Announcing the recipients of the 2019 Women's Health Research Institute Catalyst Grants ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
 
@womensresearch | December 2019
 
June 2019 (1)
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Pan Canadian women’s Health Research Collaborative Mini-Summit

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On November 14-15, 2019, the leaders of Canada’s three women’s health research institutes (Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver; Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Edmonton; and Women’s College Research Institute, Toronto) came together for the first time to discuss the present and future of research that strives to close the health gaps for women. Research leads (Dr. Lori Brotto, Dr. Sandy Davidge, and Dr. Paula Rochon) led a panel discussion facilitated by CTV News Anchor, Marcia MacMillan, focused on the current challenges we face in women’s health, and discussing how a collaboration among our three research institutes may address these challenges. The three Foundation CEOs (BC Women’s Health Foundation, Genesa Greening; Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, Sharlene Rutherford;  and Women’s  College Hospital Foundation, Jennifer Bernard) also participated in the panel and discussed opportunities for partnership amongst the Foundations in a manner that would raise the profile of women’s health and research across Canada.  The attendees included past donors, the Ontario Strategy for Patient Oriented Research, various women corporate leaders, the federal Ministry of Health, and staff from our Communications teams.

A full day facilitated strategy session on November 15 then built on the excitement from the evening before and was focused on the opportunities for collaboration, the potential structure of our partnership, and what processes would need to be in place to facilitate our success. The day ended with a commitment and an excitement for moving our foundational discussions about partnership to the next stage. This will involve identifying some specific short term goals and needed infrastructure to move our collaboration forward.

Thank you to Senior Research Manager, Dr. Kathryn Dewar, and Scientific Advisor to the WHRI, Dr. Liisa Galea, for participating as well.  Stay tuned for updates about this exciting partnership in the months ahead!

 
 

Announcing the recipients of the 2019 Women's Health Research Institute Catalyst Grants

The Women’s Health Research Institute is very pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2019 Women’s Health Research Institute Catalyst Grants. This competition was funded thanks to the dedicated support of the BC Women’s Health Foundation.

Read the full announcement.

 
 

Let's get digital!

Check out some of the stories we shared throughout Digital Health Week (November 11th - 18th), and save the date for our upcoming Women's Health Research Symposium where we'll be exploring some of the ways that BC researchers are navigating the world of digital health!

We spoke to Dr. Caroline Sanders and her team about their experiences in the digital health space, and their ideas about harnessing technology to empower patients.

Learn about #LifeAndLoveWithHIV, an online space for women living with HIV to reclaim their sexuality and shift the narrative from risk to pleasure.

Can mHealth help save lives? Dr. Beth Payne’s research is exploring the use of mobile devices to aid decision in high-risk situations.

 
 

Dr. Deborah Money receives a Red Ribbon Award

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Every year on December 1st around the world is "World AIDS Day". AIDS Vancouver’s continuing tradition is to hold their Red Ribbon Awards on this day to help honour the people and organizations that have helped support people living with HIV over the years.

This year it was hosted at the Junction on Davie St. New and familiar faces gathered to celebrate the hard work and dedication of the recipients of the awards. Hosted by Carmen Ruiz & Mark Hurtubise, it was an eventful night with lots of smiles, laughs and stories to be remembered.

Among the 8 recipients this year was Dr Deborah Money. Dr. Money is the Executive Vice Dean at the UBC Faculty of Medicine and a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, associate member in the Department of Medicine and the School of Population and Public Health, and active clinician and researcher in Reproductive Infectious Diseases.  She trained with a BSc in Microbiology, then completed her MD followed by her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UBC and a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington. She has published more than 190 peer reviewed publications and has received more than $24M in peer reviewed funding. She is the past- Vice President, Research at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, Provincial Health Services Authority, past-President of the Infectious Diseases Society of Obstetrics & Gynecology (US).  ​

 
 

BC Women's Health Foundation announced a new Strategic Plan

The new plan demonstrates their shift from a singular hospital foundation to a pan-provincial health foundation. They have rebuilt the Foundation to stand on four key pan-provincial pillars to ensure exemplary healthcare for women through providing holistic, solutions-focussed philanthropy that delivers tangible societal impact:
  1. Capital + Equipment
  2. Research + Innovation
  3. Education + Awareness
  4. Advocacy
Read the newly released Strategic Plan.
 
 

Sex, Pain & Endometriosis

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Congratulations to WHRI members Dr. Fuchsia Howard, Dr. Paul Yong, Heather Noga and the Endometriosis Patient Research Advisory Board for winning the best e-poster competition at the recent BC Support Unit Conference 2020!

This project is using an integrated knowledge translation and patient oriented research approach to develop an online platform for people with endometriosis who experience painful sex.  We look forward to the official launch of the site in May 2020!

Click to view their poster.

 
 

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Angela Kaida and Sarah Spencer penned a powerful piece about the impacts of Canada's current approach to criminalizing those who don’t disclose that they’re living with HIV to sexual partners, urging the government to heed the experiences of all women living with HIV.

Is there a relationship between combined hormonal contraception and bone mineral density in adolescent women? In honour of Osteoporosis Month, we spoke to Dr. Azita Goshtasebi about the latest research from the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research.

The Reproductive Infectious Diseases research team has a new publication! Read it online in the Canadian Liver Journal: Stability of hepatitis B viral load during pregnancy and implications for antepartum prophylaxis: a prospective cohort study

 
 

OPPORTUNITIES

Funding

MSFHR has announced their 2020 Innovation to Commercialization Competition. New this year is a committment to increasing the number of funded women applicants!  
LOI Deadline: January 27, 2020.

Events

Registration is now open for Medical Disorders and Pregnancy 2020. This is an accredited, educational conference designed for practitioners that deal with the management of disorders in pregnant patients. 

MSFHR is offering support for BC research trainees to attend the 2020 Fuse International Conference on Knowledge Exchange in Public Health

Join the UBC Women's Health Research Cluster for their Women's Health Seminar Series

Registration is open for the second Global Health Conference, co-hosted by UBC School of Population and Public Health and the Centre for International Child Health.
 
 

Thank you!


December 5th is International Volunteer Day. Thank you to all of our dedicated volunteers for working with us to move the needle on women's health.