Health Research BC funds 26 UBC Research Trainees to improve health and health outcomes

September 21, 2023

Michael Smith Health Research BC is providing funding to 41 early career researchers through the Research Trainee Program to enrich BC’s health research talent.

Funding includes 26 awards to UBC research trainees to support health research at UBC and its affiliated health research institutions.

The 2023 award recipients are investigating important topics including: developing a patient-centered decision aid for rehabilitation in the advanced cancer setting; strengthening safety nets to improve access to substance use and mental health services to optimize youth-determined health and wellness; and characterizing the pain needs of vulnerable palliative care patients with substance use disorder.

The Research Trainee Program supports the best and brightest health researchers in training to enable career development and support world-class health research in BC. Attracting, retaining, training, and growing a diverse health research workforce is critical for better health and health care and a stronger economy.

Read the Health Research Bc announcement

UBC Funding recipients

Health Research bc Research Trainees

  • Kelcey Bland
    Development of a patient-centred decision aid for rehabilitation in the advanced cancer setting
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Yu Chen
    Structural and functional investigation of skeletal muscle calcium channels in health and disease
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Flora Foltanyi
    Structural and functional investigation of the skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling complex
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Vanessa Fong
    Improving the Healthcare Experiences of Racialized Newcomer Families of Children with Medical Complexity: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Liam Hall
    New Connections Between Insulin and Exercise
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Leah Hohman
    Age-related impacts of the intestinal microbiota on multiple sclerosis: defining mechanisms of neurodegeneration
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Sharon Hou
    An investigation of the healthcare and psychosocial experiences of racialized youth living with serious and life threatening illnesses
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Stanley Hung
    An exercise- and education-based secondary prevention program after stroke: a randomized controlled trial
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Michael Hunter
    Leveraging phage infection to decrease pathobiont virulence in inflammatory bowel disease
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Haifeng Ji
    Prevention of biomaterial-induced thrombogenesis without interference of coagulation system by modulating the protein activity on material-blood interface
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Shahin Kassam
    Women and Forced Migration: Inclusively Examining Access to Care at the Axes of Chronic Health and Gender-Based Violence
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Seongho Kim
    Harnessing NK cell mechanics for fine-tuning cancer immunotherapy
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Linda Lapp
    Identification of biomarker signatures predicting short- and long-term complications following heart transplant surgery
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Anthony Lapsansky
    Coordinating movement in a complex world: How the midbrain and oculomotor cerebellum encode visual motion originating from realistic scenes to guide locomotion
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Clarus Leung
    Endo-phenotyping of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Overlap by Airway Inflammation and Structure
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Elizabeth Nethery
    Team-based postpartum and infant care models: effects on service use, outcomes, and health system costs in the one year after birth
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
    Partner: BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
     
  • Michelle Ng
    Effect of HPV integration on 3D genome structure and function in cervical cancer
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Yihang Pan
    Mosquito taste receptors for detecting human sweat and initiating blood feeding
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Amber Paulson
    Combatting infectious diseases through understanding epigenetic interference – A case study: SARS-CoV-2
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Sruthi Purushothaman
    Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fingertip (digit tip) regeneration in mammals
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Castel Ramirez
    Defining epigenetic alterations in liver cancer at single cell resolution
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Md Mohosin Rana
    Enhancing Immunomodulation by Novel Glycoconjugate-Based Organ Engineering to Prevent Transplant Rejection
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Marta Ruiz Alguero
    Advancing understanding of the multiple sclerosis (MS) prodrome: a focus on understudied signs and symptoms (MS-Pro-Us)
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Paulina Scheuren
    Spinal cord temperature as a measure of neuroinflammation in the human spinal cord
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Glen Lester Sequiera
    Investigating the mechanisms underlying abnormalities in neuronal activity through human pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia-sufficient brain organoids in Huntington’s disease
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia
     
  • Marie Yan
    Population-Based Analysis of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease in British Columbia
    Host Institution / Research Location: University of British Columbia

View all 2023 Research trainee award recipientS and Project Descriptions