use, a peer victimization history and a history of being in foster care or contact with a child protection organization.

Afifi said that one interesting finding was a difference between males and females regarding reasons for not wanting to get a vaccine. Males were more likely to say they weren’t concerned about getting COVID-19 and females were more likely to say they wanted more information to make a decision.

“What the study results do is really help public health with messaging and communication,” Afifi said. “It gives us targets on what these adolescents and young adults need to know in order to change their minds so that they will go and get vaccinated.”

Afifi said that increasing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in this age group may rely on targeting those from households with lower income, financial burden and adversity history. She said that public health messaging could focus on vaccine safety, how it works to protect against illness and why it is important to protect against a COVID-19 infection.

This messaging could be carried out on social media and also at schools, colleges and universities, she said, adding that frontline service organizations who work with older adolescents and young adults are also a good channel for communicating this information.

“Public health strategies that are specifically tailored to older adolescents and young adults using these recommendations may be successful in increasing uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and play a critical role in ending the pandemic,” Afifi said.

Even though the study’s sample is from Manitoba, Afifi said that there is no reason to believe the results would be substantively different outside of the province. The information could help public health organizations in other provinces and countries, she said.

This award, which she will officially receive at Rideau Hall on June 20, 2019, is among the highest honours that can be bestowed on an individual for excellence in health research and its translation into benefits for Canadians. Each CIHR Gold Leaf Prize has a value of $100,000.

“It is such an honour to be selected as the recipient of this award. I am indebted to my mentors for their guidance and opportunities they have provided and to my students for their hard work and dedication to research,” says Afifi, a professor of epidemiology in the departments of community health sciences and psychiatry at the University of Manitoba.

Afifi’s research has advanced knowledge in child maltreatment and mental health, the knowledge from which she has disseminated widely: She has published 121peer-reviewed articles, eight editorials, 10 book chapters, and three policy reports; she has participated in over 100 media interviews for print, radio, and television resulting in over 2,000 known worldwide news stories; and she has worked with Statistics Canada on multiple projects, advised the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as the World Health Organization in Geneva and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S.

“Dr. Afifi is an early career researcher having been a faculty member less than ten years, yet the list of her achievements and impacts resemble those belonging to someone at the end of their career,” said Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor at the U of M. “She is truly a remarkable researcher, with a brilliant mind and passion to protect and enhance the well-being of children around the globe. We are proud she is an alumna and part of our academic family, and I congratulate her on behalf of the University of Manitoba on receiving this deserved honour.”

A three-time alumna of U of M, Afifi joined the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences in 2010. Since then, she has been awarded 27 grants totalling $13.2 million and 6 research contracts totalling $9.4 million. Her research has garnered many awards, notably, in 2017, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada as a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.

Her research has informed policy and provides knowledge to decision-makers in Canada. For example, her research was used in the Minister of Health Rona Ambrose’s announcement on Family Violence and Child Abuse Prevention Initiative at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection round table discussion in 2014. In 2016, 11 of her research articles were cited in the Chief Public Health Officer’s report on the State of Public Health in Canada. As well, in 2018, her work was cited in a policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics that recommends that parents and caregivers should not use corporal punishment (including hitting and spanking) on children.