Supporting the next generation of health research leaders

Four postdoctoral researchers at The Ottawa Hospital have been awarded prestigious fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, worth $140,000 each. This program recognizes and supports the next generation of health research leaders.

The awardees at The Ottawa Hospital, who are also part of the University of Ottawa, are conducting research that could transform our understanding of health and disease and lead to new treatments and health innovations. Their research projects will focus on conditions such as stroke, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and chronic lung disease in premature infants, harnessing the latest molecular, cellular and immunotherapy approaches to develop novel treatments.

Award recipients and their projects

• Dr. Marc-Olivier Deguise (supervised by Dr. Bernard Thébaud)
  • Project title: Unveiling the potential of next generation cell therapies: induced pluripotent stem cells derived mesenchymal stromal cells for bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• Dr. Aida Lopez Ortiz (supervised by Dr. Baptiste Lacoste)    
  • Project title: Astrocyte-derived HMGB1: a developmental switch for stroke recovery
• Dr. Sarah Nersesian (supervised by Drs. Barbara Vanderhyden and David Cook)
  • Project title:HLA-mediated epitype-immune interactions in high-grade serous ovarian cancer 
• Dr. Zaid Taha (supervised by Dr. Carolina Ilkow)    
  • Project title: Pharmacologic modulation of the hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) to enhance cell-based immunotherapies in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Learn more about training opportunities at OHRI and meet some of our trainees.