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The Ottawa Hospital awarded 18 research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, worth $10.7 million


May 19, 2017

Eighteen research groups at The Ottawa Hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, have been awarded nearly $11 million in the most recent project grant competition from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). This represents a success rate of 37 percent compared to the national average of 21 percent.

The new funding will allow researchers to compare whether male or female blood is better for transfusions, map the development of Parkinson’s disease from the earliest stages, investigate new approaches to improve mental health and much more.

“The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s top research and learning hospitals, where excellent care is inspired by research and driven by compassion,” said Dr. Duncan Stewart, Executive-Vice President of Research at The Ottawa Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa. “These CIHR results are consistent with our strong performance over last many years and reflect the top quality of our science.”

Grant details



• Blood transfusions: Is male donor blood better for recipients than female donor blood? Summary; Principal Investigators: Dean Fergusson, Michaël Chassé, Alan Tinmouth; Co-Investigators: Jason Acker, Shane English, Alan Forster, Nadine Shehata, Kednapa Thavorn, Kumanan Wilson

• Parkinson’s disease: A new model to study triggers and visualize disease progress. Summary; Principal Investigators: Doug Gray, John Woulfe; Co-investigator: Michael Schlossmacher

• Pancreatic cancer: Using viruses to kill cancer cells and stimulate an anti-cancer immune response. Summary; Principal Investigator: Carolina Ilkow; Co-investigator: Avijit Chatterjee

• Fertility: How do eggs start controlling their size when they are ovulated? Summary; Principal Investigator: Jay Baltz

• Home care: Using big data to develop new tools to improve service delivery and patient outcomes (administered through Bruyère Research Institute); Summary; Principal Investigators: Peter Tanuseputro, Douglas Manuel Co-Investigators: Carol Bennett, Susan Bronskill, Amy Hsu, Monica Taljaard

• Cardiovascular disease: Role of cell fragments in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Summary; Principal Investigator: Dylan Burger

• Schizophrenia: Could an experimental anti-obesity drug provide a potential new treatment? Summary; Principal Investigator: Hsiao-Huei Chen

• Lung disease: Using stem cells to understand lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM); Summary; Principal Investigator: William Stanford

• Kidney disease: Could cell fragments from umbilical cord blood treat acute kidney injury? Summary; Principal Investigator: Kevin Burns; Co-Investigators: David Allan, Dylan Burger, Dean Fergusson

• Hearing loss: Using network meta-analysis to compare treatments. Summary; Principal Investigator: Brian Hutton; Co-Investigators: Shelly Armstrong, James Bonaparte, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Shaun Kilty, David Moher, David Schramm, Dianna Wolfe

• Diagnosis: Improving reporting of systematic reviews of diagnostic procedures. Summary; Principal Investigators: Matthew McInnes, David Moher, Brett Thombs; Co-Investigators: Tammy Clifford, Adrienne Stevens, Marcello Tonelli

• Nutrition: Using big data to understand the impact and encourage healthy eating. Summary; Principal Investigators: Douglas Manuel, Mary L’Abbé; Co-Investigators: Deirdre Hennessy, Mahsa Jessri, Laura Rosella, Brendan Smith, Monica Taljaard

• Septic shock: Evaluating mesenchymal stem cell therapy. Summary; Principal Investigators: Lauralyn McIntyre, Dean Fergusson; Co-Investigators: Duncan Stewart, Shirley Mei, David Courtman, Claudia Dos Santos, Shane English, Alison Fox-Robichaud, John Granton, Robert Green, Paul Hébert, Margaret Herridge, John Marshall, Sangeeta Mehta, Timothy Ramsay, Kednapa Thavorn, Alexis Turgeon, Keith Walley, Brent Winston

• Real-world trials: Developing an ethical framework. Summary; Principal Investigators: Monica Taljaard, Dean Fergusson, Terry Klassen, Charles Weijer; Co-Investigators: Jamie Brehaut, Marion Campbell, Sarah Edwards, Sandra Eldridge, Christopher Forrest, Bruno Giraudeau, Corey Goldstein, Ian Graham, Jeremy Grimshaw, Karla Hemming, Spencer Hey, Austin Horn, Vipul Jairath, Alex London, John Marshall, Lauralyn Mcintyre, Joanne McKenzie, Alison Paprica, Merrick Zwarenstein

• Parkinson’s and schizophrenia: Examining cell signalling to help develop new drugs. Summary; Principal Investigators: Mario Tiberi, Jean-Claude Béïque; Co-Investigator: Diane Lagace

• Tobacco dependence: Strategies to reduce tobacco smoking among the most at-risk inner city low income population. Summary; Principal Investigators: Smita Pakhale, Rob Boyd; Co-Investigators: Mark Eisenberg, Peter Selby, Kednapa Thavorn

• Blood clots: Comparing new blood thinners to prevent venous thromboembolism. Summary; Principal Investigators: Lana Castellucci, Marc Rodger; Co-Investigators: Shannon Bates, Kerstin de Wit, Susan Kahn, Clive Kearon, Michael Kovacs, Grégoire Le Gal, Sudeep Shivakumar, Susan Solymoss, Kednapa Thavorn

• Brain bleeding: Comparing blood transfusion strategies for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Summary; Principal Investigator: Shane English; Co-Investigators: Jason Acker, Almunder Algird, Eyad Althenayan, John Boyd, Martin Chapman, Michael Chasse, Leodante Da Costa, Frederick D'Aragon, Dariush Dowlatshahi, Dean Fergusson, Donald Griesdale, Andreas Kramer, Demitrios Kutsogiannis, Francois Lauzier, Cheemun Lum, Shawn Marshall, Lauralyn McIntyre, Giuseppe Pagliarello, Damon Scales, John Sinclair, Jeffrey Singh, Alan Tinmouth, Alexis Turgeon, Ryan Zarychanski

An additional grant was awarded through CIHR’s catalyst - SPOR innovative clinical trials competition:

• Organ donation: Testing a strategy to increase donor registration in family physician offices (partnership with Trillium Gift of Life Network); Summary; Principal Investigators: Justin Presseau, Joanna Mitchell, Versha Prakash, Amit Garg, Jeremy Grimshaw; Co-Investigators: Lise Bjerre, Stephanie Dixon, Leah Getchell, Sang Kim, Gregory Knoll, Alvin Li, Kyla Naylor, Jessica Sontrop, Monica Taljaard

“We’ve been very successful in conducting world-class research and obtaining competitive external grant funding, but none of this would have been possible without the generous support of the community,” added Dr. Stewart. “I would like to thank the individuals and organizations who have supported our Tender Loving Research campaign.”

The Ottawa Hospital: Inspired by research. Driven by compassion


The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. See www.ohri.ca for more information about research at The Ottawa Hospital.

University of Ottawa: —A crossroads of cultures and ideas


The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. www.uottawa.ca

Media Contact


Jennifer Ganton
Director, Communications and Public Relations
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Office: 613-798-5555 x 73325
Cell: 613-614-5253
jganton@ohri.ca