Member spotlight: Dr. Luis Nacul

Posted inMeet the Researcher, Our News

By Travis Boulter

This year for International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases we’re turning our research spotlight on one of our newer WHRI members, Dr. Luis Nacul!

Dr. Nacul has been a researcher for over 20 years, and has been involved in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) research for over a decade.

In his first year as the Medical and Research Director of the Complex Chronic Diseases Program (CCDP) at BC Women’s Hospital, Dr. Nacul has been leading the way in facilitating new and existing research at the CCDP. Since he started in this position he has been part of three successful grants and officially took over as Principal Investigator for the CCDP Data Registry – a 5 year longitudinal data registry for patients referred to the program. 

Dr. Nacul’s newest projects include:

  1. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ICanCME) Research-Network. Within Dr. Nacul’s first two months at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Center, he’d hit the ground running and submitted a proposal as co-applicant for this Canada-wide research network focused on ME. To read more about this project, click here.
  2. Unmet Needs of British Columbians living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: Mapping a Provincial Needs Assessment. Dr. Nacul successfully applied for the Vancouver Foundation’s Convene Grant as a Co-principal Investigator alongside Dr. Hilary Robertson of the ME|FM society to support this patient-led planning grant. Read more about it here.
  3. Finally, the most recent addition to Dr. Nacul’s grant portfolio is the funding of an ME study to assess the feasibility of examining neuro-inflammation using Magnetic Resonance Imagery and Magnetic Resonance Elastography technology. This project was created in partnership with the Simon Fraser University ImageTech Lab & Fraser Health Authority, and was funded through the Fraser Centre Research Support Award for Patient-Oriented Research. More information to come on this one, so keep an eye out for updates!

The story of Dr. Nacul and his research program here at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Center is just getting started. We are looking forward to the exciting and much needed research to come for the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patient community!

The Women’s Health Research Institute would like to acknowledge that we are uninvited guests on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lo, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.

As a provincial research institute committed to improving the health outcomes of women, including those across the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum, we recognize our responsibility in the collective effort towards establishing culturally safe health care systems and services that address health inequities among Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit peoples.

We encourage all people involved in research to read both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report, and reflect on ways we can incorporate the recommendations into our work. As we gather in spaces together, we encourage you to reflect on your positionality on these lands and your personal commitments to reconciliation.

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