O’Brien Institute members have “incredible success” in CIHR's Spring 2022 Project Grant competition

Indigenous-led dementia care, addressing barriers to evidence-based care following surgery and evaluating the impact of COVID-19 vaccine policies on vaccine equity are just some of the projects that garnered O’Brien Institute members more than $4.5 million in the most recent CIHR Spring Project Grant competition.

A total of 15 projects with Institute members as the nominated principal applicants were awarded funds.

O’Brien Institute Scientific Director Dr. Tom Stelfox, MD, says seeing grant submissions through to funding success demonstrates the perseverance of scientists, given how gruelling the process can be.

“I am so inspired by all our scholars who submit funding applications. It takes a lot of courage and hard work to apply for funding. There is substantial personal and professional sacrifice.

“With this past CIHR project scheme competition we have had one of the largest number of grants ever awarded to members of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health. The incredible success we are seeing by Institute members is a testament to the work they are leading to tackle big public health challenges,” says Stelfox.

O’Brien Institute researchers received 15 awards from 32 known applications for an impressive 46.9 per cent success rate, well above the national average.

The awarded projects include three that were ranked top in their committees, and another four that ranked either second or third, a truly remarkable accomplishment by these members. 10 of the 14 awarded applicants are Early Career Investigators.

The results speak for themselves,  says Stelfox.

“We have members of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health who are the best of the best Canadian scholars in their respective fields.”

The funded projects are:

Gender-affirming estrogen therapy and kidney function in transgender women

Principal applicant: Sofia Ahmed; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute, Libin Cardiovascular Institute

Total funding amount: $325,124

Re-purposing the Ordering of 'Routine' laboratory Tests among hospitalized medical patients (RePORT study)

Principal applicant: Anshula Ambasta; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $665,552

Psychometric evaluation of a measure of care complexity in rheumatoid arthritis

Principal applicant: Claire Barber; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health

Total funding amount: $297,584

Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 vaccine policies on vaccine equity: A multi-province comparative study

Principal applicant: Reed Beall; Department of Community Health Sciences, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $400,000

Impact of sex and gender on patient outcomes in Obstetrics & Gynecology

Principal applicant: Erin Brennand; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $447,526

Preventing medication complications during AcUte illness through Symptom Evaluation and sick day guidance (PAUSE): Development and feasibility testing of a Patient-Centered Mobile Health Intervention

Principal applicant: David Campbell; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $100,000

Exploring the effectiveness and implementation of the IMPACT intervention: A physical activity program for children and adolescents on treatment for cancer

Principal applicant: Nicole Culos-Reed; Faculty of Kinesiology, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $145,350

GrabFM!: Innovating with teens and technology to assess the power and exposure of food and beverage marketing to teenagers in Canada

Principal applicant: Charlene Elliott; Faculty of Arts, Department of Communication, Media and Film, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $267,750

Machine Learning Design of a Post-ERCP Pancreatitis Clinical Decision Tool (PEP-CADET)

Principal applicant: Nauzer Forbes; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $577,576

Developing Federated Learning Strategies for Disease Surveillance Using Cross-Jurisdiction Electronic Medical Records without Data Sharing: With Applications to Sepsis Detection

Principal applicant: Na Li; Department of Community Health Sciences, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $150,000

InnoVatiOn for Indigenous-led dementia Care to Enhance Safety (VOICES)

Principal applicant: Pamela Roach; Department of Family Medicine, O’Brien Institute, Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Total funding amount: $627,300

Optimizing surgical care: trends in Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) guideline uptake and barriers to better evidence-based care

Principal applicant: Khara Marissa Sauro; Department of Community Health Sciences, O’Brien Institute, Charbonneau Cancer Institute

Total funding amount: $260,100

HIP fracture thromboPROphylaxis (HIP PRO) Pilot: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Principal applicant: Prism Schneider; Department of Surgery, O’Brien Institute, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health

Total funding amount: $577,575

Evaluating Individual Cancer-associated Thrombosis Mechanisms to Inform Personalized Thromboprophylaxis in Patients with Metastatic Bone Disease

Principal applicant: Prism Schneider; Department of Surgery, O’Brien Institute, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health

Total Funding amount: $100,000

Enhancing sociodemographic data in a province-wide electronic health record

Principal applicant: Karen Tang; Department of Medicine, O’Brien Institute

Total funding amount: $100,000