Waterloo researchers awarded more than $4.3 million

University of Waterloo researchers take pride in identifying and solving significant, complex challenges facing humanity and our planet.

Recently, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) announced that seven Waterloo researchers will receive funding to carry out ground-breaking work to improve our nation’s health and strengthen our health care system.

The CIHR is Canada's leading federal funding agency, collaborating with partners and researchers to support health-care discoveries and innovations. 

Of the seven researchers, five will receive full funding for their projects over the next three to five years, while two researchers will receive $100,000 each in bridge funding. The bridge funding is intended to help get high-scoring grant applicants’ projects off the ground while individuals reapply to be considered for full funding.

Learn more about the Waterloo researchers and their projects.

Dr. Robin Duncan | Kinesiology and Health Sciences

$757,350 (5 years)

Regulation of innate immunity in non-immune and immune cells by cannabidiol

Researchers recently found the chance of getting COVID-19 was lower in people taking cannabidiol (CBD). Duncan’s lab has found CBD completely stops the infection of a common virus called adenovirus in mice and strongly reduces infection of cells with an HIV-like virus. This funding will support the testing of anti-viral effects of CBD in mice and human cells using a variety of viruses to determine whether it is better to give CBD before or after infection, or both. Since CBD is considered safe and could be made widely available, they will also test whether CBD protects against a very dangerous new form of bird flu. Results from this work are expected to help develop a new, safe, cost-effective food component to fight viral infections that cause   sickness and death in Canada.

Dr. Mark Ferro | School of Public Health Sciences

$1,272,196 (5 years)

Multimorbidity in children and youth across the life-course: A long-term follow-up

This project is based on an ongoing study of children, youth and their families that began in 2017. Early results of this study showed that 30 to 40 per cent of children living with a long-term physical illness, like asthma or epilepsy, also had a mental illness, like depression or anxiety, referred to as multimorbidity. The study found that a child's age, sex and level of disability, their caregiver's mental health and the family's income level were related to whether a child or youth would experience multimorbidity. Ferro’s research goal is to understand the long-term mental health of children and youth who are part of the study and to look at whose mental health improves over time, remains the same and declines, and what things affect these changes. This study will create new knowledge needed to help support mental health in children and youth living with physical illness. 

Dr. Justine Giosa | School of Public Health Sciences

$558,450 (3 years)

Structuring personal support practice using the Observe, Coach, Assist and Report (OCAR) framework to enhance provider inclusion in team-based person-centred home care

Personal support (PS) providers are essential to the delivery of person-centred home and community care, but are often excluded from care planning and decision-making. In 2015, the OCAR framework was developed to guide the integration of PS provider contributions into home-based stroke care. A recent survey of PS providers and managers confirmed the ongoing relevance of OCAR for optimizing PS provider contributions to team-based home care and identified the need for practice-oriented resources to support its direct application. The goal of this participatory research study is to co-design, implement and test a toolkit to structure PS practice using OCAR. Giosa and team will conduct a multiple case co-design study in Ontario at two home care organizations, supported by an advisory committee of PS providers and home care leaders.Learnings will inform future scale and spread to support broader PS workforce stability across the sector and system and lead to meaningful improvements to PS provider experiences and the delivery of person-centred home care.  

Dr. Parsin Haji Reza | Systems Design Engineering

$757,350 (5 years)

Accurate retinal oximetry for the pre-symptomatic diagnosis of blinding diseases

The project focuses on developing a breakthrough screening tool to prevent vision loss, which costs Canadians $33 billion annually. Since most vision impairment is preventable or treatable with early detection, this tool aims to identify changes in retinal oxygen levels — a key metabolic biomarker — before any structural damage or vision loss occurs. Current tools lack the sensitivity to accurately detect these changes, but Reza's team has invented a new microscope that can do so. Over the next five years, they plan to create the first precise retinal oximeter that isn't influenced by patient demographics, advancing equitable and early diagnosis of vision-threatening diseases. This tool could revolutionize early intervention strategies, reducing or preventing permanent vision loss.

Dr. Charity Oga-Omenka | School of Public Health Sciences

$814,726 (3 years)

Antibiotic Stewardship Education for Pharmacists (A-STEP): A pre-post intervention study in Nigeria

Resistance to antibiotics kills five million people globally every year, mostly in Africa. Excessive use of antibiotics plays a key role in fueling resistance. This problem is exacerbated by the widespread practice of selling antibiotics without prescription, which often happens at community pharmacies and medicine vendors throughout low- and middle-income countries. This study's international, interdisciplinary team will develop an intervention and conduct a pre-post study in two of Nigeria's most populous states and in the federal capital. It will evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program coupled with non-monetary incentives at reducing over the counter (OTC) antibiotic sales among pharmacists and medicine vendors. The team will also interview pharmacists, medicine vendors and policymakers to learn about experiences and perceptions about the proposed program in order to identify key barriers. If proven effective, the proposed intervention can be easily extended and adapted to other areas and a larger number of pharmacists and medicine vendors.

Dr. Geoff Bardwell | School of Public Health Sciences

$100,000 (1-year bridge funding)

Community health impacts of policing behaviour in response to illegal drug use: A mixed method study examining changes in police policy and practices in smaller urban and rural communities 

In 2020, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police recognized substance use as a public health issue and supported drug possession decriminalization. The federal government has not approved this approach nationally. However, some police services have deprioritized criminalizing drug possession. For example, the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) had the seventh highest rate of opioid-related charges in Canada, but in the last two years, it has reduced its simple possession charges by 50 per cent. Bardwell’s study seeks to understand the effects of policing on the health of people who use drugs, characterize WRPS policing practices as they relate to decriminalization and health-related strategies and examine changes in police approaches to drug possession and related outcomes over time. This study will work collaboratively with WRPS and other community partners to inform policing policy and practice across Canada in ways that emphasize drug use as a health issue. 

Dr. Ellen MacEachen | School of Public Health Sciences

$100,000 (1-year bridge funding)

At-home digital service work in a post-COVID-19 lockdown world: Mapping occupational health risks and identifying health risks

At-home digital service work (DS work) is on the rise post-pandemic. DS work refers to home-based, process-oriented service work (e.g., customer service, call centre) performed by low-waged employees. The ability to voice occupational health problems is unclear in this sector dominated by women, including many racialized immigrants. This study will address occupational health risks for DS workers by identifying those risks and the level of access to workplace health protections. It will also work towards generating a framework for occupational health and safety practice, regulation and measurement. Supported by our stakeholder advisory committee, our study will be among the first to examine work and health conditions of DS workers. Findings from this study will support workers, businesses and policymakers to define the health risks of DS work and guide policy interventions that support healthy, safe and gender-sensitive working conditions for DS workers.

These projects are supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).