Congratulations to the BC Children's and BC Women's investigators who were awarded funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant Fall 2020 competition. Our research community received around $6 million in new research grants.
 
Many of the investigators who were successful in this competition benefited from the expertise of Dr. Dawn McArthur, Director, Research & Technology Development and the BCCHR Research & Technology Development Office (RTDO) team. On behalf of BCCHR, we would like to thank the RTDO's Dr. Tamara English, Senior Research Development Facilitator; Mr. Eric Lussier, Research Development Facilitator (BCCHR/WHRI); Ms. Rita Jekabsons, Senior Research Development Coordinator; and the RTDO grants assistants for their dedication and support.

BCCHR and WHRI investigators had a funding success rate of 27 per cent, compared to the national average of 15 per cent and the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) success rate of 14.7 per cent for full, bridge and operating grants. With the success of the fall 2020 competition, the RTDO team is already assisting with resubmissions for the spring 2021 competition.

View the CIHR summary of fall 2020 Project Grant results.

Congratulations to:

CIHR Grant winners

Project Grants

Dr. Angela Devlin, Dr. Dina Panagiotopoulos and Dr. Pascal Bernatchez (UBC) – Healthy Starts and Childhood Diseases – Project: “Correcting early vascular dysfunction to improve cardiovascular outcomes in type 1 diabetes.” BCCHR Co-investigator: Dr. Brad Hoffman. $841,500 / 5 years.

Dr. Quynh Doan – Evidence to Innovation – Project: “Evaluating the psychometric properties and help-seeking impact of HEARTSMAP-U: a digital psychosocial self-assessment and navigational support application for post-secondary students.” BCCHR Co-investigator: Mr. Punit Virk (Supervisor: Dr. Doan). $554,624 / 4 years.

Dr. Jan Dutz – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Phototherapy to modulate regulatory T cells and prevent autoimmune disease.” $382,449 / 3 years. 

Dr. Nichole Fairbrother – Brain, Behaviour & Development – Project: “Perinatal Anxiety Disorders Screening Study.” BCCHR and WHRI Co-investigators: Dr. Patricia Janssen and Dr. Arianne Albert. $684,676 / 4 years.

Dr. Jaime Guzman – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Treating Children with Arthritis According to their Individual Probability of Outcomes and Response to Treatments - The PERSON-JIA Trial.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. David Cabral and Dr. Lori Tucker. $455,175 / 5 years.

Dr. James Lim – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Targeting CD47 in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” BCCHR Co-investigators: Dr. Philipp Lange, Dr. Christopher Maxwell and Dr. Gregor Reid. $1,028,925 / 5 years.

Dr. Melanie Murray – Women’s Health Research Institute – Project: “Role of Female Sex Hormones on Aging in Women Living with HIV.” WHRI Co-investigators: Dr. Allison Carter, Dr. Hélène Côté, Dr. Chelsea Elwood, Dr. Angela Kaida and Dr. Neora Pick. $382,500 / 5 years. 

Dr. Deborah M Sloboda (McMaster University) and Dr. Alexander Beristain (Healthy Starts) – Project: “It takes two to tango: Parental obesity and sex-specific impacts on placental development.” $856,800 / 5 years. 

Dr. Glen Tibbits – Childhood Diseases – Project: “Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT): arrhythmogenic mechanisms and personalized intervention.” $924,120 / 5 years. 

View the full CIHR Project Grant results.

Operating Grants: COVID-19 Research Gaps and Priorities

Dr. Sarka Lisonkova – Healthy Starts – Project: “All-cause and cause-specific acute morbidity attributable to Covid-19 epidemic, severe Covid-19 symptoms, and adverse birth outcomes in Canada.” BCCHR and WHRI Co-investigators: Mr. Jeffrey Bone, Dr. Amélie Boutin, Dr. Wee-Shian Chan, Dr. K.S. Joseph and Dr. Giulia Muraca. $168,300 / 2 years. 

Dr. Ian Pike – Evidence to Innovation – Project: “The unintended consequences of implementing stay-at-home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic: Violence outcomes in children and youth in Canada.” BCCHR Co-investigator: Dr. Shelina Babul. $267,750 / 3 years.

CIHR Project Grants – Priority Announcement Bridge Grants

Dr. Jennifer Hutcheon – Healthy Starts – Project: “Every maternal death counts: understanding driving safety in pregnant and post-partum women.” $75,000 / 1 year. 

Dr. Patricia Janssen – Healthy Starts – Project: “Teaching by Texting to Promote Healthy Behaviours in Pregnancy.” BCCHR and WHRI Co-investigators: Dr. Arianne Albert, Dr. Hamideh Bayrampour, Dr. Nichole Fairbrother, Dr. Sarah Munro, Ms. Jennifer Murray (Supervisor: Dr. Janssen). $100,000 / 1 year.

Dr. Wendy Norman – Healthy Starts – Project: “The CART PREG-Epi Study: Pandemic Reproductive health and health Equity-Guidance from Epidemiology to improve reproductive, perinatal, and maternal mental health and substance use care.” BCCHR and WHRI Co-investigators: Ms. Cheryl Davies, Dr. Jennifer Hutcheon, Dr. Ann Pedersen and Dr. Laura Schummers. $100,000 / 1 year. 

We would also like to congratulate all other BCCHR researchers who collaborated or were co-investigators on projects awarded funding.

View the full list of CIHR Institute Priority Announcement grant recipients.