Text SizeResearch Advisory Council
The Research Advisory Council (RAC) provides advice and makes recommendations to the MSFHR Board of Directors on all research and peer review issues.
Biomedical
Ronald G. Barr, MA, MDCM, FRCPC
Dr. Barr’s research focuses on understanding the significant interactions between caregivers and infants, on both behavioural and biological levels, that contribute to infants benefiting from the challenges of early development. Research areas include: developmental/behavioural pediatrics ; infant pain; infant crying and colic; inflicted abuse prevention; shaken baby syndrome; nutrient effects on behavior; and infant memory. Current research projects include: the effect of feeding, nutrients and mother’s voice on infant memory; affective responses to prolonged crying bouts in infants; a PDA (Palm Pilot) version of the “Baby’s Day Diary”; and “The Period of PURPLE Crying” intervention program to prevent shaken baby syndrome.
Aziz Ghahary, PhD
Dr. Aziz Ghahary is a Professor in the UBC Department of Surgery and Director of the BC Professional Firefighter’s Burn and Wound Healing Research Group at Vancouver General Hospital. Dr. Ghahary and his team have discovered communication among different types of cells in the skin is crucial to successful healing. They have isolated a protein that is key to the communication, a discovery that is essential to understanding why some wounds fail to heal. Dr. Ghahary is currently developing a shelf-ready topical cream containing the purified protein, as well as an actual skin substitute that can be applied to burns and wounds to allow the skin to heal properly. Dr. Ghahary’s extensive publication record includes more than 140 papers and more than 180 abstracts and major conference presentations. He has been awarded more than 40 research grants and has twice been the recipient of the United Nations Development Award. Dr. Ghahary graduated in 1976 from the School of Medicine at the University of Tehran, Iran, and received his PhD in 1988 from the University of Manitoba School of Medicine, Department of Physiology. He joined the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine in 1990, and has held the position of Professor in the UBC Department of Surgery since 2003.
Kerry Reimer, PhD
Dr. Reimer is an assistant professor at the University of Northern British Columbia and Chair of the programs in chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, environmental science and environmental engineering. His research interests include the study of synthetic carbohydrate chemistry and the biological interactions of complex carbohydrates. This has included work on the synthesis of bacterial cell-wall carbohydrate antigens, the chemical synthesis of glycopeptides, and the synthesis of enzyme substrates of carbohydrate origin. He obtained his PhD from Simon Fraser University.
Ryan Rhodes, PhD
Dr. Rhodes holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Exercise Psychology from the University of British Columbia. He completed his PhD in Behavioral Medicine at the University of Alberta and began a faculty position at the University of Victoria in June of 2001. His primary research and teaching area is focused on the psychology of physical activity and sedentary behaviour. He has applied interests in early family development of physical activity and special populations. In 2004, Dr. Rhodes created the innovative Behavioural Medicine (BMED) lab, which is home to a multidisciplinary team focused on conducting research on the behavioural and psychological aspects of physical activity and population health. Dr. Rhodes has published more than 125 peer-reviewed papers and holds several grants from different agencies. He was a MSFHR Scholar 2003-2008, a CIHR New Investigator 2006-2011 and he currently holds a Canadian Cancer Society Senior Scientist Award 2011-2016. He was awarded the 2008 Distinguished Scholar Award from the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity for his contributions to the field of exercise psychology.
Bruce Verchere, PhD, RAC Chair
Dr. Bruce Verchere is a professor in the departments of surgery and pathology & laboratory medicine at the University of British Columbia and Head of the Diabetes Research Program at the Child & Family Research Institute. He holds the Irving K Barber Chair in Diabetes Research at UBC. His research focuses on understanding how pancreatic beta cells normally function, and why they are dysfunctional and die in type 1 and type 2 diabetes and following islet transplantation. Verchere received his PhD in physiology from the University of British Columbia.
Clinical
Jennifer Gardy, PhD
Dr. Gardy leads BCCDC’s Genome Research Laboratory and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia. She obtained her BSc from UBC in 2000 and completed her PhD at Simon Fraser University in 2006 under Dr. Fiona Brinkman, working on computational methods for prediction of protein localization in bacteria. She completed three years of post-doctoral training in the R.E.W. Hancock laboratory at UBC, using systems biology techniques to study the mammalian innate immune response and working on visualization tools to facilitate scientists’ exploration of biological network data. Dr. Gardy joined BCCDC in 2009, where she works in the emerging field of genomic epidemiology, combining whole genome sequencing with both new and old epidemiological techniques to understand the origins, evolution, and transmission dynamics of outbreak organisms. She is also a passionate science communicator involved in a number of science media projects.
Malcolm Ogborn, MBBS, FRACP, FRCPC
Dr. Ogborn is the Associate Vice-President, Research (Health), at the University of Northern British Columbia. Dr. Ogborn was the Western Canadian representative on the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program, and was part of the steering group forming a Canadian Council for Child Health Research and the Child and Youth Research Network. He has been a member of the steering group for the Maternal Infant Child and Youth Research network. Dr Ogborn is a kidney specialist for children and in addition to hospital based programs, he has provided remote clinical service and community health education support in Thompson and the Island Lake areas of Northern Manitoba. He graduated from Medicine at the University of Adelaide and did post-graduate medical, pediatric and research training at Flinders University, South Australia, University of Western Australia, including a period providing pediatric service with the Royal Flying Doctor service in the Kimberley area of Western Australia.
Sohrab Shah, PhD
Dr. Sohrab Shah holds Bachelor’s degrees in Biology (from Queen’s University) and Computer Science (from the University of British Columbia). He worked as a Software Developer at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics Bioinformatics Core, and was Chief, High Throughput Bioinformatics at the UBC Bioinformatics Centre, before obtaining a Masters degree and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Bioinformatics from the University of British Columbia in 2008. Dr. Shah performed his postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Drs. Sam Aparicio and David Huntsman at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, before starting his own research group at the Agency in 2010. Dr. Shah’s research is devoted to the development and application of statistical models for inferring genomic abnormalities from high dimensional genomic measurements in tumour samples.
David Vocadlo, PhD
Dr. David Vocadlo, of Simon Fraser University, is pushing the boundaries of knowledge using innovative chemistry approaches in the field of glycobiology to generate new treatment options for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Vocadlo’s team is studying the dynamic post-translational glycosylation of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins with O-GlcNAc. O-GlcNAc plays key biological roles in development and has been implicated in diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Vocadlo’s team aims to develop new tools for studying the role of intracellular glycosylation in cells and tissues as well as the enzymes involved in these processes. His team uses a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to addressing questions in the field. As Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology, Dr. Vocadlo is undertaking a multi-disciplinary approach to his research of the post-translational modification in proteins that combines cellular and molecular biology, organic chemistry, structural biology and proteomics (the study and categorization of proteins), and biophysics. His research uses an impressive range of analytical tools, including advanced techniques in mass spectrometry, chemical synthesis of alternative forms of carbohydrates, and X-ray crystallographic analysis of enzyme structure. Dr. Vocadlo is a recipient of a 2011 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship for his investigative research.
Health Services
Gweneth Doane, RN, BSN, MA, PhD
Dr. Gweneth Doane is a Professor in the School of Nursing. Her academic work has focused on the integration of research, education and practice in nursing. Toward that end she has undertaken scholarly projects and written extensively in areas such as relational inquiry; learning/teaching; family health promotion and ethics. Her current research includes an educative-research project working with clinical educators and nursing leaders to enhance end-of-life care (with Dr. Kelli Stadjuhar) and (in collaboration with the UVic Learning and Teaching Center) an educative-research project focused on enhancing the professional development of graduate students.
Martha MacLeod, PhD, RN
Dr. Martha MacLeod comes from a professional and practice background in nursing management and continuing education. She has been at the University of Northern British Columbia since 1994. She Chairs the School of Nursing and teaches in the areas of leadership, research, knowledge translation, and advanced community practice. Her research is on the nature of everyday experience and how professional practice may be developed or hindered within health care organizations, particularly those in rural, remote, and northern settings. She has published and presented widely on rural and northern nursing issues, nursing education, and professional practice. Dr. MacLeod has a partnered research program with BC’s Northern Health and is active in national and regional multidisciplinary rural and remote health and health human resources research networks.
Margot Parkes, MBChB, MAS, PhD
Dr. Margot Parkes came to northern BC to examine the effect of changing ecosystems on the health and well-being of communities, with a focus on water as a common resource for livelihoods, food security, culture and economies. Her work will bring together organizations, communities and researchers involved in health and water governance in the northern Fraser River Basin, which includes Prince George, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Fraser Lake, McBride, Valemount, and Vanderhoof. The results of her research are intended to provide practical guidance for integrating health and environmental decision-making in BC, across Canada, and beyond. Margot holds a faculty appointment in the Health Sciences Program at UNBC.
Victoria Schuckel, MA
Victoria Schuckel has worked in the mental health policy and corporate research portfolio over the past two decades. While in the mental health area, Victoria worked with diverse mental health stakeholders supporting research transfer initiatives related to best practices. During this time Victoria spent more than five years working to develop a policy agenda to address clinical and support needs of women with mental illness, informed through consultations with a variety of stakeholders and researchers. As Director of Research, Victoria supports the Ministry of Health’s capacity for evidence-informed policy and planning and works to increase collaboration and coordination with external research units and funders. Victoria coordinates activities related to Ministry research priorities and capacity and transfer issues, and manages contracts for research activities and institutes. She also participates in a range of initiatives involving other ministries and stakeholders who have academic and economic development interests in health research.
Colleen Varcoe, PhD, RN
Dr. Colleen Varcoe is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on women’s health (with emphasis on violence and inequity) and the culture of health care (with emphasis on ethics) and aims to promote ethical practice and policy in the context of violence and inequity. Her recently completed studies include a Health Canada-funded exploration of the interacting risks of violence and HIV infection for rural and Aboriginal women, a CIHR-funded study of rural maternity care for Aboriginal women, and a CIHR-funded study on ethics and health policy. She is currently co-leading: a longitudinal study of the effects of violence for women who have left abusive partners, a study examining primary health care at urban Aboriginal health clinics, and a study of Aboriginal women’s experiences of leaving abusive partners. She is Nominated PI of a newly funded study of a primary health care intervention for Aboriginal women who have experienced violence, and co-PI of a newly funded study to promote health equity. Awards received in the past 5 years include: the Sigma Theta Tau International Honour Society, Excellence in Nursing Award (2009), a Senior Early Career Scholar Award, Peter Wall Center UBC (2008), the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International Award for Excellence in Research (2007) and the College of Registered Nurses of BC: Award of Excellence in Nursing Research (2006).
Population Health
Erica Frank, MD, MPH
Dr. Erica Frank is a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and a Canada Research Chair in Preventive Medicine and Population Health. She specializes in preventive medicine, and her research emphasizes the degree to which a clinician's positive health habits influence patients' positive health habits. Dr. Frank leads the world's first free university, NextGenerationUniversity.org (globaluni.info, nextgenu.org). Dr. Frank received her medical doctorate from Mercer University, completed her internship at the Cleveland Clinic, her preventive medicine residency at Yale, and her fellowship training in preventive medicine at Stanford University.
Last updated December 6, 2011
Download Centre
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
200 - 1285 West Broadway, Vancouver, British Columbia
V6H 3X8 Canada
604.730.8322
info@msfhr.org
© 2012 Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. All rights reserved. | Disclaimer