Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) have been awarded more than $7 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to lead 10 cutting-edge research projects. These projects will advance science and improve health in areas such as neuroscience, liver disease, systemic sclerosis, ovarian cancer, maternal and infant health, breast cancer, caregiving, bipolar depression, trust in health care and renal tuberous sclerosis.

Researchers at TOH are also co-leading grants administered at other institutions that are worth at least $2 million.

“This funding provides the foundation for groundbreaking advances in biomedical science and the development of better treatment options for patients, here at The Ottawa Hospital and across the globe,” said Dr. Rebecca Auer, Executive Vice-President of Research and Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital, CEO and Scientific Director of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and professor at the University of Ottawa. “Success in securing this funding exemplifies the creativity, dedication and collaboration of our researchers and their entire teams.”

The Ottawa Hospital currently ranks among the top four hospitals in the country for CIHR funding.

Successful CIHR Project Grants administered at OHRI

Monoacylglycerol lipase (Mgll)-regulated 2-AG/eCBR signaling in feeding circuits controls adult neurogenesis-$1,309,680

• Principal Investigator(s): Wang, Jing

Identifying CD8 T Cell Immunometabolic Scars in Chronic HCV and Metabolic Liver Disease and Their Impact on HCC Responses-$1,296,676

• Principal Investigator(s): Crawley, Angela Marie
• Co-Investigator(s): Ardolino, M; Cheung, A; Cooper, CL

Canadian-Made CD19 CAR-T Therapy for Refractory Systemic Sclerosis, from the Canadian Led Immunotherapies Collaborative (CLIC-03 Trial)-$1,216,351

• Principal Investigator(s): Kekre, Natasha; Hay, KA, Holt, R, Hudson, M, Maltez, N
• Co-Investigator(s): Assouline, SE; Atkins, HL; Cherniawsky, HM; Fergusson, DA; Hu, A; Nelson, BH; Quizi, JL

Targeting cancer cell plasticity to improve outcomes in high-grade serous ovarian cancer- $1,025,100

• Principal Investigator(s): Cook, David Parker
• Co-Investigator(s): Mackay, HJ; Nelson, BH; Rahimi, K

Assessing maternal and infant health outcomes following immunization for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease-$646,426

• Principal Investigator(s): El-Chaar, Darine; Buchan, S; Fitzpatrick, T; Kwong, JC; Morris, SK; Walker, MC
• Co-Investigator(s): Alton, GD; Brophy, JC; Ducharme, R; Dunn, SI; Fakhraei, R; Guttmann, A; Harvey, A; Hawken, S; Hui, C; Jorgensen, SC; Murphy, MS; Pham-Huy, A; Rennicks White, R; Reszel, J; Scremin Souza, S; Silverberg, S; Sprague, A; St.hill, A; Wilson, K; Wilson, S; Wong, KT

A pragmatic, multicenter randomized study evaluating the benefits and risks of adjuvant endocrine therapy in patients aged 70 years or older with low-risk breast cancer (REaCT-70 Study)-$600,000

• Principal Investigator(s):  Savard, Marie-France; Clemons, MJ; Pond, GR
• Co-Investigator(s): D Ahmed, S; Bashir, A; Hsu, T; Hutton, BE; Khan, OF; Mithoowani, H; Thavorn, K; Wilkinson, AN

Leveraging a New National Data Linkage to Examine Caregiving for Older Adults and Its Impacts on Caregivers' Downstream Outcomes-$546,976

• Principal Investigator(s): Manuel, Douglas G
• Co-Investigator(s): Backman, C; Cole, KM; Engel, FD; Fisher, SL; Fung, S; Hsu, AT; Li, W; Manis, D; Myran, D; Okamoto, R; Stall, NM; Taler, V; Webber, C

Canadian Extension of the Candesartan Adjunctive Bipolar Depression Trial (CADET)- $405,451

• Principal Investigator(s): Fiedorowicz, Jess G; Solmi, M
• Co-Investigator(s): Dargél, AA; Mcgirr, A; Mikhail, E; Raedler, TJ; Saraf, G

Building and sustaining trust in healthcare: Co-developing a compendium of equitable strategies for building, rebuilding and maintaining trust-$100,000

• Principal Investigator(s):  Presseau, Justin; Auer, RC; Meyer, S; Smith, MM
• Co-Investigator(s): Albers, B; Brehaut, JC; Desveaux, L; Dogba, MA; Dombrowski, S; Etherington, C; Fontaine, G; Heer, C; Hsu, AT; Ivers, NM; Lavis, JN; Macpherson, PA; Manuel, DG; Nicholls, SG; Olson, JL; Vesnaver, E; Wilson, K; Wilson, MG

Cellular and molecular pathogenesis of renal tuberous sclerosis complex-$100,000

• Principal Investigator(s): Stanford, William Lloyd

Successful CIHR Project and Team Grants with OHRI PIs - administered at another institution 

CanFos: Improving the Health of Canadian Children in Foster Homes - $638,776

• Principal Investigator(s): Evans, Andrea; Manuel, Douglas G; Quinn, Ashley L
• Co-Investigator(s): Ali, Samina; Alqurashi, Waleed; Barrowman, Nicholas J; Brown, Hilary; Halverson, Julie; Kassam, Altaf; Racine, Nicole M; Saunders, Natasha R; Trocme, Nico; Urquia, Marcelo L; Vandermorris, Ashley
• Note: This grant is administered at CHEO Research Institute

PD-TIPS.AI: Co-Designing AI-Driven Bilingual Self-Care Technology Delivering Tailored Care Tips and Resources for Parkinson's Disease - $585,224

• Principal Investigator(s): Grosjean, Sylvie; Mestre, Tiago
• Co-Investigator(s): Chomienne, Marie-Hélène; Grimes, David A; Inkpen, Diana M; Jutai, Jeffrey W; Lessard, Lysanne; Rahgozar, Arya
• Note: this grant is administered at the University of Ottawa

A feasibility study of a context specific antibiotic stewardship intervention among physicians in Nigeria’s private outpatient facilities - $481,950

• Principal Investigator(s): Sulis, Giorgia; OgaOmenka, C
• Co-Investigator(s): Albers, B; Dodd, WH; Eriobu, NC; Gandra, S; Gbenro, VK; Kwaghe, VG; Peters, SE; Presseau, J; Taljaard, M; Yahaya, R

• Note: this grant is administered at the University of Ottawa

A cluster randomized controlled trial of BornFyne Prenatal Management System digital platform to support reproductive maternal care delivery in Cameroon - $451,352

• Nguilefem, Miriam N; Boubacar Moumouni, Aissata; Little, Julian; Taljaard, Monica
• Buh, Amos; Goldstein, Cory E; Mabeu, Marie Christelle; Pongou, Roland; Udenigwe, Ogochukwu C; Welch, Vivian A
• Note: this grant is administered at Bruyère Health Research Institute

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. Learn more about how research is funded.