The Foundation is pleased to announce that it’s Scientific Advisory Board has awarded grants for five new projects; one for workshop funding and four ‘Blue Sky’ research awards.
Workshop
Dr. Naveed Janjua and team have been awarded funds for “CDPC National Knowledge Exchange and Consultation on Supervised Consumption Services”, that together with funding from other sources, will facilitate a 2-day meeting to accelerate local efforts in BC to put together integrated supervised consumption services plans and facilitate a better understanding of the application process given the barriers posed by the Respect for Communities Act. The meeting will also enable a greater understanding of actual issues that arise when operating a supervised consumption site by featuring the direct experience of Vancouver’s Insite and Dr. Peter Centre. All of this will result in the development of a policy brief written by the CDPC and the Legal Network, with the primary goal to directly impact the rate at which SCS applications are being processed by Health Canada.
Blue Sky
Dr. Victoria Cook and team have been awarded funds for “Engaging clients in the field: WelTel Outreach” that, together with funding from CIHR, will use a digital health platform to improve communication between members of the outreach team and their clients. The goal is to enhance continuity of care and client documentation for electronic patient charts.
Dr. Jennifer Gardy and team will be working on “Genomic Epidemiology of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Infection in Cystic Fibrosis”. The project will provide a better understanding of the modes of acquisition of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant NTM infection in CF patients in BC and will help inform infection control practices in CF clinics.
Dr. Linda Hoang and team have been awarded funds for “Tracking plasmids in carbapenemase-producing organisms in British Columbia“. The aim of the project is to evaluate an alternative method of obtaining unambiguous plasmid sequencing data for CPOs to assist in tracking drug resistance in DNA to better inform infection control and prevention. These funds are for a small section of a much larger study that was awarded funds from Genome BC.
Dr. Natalie Prystajecky and team have been awarded funds for “Improving Food Safety in BC with Enhanced Surveillance of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) via Whole Genome Sequencing“. Together with funds from multiple sources, the goal is that the food safety threat and it’s significant burden to the healthcare system, agri/food industry and economy can be reduced by implementing an enhanced surveillance program that utilizes routine whole genome sequencing for cluster identification and source attribution.
BCCDC Faculty interested in applying for funding, be sure to watch your email inboxes in February; the next round of applications will be reviewed in April 2017. To see some of our past research successes, click through to our main research page on our website.
