The Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) is very pleased to congratulate the recipient of the 2026 Dr. Monica K. Li and Family Undergraduate Medical Student Research Award in Women’s Health.
Thanks to an annual endowment by Dr. Monica K. Li and family to the BC Women’s Health Foundation, the WHRI has established the Dr. Monica K. Li and Family Undergraduate Medical Student Research Award in Women’s Health, a funding opportunity specific to our undergraduate medical student trainee community.
This award is intended to provide support to WHRI-affiliated medical students who identify as a woman from racial/ethnic minority groups to pursue research in women’s and/or newborn health under the mentorship of a WHRI researcher. This award can be used to support summer research placements, UBC FLEX research projects or other types of research activities.
This year, the WHRI offered one award, valued at $3,400, for a one-year period.
2026 AWARD RECIPIENT
Recipient
Ashley Mutasa, Year 1 Medical Student, Doctor of Medicine Program, University of British Columbia
Project Supervisor
Dr. Manon Ranger, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia
Project Title
Exploring the Neural Response to a Stress-Reducing Therapeutic Device in Preterm Infants
Project Aims
Preterm birth (born at <36 weeks’ gestational age) remains a major contributor to neonatal neurodevelopmental disability and infant death. Infants born preterm are exposed to repeated, developmentally unexpected stressors and may undergo 7-17 painful procedures daily, many of which provoke significant physiological stress responses. Skin-to-skin care (SSC) is an effective intervention to mitigate this stress, improving brain development and physiological stability. However, continuous parental presence is not always possible in the NICU. To address this gap, the Calmer, a unique, patented therapeutic bed that mimics the aspects of SSC was developed. Calmer fits inside NICU incubators and delivers key SSC stimuli: touch, breathing motion and heartbeat sounds. Previous findings have demonstrated that Calmer reduces infant stress behaviours, heart rate responses, and stabilizes brain blood flow during a medically required blood draw. Despite these promising findings, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying Calmer’s effects remain poorly understood. Electroencephalography (EEG) provides a non-invasive, bedside method to measure cortical activity and is well-suited to capturing dynamic brain responses in preterm infants.
This project aims to examine how the preterm infant brain responds to Calmer when at rest and during a stressful, routine event (diaper change) compared to when it is not receiving Calmer. Understanding how Calmer modulates brain activity during both rest and routine stressors will provide critical insight into its potential neuroprotective effects and inform future interventions in neonatal care.