Aboriginal Health Research News – February 2013

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Message from Dr. Malcolm King, IAPH Scientific Director

Photo: From left: Drs. Malcolm King, Alain Beaudet, Carrie Bourassa and Lynn Wells at First Nations University on January 30, 2013

I’ve had the opportunity to travel this winter – what’s new? First, on my way to a meeting in Ottawa, I stopped off in Sudbury for a short visit to Northern Ontario Medical School (NOSM) and Laurentian University. I was very warmly received on a bitterly cold January day by an audience with a great interest in Aboriginal health research. My noon-time lecture at NOSM was distributed to a wide audience that included Thunder Bay in addition to several regional centres. There was much interest in Pathways to Health Equity, as well as in other CIHR strategic initiatives, including the Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) and our Priority Announcements in the Open Competition.

The next week, at the end of January, I found myself in Regina, despite some very cold weather. I joined CIHR President Alain Beaudet and two of his staff for meetings about the reforms to the Open Competition, as well as CIHR Strategic Initiatives. Both institutions, University of Regina and First Nations University, have active interests in Aboriginal health research, and we found out about many collaborations within Saskatchewan and beyond. Researchers in both Sudbury and Regina have developed many good community connections, as well as excellent networks bringing in a wide range of topics and skills. Thanks in particular to NEAHR researchers Wayne Warry and Sheila Cote-Meek in Sudbury, and Jo-Ann Episkenew and Carrie Bourassa in Regina.

The next week, my travel was more local – a visit to the BC First Nations Health Authority in North Vancouver. No air travel and winter boots this time, just a bus ride across the beautiful Lion’s Gate Bridge, umbrella in hand. Research at FNHA is a collaboration between the FNHA itself, First Nations and Inuit Health BC Region, and the BC Ministry of Health. There were many exciting possibilities – the Pathways topics of suicide and diabesity, certainly, as well as SPOR networks, and much interest in how FNHA might partner with CIHR and its academic communities. Stay tuned.

As the Scientific Director of IAPH, I have the privilege of meeting with researchers and community leaders across the country to talk about what CIHR and its Institutes are doing to address important health issues. It is also an opportunity for people to share with me their ideas and/or concerns about CIHR and the Institutes. If for whatever reason our paths do not cross and you have concerns or questions about IAPH or CIHR, please email me and I would be delighted to help in whatever way I can.

Malcolm King, PhD

Institute Advisory Board Renewal

CIHR is renewing the membership of its thirteen Institute Advisory Boards (IABs). Online applications for the 11th annual cycle of IAB renewal can be submitted, via ResearchNet, from February 15, 2013 to April 15, 2013. IABs will be composed of 12 members in 2013.

Detailed instructions on how to apply to become an IAB member are available on the CIHR website.

Multi-sectoral Partnerships to Promote Healthy Living and Prevent Chronic Disease

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has released an Invitation to Submit a Letter of Intent for projects in the areas of healthy living, chronic disease prevention, and tobacco. The intention of this invitation is to provide an on-going opportunity for stakeholders to submit project ideas that support Multi-sectoral Partnerships to Promote Healthy Living and Prevent Chronic Disease.

Please note that there is no deadline to submit your Letter of Intent as the Agency is using a continuous intake approach whereby applicants can submit their project ideas at any time for consideration. You can expect a response to your submission within 45 days. If your Letter of Intent is successful, you will be invited to develop a full proposal for funding by way of a directed solicitation.

For details on this invitation, please visit PHAC’s website or send an e-mail to PSD-DPS@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

There will also be three teleconferences for any outstanding questions or clarifications:

  • Wednesday March 6 @ 1 p.m. (EST)
  • Wednesday March 20 @ 1 p.m. (EST)

Phone lines are limited so you are asked to register for a session by e-mail.

Profile: Banting Fellowship Awardee

Dr. Cory Harris
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University

Among the fellows funded through CIHR are some whose research seeks to improve the wellness and health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. One of them is Dr. Cory Harris, a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University’s Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. His research explores the diverse yet interconnected ways that plant biodiversity contributes to human health, particularly among Aboriginal populations in Canada. With overarching themes of chronic disease prevention, food security, resource management and ethical care, his research aims to develop culturally appropriate and community-based interventions to improve wellness and prevent disease.

Dr. Harris studies how plants affect human health through different perspectives (or using different approaches). This means looking at the chemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of plants as they are used by different cultures, as well as the effect the plants have on how people think, feel, and behave in their communities. Working with the Cree of northern Québec, the Cree Board of Health and an interdisciplinary team of researchers, he investigates both the anti-diabetic potential of local food and medicinal plants as well as the nutritional contributions of fruits, vegetables and other plants to contemporary diets. Interested in the relationship between traditional healing and biomedicine, he also seeks to explore the obstacles, risks and benefits of increased cooperation between Indigenous and Western systems of health.

Recently, Dr. Harris teamed up with fellow Banting scholar Dr. Mélanie Lemire (Université de Laval) and Inuit communities in Nunavik to study the benefits of traditional foods in terms of diabetes, exposure to environmental contaminants and, more broadly, community health. Focusing on fish, marine mammals, berries and seaweeds – the “functional foods” of the North – this project looks to both traditional knowledge and the scientific method to develop innovative public health initiatives and sustainable harvesting practices.

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program aims to build world-class research capacity by recruiting top-tier Canadian and international postdoctoral researchers at an internationally competitive level of funding.

China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiative

IAPH encourages researchers interested in studying health equity, health policy and health care delivery models to consider applying to the China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiative (2013). This funding opportunity is relevant to Aboriginal Peoples’ health because it is open to applications examining the effectiveness of different methods of integrating population health approaches to improve equity of access and outcomes of primary health care for vulnerable populations.

The specific objective of the China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiative (2013) is to promote the development of Canadian-Chinese scientific co-operation between researchers located at universities, hospitals, research institutes or affiliated research organizations in Canada and China through the support of collaborative research grants.

Application Deadline is March 19, 2013
  • For Canada-based researchers, the maximum amount awarded for a single grant is up to C$75,000 per year for up to three years.
  • For China-based researchers, the maximum amount awarded for a single grant is the equivalent of up to 333,333 RMB per year for up to three years.

Funding Results

IAPH would like to congratulate the researchers who were successful in the Operating Grant – Priority Announcement Fall 2012: First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health.

Jacob Burack (McGill University)
The impact of cultural identification on the risk, well-being and mental health of Aboriginal youth from communities in Canada and the United States

Cynthia Jardine (University of Alberta)
Engaging Aboriginal Youth in Tobacco Prevention Using Social Media

Kirsten Johnson (McGill University)
Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence in Inuit Communities in Canada

Mary Jane McCallum (University of Winnipeg)
Indigenous History of Tuberculosis in Manitoba 1930-1970

Aleck Ostry (University of Victoria)
The Health Impacts of Mining on Aboriginal Communities in British Columbia

Kevin Schwartzman (The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre)
Modeling the impact of interventions for tuberculosis control in Inuit communities

Ellen Toth (University of Alberta)
Diabetes in pregnancy in Aboriginal women: a mixed-methods study in three provinces

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