Congratulations to two St. Boniface Hospital Research Principal Investigators, Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra and Dr. Thomas Hack, who were recently granted Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding for $960,076 and $745,875 respectively.
“This is yet another testament to the fact we have some of the best researchers in the country,” said Dr. Michael Czubryt, Executive Director of Research at St. Boniface Hospital. “It’s a very competitive landscape, with hundreds of applicants from institutions across the country vying for financial support that is critical for long-term success and sustainability, so this is a huge win for St. Boniface Hospital Research.”
Dhingra’s work is looking at therapies using adult stem cells derived from young and healthy donors to help repair heart damage in older patients with a history of heart disease. Initial research showed promising benefits, but in recent animal studies and human clinical trials, transplanted stem cells were still being rejected by the host immune system. The nearly $1M in CIHR funding over five years for this phase of Dhingra’s work will be invested in developing better strategies to prevent rejection and improve the survival of transplanted stem cells to potentially provide a permanent cure for patients living with heart disease.
Hack, who works in partnership with nominated principal applicant for this funding, Dr. Shane Sinclair at the University of Calgary, is also joined by two U of M professors in efforts to advance the EnACT study; the development and evaluation of an Evidence-informed, Competency-based, Accredited Compassion Training Program for Healthcare Providers Caring for Older Adults. This four year, multi-centred study is the culmination of previous research work that developed an empirical model of compassion that carefully delineated what compassion is and what it isn’t, which then led to the creation of a valid and reliable patient-reported compassion measure.