Research stories

Dr. David Hammond has been awarded $2 million from the CIHR, leading a new study to examine the health risks of e-cigarettes among young people in Canada.

A UWaterloo study finds that loneliness increases the risk of age-related memory loss and highlights the need for community programs for older adults.

School of Public Health Sciences PhD candidate Amy Nahwegahbow has been awarded the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her research in First Nations Peoples communities to address the environmental exposures, socio-cultural vulnerability and health impacts of industrial pollution.

A School of Public Health Sciences research team will receive more than $1.5 million from the federal government to support their Urban Futures project: Toward health equity, inclusive governance, and climate adaptation in African informal settlements.

Dr. Mark Ferro has received the Addressing Mental Health in Paediatric Rheumatic Diseases Team Grants award, a research funding initiative offered by Brain Canada and Cassie + Friends.

Dr. Zahid Butt has been named Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Research for Pandemic Preparedness.

Dr. Rhona Hanning, a professor emeritus in the School of Public Health Sciences, is one of four to be named a 2024 Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS) Fellow.

Dr. Carrie McAiney leads the Forward with Dementia project to address stigma within diverse cultural and linguistic groups.

Dr. John Hirdes, a professor in the School of Public Health Sciences, has been appointed a member of the Order of Canada among 78 new appointments nationally.

Trust in Government Measure helps gauge trust in government and also aims to help inform better public health policies

Researchers find adolescents’ self-concept – the image we have of ourselves – is lower for those with both a physical and mental illness compared to adolescents with only a physical illness.

Dr. David Hammond has received the 2023 Trailblazer Award in Science for Policy by the Canadian Science Policy Centre.

Clarivate global analytics rank Sharon Kirkpatrick and Geoffrey Fong of SPHS among the top one per cent highly cited researchers in the world.

An expert committee on viruses in foods conducted a global review of the frequency and clinical severity of viruses associated with foodborne illnesses.

Waterloo's Dr. Mahmood Gohari, using survey data from over 5,000 Canadian adolescents, examines changes in mental health from 2018 to 2021.

While most aspects of care quality in long-term care homes did not differ in the first year of the pandemic from pre-pandemic levels, a new study shows that the use of antipsychotic drugs increased in all provinces.

Layered over the pandemic in 2021 was an epidemic. Toxic drug overdoses in Canada spiked that year, with almost 8,000 reported deaths from opioid overdoses alone. In British Columbia, 2,264 people died that year of toxic drug overdoses.

Long COVID is associated with reduced brain oxygen levels, worse performance on cognitive tests and increased psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety, according to new research studying the impacts of the disease.  

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has funded 23 research projects through an action-based initiative called Women RISE, whose projects aim to better understand the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on women’s health and livelihoods. 

High-school students who have a large weekly allowance, friends who smoke and low levels of physical activity are more likely to use multiple substances over time. 

Oluwakemi (Kemi) Amodu is dedicated to advancing the reproductive and sexual health of the Hausa women in displaced persons camps in northern Nigeria. 

Understanding the ways in which workers in precarious employment react to work injury and claims processes they see as unfair can help employers, legal representatives, physicians and others respond appropriately, according to a new study.

The federal government has announced $2.1 million in funding over three years for a search-and-rescue project led by Lili Liu, Waterloo public health researcher and Dean of the Faculty of Health.

A University of Waterloo-led international study of more than 10,000 children in six different countries found that approximately half of all students received breakfast or lunch at school in countries such as the United States or Chile. 

A deep dive into mental health survey data by researchers at the University of Waterloo shows that almost a quarter of Canadians are still reporting anxiety and suggests that the mental health impact of the pandemic might still be observed for a few years to come.

Researchers have developed a better way to support end-of-life planning in long-term care homes, according to a recent study.

Counteracting antimicrobial resistance needs a multipronged approach, including training, labeling food products, working with the media and changing mindsets, according to a new study.

New research has found that people with mild cognitive impairment may not inevitably develop dementia and, in fact, having higher education and advanced language skills more than doubles their chances of returning to normal.

The University of Waterloo is one of the lead institutions in a five-year, $10 million (U.S.) international study funded by the United States’ National Cancer Institute. 

More attention must be paid to improving perceptions of emerging technologies like AI-powered symptom checkers, which could ease the strain on health-care systems, according to a recent study.

Often, when a person is diagnosed with dementia, available supports are not enough. Most people feel overwhelmed, and they don't get the support, resources and help they need.

Restrictive interventions like acute control medications and restraints are more likely to be used in non-emergency situations among older psychiatric inpatients than younger ones, a study shows.

The benefits of consuming traditional foods tend to outweigh the risks of possible mercury contamination, according to a recent study.

Fitness apps that emphasize illness- or death-related messaging are more likely to be effective in motivating participation than are social stigma, obesity or financial cost messaging, according to a recent study.

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Waterloo found that the amount of advertising and promotion provided on packages changes how people see the product — whether they find it appealing to use or believe it's harmful. 

Researchers are working with community leaders to develop a mobile alert app to help locate missing people with dementia.

A team led by researchers from the University of Waterloo analyzed data from more than 24,000 community-dwelling older adults receiving home care in Ontario who were subsequently admitted into an intensive-care unit (ICU).

A new study finds the majority of students were not certain on future plans until they had a chance to live here and explore life in Canada.

David Hammond, a professor in the School of Public Health and Health Systems, along with Geoffrey Fong (Psychology) and Mary Thompson (Statistics and Actuarial Science), were jointly awarded a 2021 Governor General’s Innovation Award for the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project.

Protecting long-term care residents from outbreaks requires different infrastructure, proper staffing conditions and a culture of quality assurance, researchers have found.

New research from the University of Waterloo is shining light on the importance of farmers markets’ ability to mitigate potential disruptions to distribution networks in the face of system shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.

AI-powered symptom checkers can potentially reduce the number of people going to in-person clinics during the pandemic, but first, researchers say, people need to know they exist.

Social media use during the early days of the pandemic increased the amount of misinformation about the virus, but also helped spread that misinformation far and wide.

The impact on mental health was most pronounced for younger Canadians, who reported feeling lonely, depressed or anxious.

Gig work is transforming our global economy and public health as workers weigh risks every day in precarious, low-wage jobs to deliver us food and parcels.

Long-term care residents, isolated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, are at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes. New research shows those outcomes can be measured and mitigated with thoughtful interventions informed by data.

We asked public health expert Professor Zahid Butt to take us through what we’ve learned about COVID-19 in the year that has passed, and what we still need to learn in order to beat the virus.

The federal government announced $4.8 million over four years of new funding for dementia projects this month, including two that involve researchers in the Faculty of Health and Research Institute for Aging.