A message from Dr. Lori Brotto

Dear WHRI members,

I am excited to resume my role as Executive Director of the WHRI after a 6 month sabbatical, during which I focused my time on supporting students, launching some new research projects, and engaging in various knowledge translation endeavours, including writing a book and being a guest on several podcasts and docuseries. I am extremely grateful to Gina Ogilvie, who served as the Acting Executive Director, and to Kathryn Dewar, the WHRI’s senior research manager, who tag-teamed to ensure that the WHRI continued to live out our vision of “Leading research: Better health for all women.” I am looking forward to re-engaging with our staff and our growing membership over the coming months to explore novel and innovative ways that we can achieve this vision. If you are a new member who has joined in the past six months, I invite you to reach out to me to meet.

Also in the past six months, you, our WHRI community, have been busy! In examining the most recent results for the Spring 2022 CIHR Project Grant competition, WHRI members performed quite well in securing 20% of the Project Grants awarded to UBC Investigators! In total, 33% of the WHRI members who submitted a Project Grant as either a Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator were funded, with several more WHRI members listed on successful projects as Co-Investigators. These rates are very impressive given the fiercely competitive funding climate we all face. I realize that many of you were not successful in this round of funding, and I hope you feel encouraged to apply again. This is also a time to remind you of the joint WHRI-BCCHR grant development services which you can read more about here.

I hope you enjoy this month’s WHRI e-blast, where you can read about these projects (and more) in more depth.

Sincerely,

Lori Brotto, PhD, R Psych

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:
Graduate and Fellowship Research Award in Women's Health

Please forward this announcement to any graduate students or postdoctoral fellows you supervise or who are involved with your research.

The Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI), in partnership with the BC Ministry of Health and the BC Women’s Health Foundation, is pleased to announce the 2022 Graduate and Fellowship Research Award in Women's Health. This award is intended to provide salary support to WHRI-affiliated graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are engaged in women’s and/or newborn health research and who do not currently hold major competitive salary awards.

Funds Available

Two graduate-level awards and one postdoctoral-level award valued at $21,000 each, for a one-year period.

Application Deadline

September 19, 2022, 11PM PDT

CIHR Success

Congratulations to the recipients of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research 2022 Spring Project Grant Competition. We were thrilled to see 12 WHRI and BCCHR-WHRI joint members represented across 8 Project Grants.

If you are considering a fall application, reach out to Eric Lussier, Research Development Facilitator.

Congratulations and Farewell to Dr. Arianne Albert

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The name Arianne Albert has become a staple at the WHRI and for its members over the past decade. As Senior Biostatistician, she has provided mentorship and support of trainees, contributed to grant applications, and performed robust analyses. With that, it is with mixed emotions we announce that Arianne’s last day at the WHRI will be September 2nd.

Arianne has accepted the role of Principal Consultant and Head of the Data Analytics Department for Environmental Resources Management's North American offices.

Congratulations, Arianne, on your return to a field you are so passionate about. Also, thank you, for your dedicated and exceptional work in the field of women’s health.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS + REGISTRATION

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Are you a trainee, student, fellow, or other researcher in training?  We invite you to submit your project as an abstract for the opportunity to present at our World Sexual Health Day event on September 7th at 12:00 pm. Your research can be at any stage. Submit your abstract by Friday August 26, 2022 at 5 pm Pacific.

Are you interested in the latest sexual health research? Registration is now open for this free and virtual event.

WHRI members receive awards from CIHR, UBC, and more

We invite you to join us in congratulating the WHRI investigators who were recipients of the CIHR Patient-Oriented Research Awards, the CIHR Operating Grant: POPCORN Supplement, the UBC Faculty of Medicine Spring 2022 Health Innovation Funding, the BC Quality Awards and the StudentAid BC Graduate Scholarship. 

Congratulations, everyone!

CIHR announces the Canada Graduate Scholarships: Master’s Awards

Congratulations to trainee members Sabine El-Halabi, Amané Halicki-Asakawa, Claire Lawrence, and Kelsey Martin, recipients of the 2022 Canada Graduate Scholarships: Master’s Awards!

UBC announces Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Awards

The University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine has announced the recipients of its 2022 Distinguished Achievement Awards. The awards recognize “faculty members who exemplify exceptional contributions in the areas of education, research and/or service, and who are dedicated to advancing both the Faculty’s values and vision of transforming health for everyone.”

We would like to extend a warm congratulations to Dr. Patricia Janssen and Dr. Sarah Munro who were among this year’s recipients.

Dr. Angela Kaida

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WHRI Scientific Advisor and SFU Professor Dr. Angela Kaida has been recognized as one of nine Distinguished SFU Professors.

Angela Kaida holds a Canada Research Chair Tier II in global perspectives in HIV and sexual and reproductive health. In collaboration with communities, she works to advance inter-disciplinary scholarship to address the social and structural forces that compromise (or protect) sexual and reproductive health and rights of HIV-affected women and youth, in global and Canadian contexts. She was recently honoured with the Canadian Association for HIV Research and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research Excellence in HIV Research Award.

Exploring arts-based knowledge translation with the HIV Made Me Fabulous team

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This month on @WomensResearch we were excited to welcome Dr. Kaida and her colleagues Juno Roche, Edmond Kilpatrick, and Azra Bhanji to discuss their collaboration, process, and vision behind the short film, HIV Made Me Fabulous. 

Before listening to this episode, we encourage you to view the film (which screened last week at ATLASDOCs Film Festival in Montreal, the 1st International HIV Documentary Festival!) at lifeandlovewithhiv.ca/film.

Open Office Hours Continue

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Get to know the WHRI Staff and join our open office hours. The second Thursday of each month you can interact with our Digital Health Manager, Research Development Facilitator, Knowledge Translation Manager, and Communications Coordinator to learn about our services and to get support for your projects.

This month, drop in virtually via Zoom or in-person in the H214 meeting room at the Women's Health Research Institute offices on August 11th.