Bringing together world-class researchers to share knowledge and move research into action.

Dr. Laura Arbour is a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia, and an Affiliate Professor in the Division of Medical Sciences at the University of Victoria. Trained as both pediatrician and clinical geneticist (McGill University) her multifaceted Community Genetics Research Program addresses rare, single gene disorders and complex conditions affecting Indigenous people including Long QT syndrome (LQTS) in Northern BC, primary biliary cholangitis, and the impact of the CPT1A variant on infant and child health in Nunavut.

Her clinical practice encompasses rare genetic disease diagnosis and cardiogenetics. Her Northern BC research on Long QT syndrome in a First Nations community led to the development of the BC Inherited Arrhythmia Program (BCIAP) for all British Columbians with inherited arrhythmias, ongoing since 2013.

She is also currently the project lead (with co-leads Dr. Wyeth Wasserman and Dr. Nadine Caron), for the Genome Canada/Genome BC/CIHR funded Large Scale Applied Research Project, the Silent Genomes Project which addresses equity in genomic diagnosis for Indigenous patients of Canada.

The Silent Genomes project was funded as a CIHR/Genome Canada/Genome BC Large-Scale Applied Research Project (LSARP) in 2018 to address inequity in genomic diagnosis for Indigenous patients across Canada. With Indigenous partnership locally and nationally, issues such as lack of policy surrounding approaches to research for Indigenous patients with rare diseases, challenges to access to genetic/genomic care, and a lack of Indigenous genomic variant reference data necessary for precise diagnosis were tackled.

Now in its final year, Dr. Arbour, the project lead, will present the challenges and successes of the project and the key components needed for sustainability of the Indigenous background variant library in development. The importance of allyship in supporting Indigenous sovereignty including governance of Indigenous data/biomedical samples will be discussed. 

Amy Bombay (Anishinaabe from Rainy River First Nations) completed her MA (2008) and PhD (2012) at Carleton University in Psychology and Neuroscience and a 2-year CIHR Fellowship at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (2014).

In 2014, Amy joined Dalhousie University, being split between the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Nursing. She has led and been involved in various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods projects in collaboration with Indigenous organizations assessing various topics related to health and well-being among Indigenous peoples. Her primary areas of inquiry have focused on exploring the relationships between historical trauma, contemporary stressor exposure, cultural identity, and health outcomes among First Nations adults and youth.

One of her main programs of research has explored the different pathways by which Indian Residential School trauma is transmitted across generations, which has garnered extensive media interest and has been influential in influencing policy and practice related to the health of Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups are less likely to participate in research that involves the collection of biospecimens, in part due to past harms perpetrated by western scientists that have led to a reasonable mistrust towards outside scientists among many. That said, these factors influencing resistance to academic research are becoming less problematic with the implementation of Indigenous-specific research ethics guidelines, and with increasing capacity for research that is led by Indigenous communities, organizations, and researchers.

This presentation will discuss our team’s initiative with the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation to create Ethical Space for First Nations led or partnered health research involving the exploration of human development and biology that considers Indigenous and Western Knowledge. Among other goals that will be discussed, this initiative is aimed at strengthening  capacity in First Nations organizations, communities, and individuals to make informed decisions about participating in or leading research involving the assessment of biological factors.

The story of how our team and this project came together will be shared, including an overview of the following sub-projects:

1. Indigenous Knowledge holder gatherings to discuss human development, biology and health
2. Evaluation of training curriculum as tool to strengthen capacity for First Nations led or partnered biological research
3. Assessing First Nations views towards different types of biological research

Janet Curran is a Professor in the School of Nursing with cross-appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University, Research Chair in Quality and Patient Safety at IWK Health, Nova Scotia Health and Dalhousie University and Implementation Science Co-Lead with the CHILD-BRIGHT Network. She is the Scientific Lead in the Strengthening Transitions in Care lab at IWK Health where her progam of research is focused on co-designing and evaluating best practice and policy change interventions to improve transitions in care for patients and families. Her co-design work is informed by collaborating with multiple stakeholders including patients, parents and caregivers, healthcare providers, and policy makers.

Effective discharge communication is essential to the delivery of high-quality care. Strong patient-provider communication is tied to increased patient experience, improved adherence to recommendations for follow up care and improved health outcomes. Several factors influence patient, caregiver and provider experiences with information exchange at the point of care.

Working with parents, youth and health care providers to co-design discharge communication strategies will require careful examination of these factors, active engagement in decisions about care and health system support.

Dr. Neil Hanchard received his medical degree MBBS with Honours from the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, and his D.Phil. in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford, UK, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Thereafter he completed his clinical training as a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and as a clinical geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Hanchard is currently a Senior Investigator and Stadtman Scholar in the Center for Precision Health Research within the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he heads the Childhood Complex Disease Genomics lab. His research uses quantitative and integrative genomics to better understand the pathophysiology of complex pediatric diseases, with a particular emphasis on the interplay of population genetics and disease susceptibility in diverse populations. The lab’s current research portfolio includes studies of pediatric hypertension, transfusion reactions in sickle cell disease, severe childhood malnutrition, and pediatric HIV.

Dr. Hanchard is an adjunct Associate Professor at BCM, Chair of the Genome Analysis working group of the Human Health and Heredity in Africa (H3Africa) Consortium, Chair of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force of the American Society of Human Genetics, and a Distinguished Scholar of the NIH.

Human Genetics is closely entwined with the promise and delivery of precision medicine for all. Yet, there is a well-documented lack of diversity among the human genetic and genomic studies that are the foundation of the precision medicine movement. Using recent genetic studies in African populations as exemplars, Dr. Hanchard will discuss the importance of filling this ‘gap’, including the opportunities to improve our understanding of health and disease in underrepresented groups, as well as among global populations.

Melissa Kimber, PhD, MSW, RSW, is a Core Member and Assistant Professor at the Offord Centre for Child Studies within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University.

Her team’s research reflects a commitment to improve the lives of children and youth who experience family violence and mental health challenges, as well as the lives of their caregivers and the health professionals who serve them.

Her team utilizes mixed methods and implementation science to: (1) understand the experiences of family violence and mental health challenges among children and their families; (2) identify and evaluate strategies to improve interventions for children who have these experiences; and (3) improve the efficiency and quality with which children receive evidence-informed interventions. Melissa provides clinical care as a social worker, including psychotherapy, to children in the Hamilton community.

The health-related impacts of exposure to family violence (FV), including child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, can be significant and far-reaching. Health professionals play a critical role in recognizing family violence exposures, as well as in preventing possible recurrence and associated impairments. Yet, health professionals report several challenges with this role.

This session will offer models of implementation science as a catalyst for reducing the gap between what we know about how best to recognize and respond to family violence, and what we actually do, in clinical practice. The session will draw on the successes and challenges of a multi-year evaluation of the Violence, Evidence, Guidance, Action (VEGA) Family Violence Education Resources.

Julie-Anne McCarthy (she/her) is a PhD student in the Community Health Sciences Program, with the University of Manitoba, and a Graduate Student Research Assistant with Dr. Tracie Afifi and the Childhood Adversity and Resilience Research Team. She has an Honours Degree in Psychology (UofM), and a Master of Science Degree in Community Psychology (Sacred Heart University, Connecticut).

Julie-Anne’s work experience includes quantitative and qualitative research and practice in Healthcare and Educational settings, crisis intervention, and sessional course instruction. Research interests include mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, adverse childhood experiences, protective factors for children/youth and families, and Francophone minority well-being.

Child maltreatment has been associated with many poor physical and mental health outcomes throughout the lifecourse. This presentation will focus on the role of child maltreatment on child health outcomes from an epidemiological perspective and will include a discussion on implications and recommendations for clinical practice.

Dr. Morriseau (Peguis First Nation) is a postdoctoral fellow supported by the Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She received her PhD from the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) with a focus on gene-environment interactions underlying type 2 diabetes among First Nations youth. In her postdoctoral fellowship, she is working with an interdisciplinary team of academics and community partners within the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba (FNHSSM). Her research aims to support First Nations-led biomedical research by strengthening regional capacity for biobanking and data sovereignty initiatives.

She is committed to broader scientific and societal challenges encompassing Indigenous health, genomics, ethics, and science policy through advisory positions with CIHR, Research Canada, and the Native BioData Consortium (NBDC). She has been a recipient of the WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Award, a Manitoba 150 Women Trailblazer Award, and a University of Manitoba Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

Indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups are less likely to participate in research that involves the collection of biospecimens, in part due to past harms perpetrated by western scientists that have led to a reasonable mistrust towards outside scientists among many. That said, these factors influencing resistance to academic research are becoming less problematic with the implementation of Indigenous-specific research ethics guidelines, and with increasing capacity for research that is led by Indigenous communities, organizations, and researchers.

This presentation will discuss our team’s initiative with the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation to create Ethical Space for First Nations led or partnered health research involving the exploration of human development and biology that considers Indigenous and Western Knowledge. Among other goals that will be discussed, this initiative is aimed at strengthening capacity in First Nations organizations, communities, and individuals to make informed decisions about participating in or leading research involving the assessment of biological factors.

The story of how our team and this project came together will be shared, including an overview of the following sub-projects:

1. Indigenous Knowledge holder gatherings to discuss human development, biology and health
2. Evaluation of training curriculum as tool to strengthen capacity for First Nations led or partnered biological research
3. Assessing First Nations views towards different types of biological research

Dr. Kendra Nelson Ferguson is a postdoctoral associate in the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL) at Western University. Her main areas of research include: (1) physical and mental well-being of teens; and (2) the social contexts, meanings, and motives surrounding teen vaping practices, with emphasis on how contextual and structural factors shape teens’ engagement.

Kendra has been the project coordinator on several large scale CIHR-funded projects, including “Teens Talk Vaping”, and utilizes her qualitative expertise to understand the experiences and perspectives of the individuals under study.

The Teens Talk Vaping session will share insights from a youth participatory research project that sought to explore the social contexts surrounding teen vaping practices in Canada. Embedded in this approach was a capacity-building program to train teens as ‘co-researchers’, recognizing the importance of youth voices in mobilizing community change. 

Alexandra Noël received her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, her master’s in Occupational and Environmental Health, as well as her PhD in Public Health, with a specialization in Toxicology and Risk Assessment, all from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada).

She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences at Louisiana State University. She conducts in vitro and in vivo inhalation toxicology studies on cardio-pulmonary effects resulting from in utero and adult exposures to second-hand smoke, electronic-cigarette aerosols, and nanoparticles. Her publication record includes 34 peer-reviewed scientific articles that generated over 470 citations.

Dr. Noël’s laboratory is presently funded by the NIEHS and the NHLBI.

Over 1.6 million Canadians aged 15 and older, which includes women of childbearing age, reported vaping in the past 30 days. Although recent epidemiological studies show that maternal vaping is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including small for gestational age infants, the effects of inhaling electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) aerosols on the health of both mothers and fetuses remain largely unknown. Using mouse models, this presentation will highlight how in utero exposures to ENDS aerosols during the critical period of fetal lung development result in unfavorable pulmonary responses later in life.

Dr. Jamie Seabrook is Chair and Professor in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at Brescia University College, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at Western University. Dr. Seabrook is also a Scientist with Children’s Health Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute, and a Faculty Associate of the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory. Dr. Seabrook’s research focuses on the social determinants of child health disparities and adolescent substance use. In 2019, Dr. Seabrook received the Award for Excellence in Research at Brescia University College.

This presentation will discuss how the environment influences youth vaping habits. It will explore what is known about the geographic distribution of vape retailers and vape advertisements around schools, how accessibility and exposure in youth environments can influence their vaping behaviours, and potential policy interventions for mitigating risks. 

Dr. Kathryn Sibley (she/ her) is a settler of British descent and associate professor in Community Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Sibley holds a Canada Research Chair in Integrated Knowledge Translation in Rehabilitation Sciences. Her research is advancing the science and practice of integrated knowledge translation and optimizing implementation of fall prevention and rehabilitation services for older adults.

As Director of Knowledge Translation at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, Dr. Sibley provides support to generate and facilitate the use of knowledge to improve the health of Manitobans.

The extent to which research-based knowledge has translated to societal impact remains sub-optimal. I will discuss how implementation science, the study of methods to promote systematic uptake of research findings into everyday practice, actively works towards impact. I will introduce conceptual frameworks, tools, and resources for incorporating implementation science in child health research and beyond.

Dr. Taylor-Cousar is a tenured professor of adult and pediatric pulmonary medicine at National Jewish Health, where she serves as the Medical Director of Clinical Research Services, President of the Medical Staff, and is co-director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Program and Director of the CF Therapeutics Development Network center.

She received her undergraduate degree in human biology from Stanford University, and completed her doctorate in medicine, combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics, and her combined fellowship in adult and pediatric pulmonary medicine at Duke University. She obtained her Master of Clinical Science from the University of Colorado.

With coordinated care, increased understanding of disease pathophysiology, and the development of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapies for >90% of people with CF (pwCF) in the U.S., median predicted survival is now 56 years. However, continued therapeutic development is needed to ensure that all pwCF have effective therapies.

Vivien Truong is currently a Genetic Counselling Trainee at the University of Manitoba. Her thesis project focuses on exploring the experiences and needs of caregivers of children with rare disease while navigating the diagnostic journey. Prior to entering this program, she completed her Master’s of Science at the University of Guelph, specializing in reproductive biology and studied the effects of cannabis on male fertility. Her research interests include BIPOC patient experiences, patient decision-making, improving genetics healthcare access and delivery, and developmental genetics. 

Objectives: 

1. To understand the challenges associated with the rare disease diagnostic journey. 
2. To review the influence of demographic factors on healthcare quality, access, and preference. 
3. To appreciate the significance of capturing the needs and experiences of caregivers of children with rare disease. 

Dr. Jessica Yue is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Alberta. She completed her doctoral degree at the University of Toronto and post-doctoral training at the Toronto General Research Institute. 

Dr. Yue’s research focuses on delineating brain mechanisms that coordinate whole-body metabolism. Her laboratory has been supported by the CIHR, NSERC, Diabetes Canada, and CFI. Some of her awards include: i) Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in brain regulation of metabolism; ii) Canadian Diabetes Association Scholar Award; and iii) Canadian Lipoprotein Conference Young Investigator Award.

She is a member of the UofA’s Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids (MCBL) Group, the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, and the Alberta Diabetes Institute where she also serves on their Research Coordinating Committee.

The brain plays a key role in orchestrating whole-body metabolism. However, brain pathways that couple the body’s energy needs with nutrient intake and endogenous nutrient output are vulnerable to dysregulation in metabolic disorders such as obesity. This talk focuses on the actions of stress-related hormones in the brain that regulate glucose metabolism and energy balance in health and in insulin resistance.