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Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital awarded 16 CIHR grants worth more than $8 million


February 3, 2025

Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital are leading 16 new projects funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through the most recent operating grant competition.

These projects will advance science and improve health in diverse areas such as stroke, endometriosis, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, natural killer cells, patient engagement, schizophrenia, cancer-associated thrombosis, including thrombosis in cancer surgery, prehabilitation, primary aldosteronism, chronic kidney disease, kidney injury, neurodevelopmental disorders, smoking in pregnancy and virtual care for breast cancer.

Our researchers are also co-leading grants administered at other institutions that are worth at least $3 million.

“CIHR grants remain at the core of biomedical research in Canada. Success in securing this funding exemplifies the creativity, dedication and collaboration of our researchers and their entire teams. These innovative projects are the foundation of groundbreaking advancement in biomedical sciences and allow us to realize tomorrow’s care today, both here in Ottawa and around the world,” said Dr. Rebecca Auer, Executive Vice-President, Research and Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital, CEO and Scientific Director, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and professor at the University of Ottawa.

OHRI had a success rate of 27% percent in this competition compared to the national average of 21% percent. The hospital currently ranks among the top four in the country for CIHR funding.

Successful CIHR Project Grants administered at OHRI

Astrocyte-derived HMGB1: a developmental switch for functional stroke recovery- $1,113,075

  • Principal Investigator(s): Lacoste, Baptiste

Ethnic and racial disparity in endometriosis pathobiology, diagnosis, and treatment -$1,055,700

  • Principal Investigator(s): Singh, Sukhbir Sony; Tsang, BK
  • Co-Investigator(s): Anglesio, MS; Asare-Werehene, M; Cook, DP; Flaxman, T; Gale, JE; Gandhi, A; Maheux-Lacroix, S; Mer, AS; Wren, J; Yong, P

Harnessing ILC2 for immunotherapy of ovarian cancer-$1,005,975

  • Principal Investigator(s): Ardolino, Michele
  • Co-Investigator(s): Cook, DP; Vanderhyden, BC

Engineered Extracellular Vesicles to Enhance Immunotherapy in Immunosuppressive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers-$ 933,300

  • Principal Investigator(s): Ilkow, Carolina Solange; Goss, GD
  • Co-Investigator(s): Alluqmani, N; Taha, Z

A mechanistic investigation of NK cell disarming -$906,525

  • Principal Investigator(s): Ardolino, Michele
  • Co-Investigator(s): Lee, S; Marotel, MS; Treanor, B

Active Cancer Patients Having Cancer-Related Invasive Procedures or Surgery and Needing Perioperative Management of Anticoagulation Therapy (ACE-HIGH) - A Prospective Management Cohort Study-$810,900

  • Principal Investigator(s): Shaw, Joseph; Carrier, M
  • Co-Investigator(s): Abdulrehman, J; Blostein, MD; Bossé, D; Douketis, JD; Frosi Stella, S; Ramsay, TO; Schulman, S; Shivakumar, SP; Visram, A; Wang, T

Developing evidence-informed patient engagement guidance for economic evaluations (DEEP-ENGAGE)-$504,925

  • Principal Investigator(s):  Thavorn, Kednapa; Graham, ID; Hutton, BE; Presseau, J; Smith, MM
  • Co-Investigator(s): Ali, S; Bede, S; Fergusson, DA; Grant, A; Halas, M; Hawrysh, TA; Lee, KM; Nicholls, SG; Nochaiwong, S; Ollendorf, D; Petkovic, J; Richardson, MT; Riches, LM; Tarride, J; Tugwell, PS; Vesnaver, E; Walsh, DM

Describing care and improving outcomes of inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations for individuals with schizophrenia-$470,476

  • Principal Investigator(s):  Solmi, Marco; Fiedorowicz, JG
  • Co-Investigator(s): Dargél, AA; Dover, K; Li, W; Manuel, DG; Myran, D; Smith, AL; Webber, C

Development of a risk stratification score for recurrent venous thromboembolism and clinically-relevant bleeding in patients with cancer-associated venous thromboembolism. CAN-CATCH Study-$424,575

  • Principal Investigator(s): Carrier, Marc
  • Co-Investigator(s): Angelillo-Scherrer, A; Khan, F; Lazo-Langner, A; Le Gal, G; Mallick, R; Shivakumar, SP; Tagalakis, V; Vrotniakaite-Bajerciene, K; Wang, T

STRIVE before surgery trial: a pragmatic multicenter randomized trial of Structured TRaining to Improve fitness in a Virtual Environment before surgery-$ 400,000

  • Principal Investigator(s): McIsaac, Daniel I; Gillis, CA; Hallet, J; Kidd, GD; Lee, SM; Mayson, KV; Taljaard, M; Tandon, P; Wallace, T; Wijeysundera, DN
  • Co-Investigator(s): Amado, LA; Andrews, M; Aucoin, SD; Auer, RC; Barnes, K; Boet, S; Boland, LS; Breau, RH; Bryson, GL; Chesney, T; Eskander, A; Fergusson, DA; Gagné, S; Hedlin, P; Hladkowicz, E; Khadaroo, R; Lalu, MM; Lavallée, LT; Martel, G; Moloo, H; Nicholls, SG; Saha, T; Scheede-Bergdahl, C; Serrano, PE; Thavorn, K; Van Walraven, C; Vogt, KN.

Subclinical Primary Aldosteronism: An Unrecognized, Modifiable Driver of Diastolic Heart Failure-$344,250

  • Principal Investigator(s): Hundemer, Gregory; Agharazii, M; Goupil, R; Larose, E; Madore, F
  • Co-Investigator(s): Burger, DE; Kline, G; Leung, A; Piché, M; Ramsay, TO

Re(de)fining CKD to reduce cardiovascular disease in young adults-$256,274

  • Principal Investigator(s): Sood, Manish M
  • Co-Investigator(s): Akbari, A; Bi, A; Bugeja, A; Fung, S; Hundemer, G; Hussain, J; Manuel, DG; Ravani, P; Stalker, L; Sud, M; Tangri, N; Tanuseputro, P

The role of G protein receptor 84 in inflammatory kidney injury-$100,000

  • Principal Investigator(s):  Kennedy, Christopher Rj

Dissecting the role of chromatin remodelling in neocortical neurogenesis and neurodevelopmental disorders-$100,000

  • Principal Investigator(s): Mattar, Pierre Adel

The impact of tobacco smoking during pregnancy on the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease in women-$100,000

  • Principal Investigator(s): Pakhale, Smita; Coburn, V
  • Co-Investigator(s): Alvarez, GG; Ambade, PN; Boyd, R; Chin, M; Etowa, JB; Falavinha, B; Fareau, VC; Gupta, S; Jama, S; Kanji, S; Kitty, D; Krewski, DR; Luks, VP; Marshall, L; Moledina, A; Mulpuru, S; Najafizada, S; Ramsay, TO; Selby, PL; Shire, AM; Tariq, SR; Thavorn, K; To, T; Wen, S; Wong, T

Virtual care utilization and impact among individuals with breast cancer on systemic therapy: a population-based retrospective cohort study- $100,000

  • Principal Investigator(s): Van Walraven, Carl; Manuel, DG
  • Co-Investigator(s): Backman, C; Cole, KM; Engel, FD; Fisher, SL; Gibb, MA; Harrison, L; Li, W; Ng, TL; Srikanthan, A; Tanuseputro, P; Wang, T; Webber, C

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

Pathways to Functional Cure in Chronic Hepatitis B- $3,749,969

  • Applicant(s): Coffin, Carla S
  • Co-Applicants: Cooper, Curtis L Crawley, Angela M Gehring, Adam J Jenne, Craig N; Meier-Stephenson, Vanessa Brahmania, Mayur Congly, Stephen E Doucette, Karen E; Feld, Jordan J Kelly, Erin M Klein, Ran MacParland, Sonya Michalak, Thomas I Ramji, Alnoor Shaheen, Abdel-Aziz M WANG, BO Whiteside, Douglas P
  • Note: this grant is administered at the University of Calgary

Optimizing outcomes for patients presenting to emergency departments with opioid poisoning - $1,526,175

  • Principal investigator(s): Hohl, Corinne M; Archambault, Patrick; Brooks, Steven C; Chandra, Kavish; Daoust, Raoul; Dong, Kathryn A; Fok, Patrick T; Grunau, Brian E; Kestler, Andrew; Lock, Kurt; Lysyshyn, Mark; McRae, Andrew D; Moe, Jessica; Morrison, Laurie J; Orkin, Aaron M; Perry, Jeffrey J; Rosychuk, Rhonda J; Stone-McLean, Jordan
  • Co-investigators: Baril, Chloé; Byrne, Christopher M; Cheng, Ivy S; Cook, Jolene; Davis, Seth N; Hayward, Jake; Kareemi, Hashim; Leeies, Murdoch A; Li, Siying; McGrail, Kimberlyn M; Mercier, Eric; Plamondon, Vicky; Purssell, Elizabeth; Scheuermeyer, Frank; VandenBerg, Stephanie D; Wiemer, Hana M; Zuidhof, Aron
  • Note: this grant is administered at the University of British Columbia

Standardizing and optimizing the assessment of risk of bias in vaccine effectiveness studies to improve evidence synthesis and guideline development -$459,000

  • Principal investigator(s): Sulis Giorgia; Brouwers, Melissa C
  • Co-investigators: Alonso, Pablo; Florez, Ivan D; Lê, Maxime; Moher, David; Sadarangani, Manish; Sundaram, Maria; Wells, George A; Wilkinson, Krista
  • Note: this grant is administered at the University of Ottawa

Putting RESPECT at the centre of person-centred care: Evaluation of a risk communication tool supporting earlier conversations about decline and palliative care needs in long-term care - $459,000

  • Principal investigator(s): Hsu, Amy T; Ewa, Vivian; Friesen, Steven; Hampel, Claudia E; Manuel, Douglas G; Presseau, Justin; Quail, Patrick B; Thavorn, Kednapa
  • Co-investigators: Anderson, Sharon D; Bennett, Carol; Crawshaw, Jacob; Fanous, Samuel; Fisher, Stacey L; Guinand, Taurian; Isenberg, Sarina R; Kobewka, Daniel M; Lessard, Lysanne; Murmann, Maya; Oyebanji, Olubunmi; Parmar, Jasneet; Roberts, Rhiannon; Tanuseputro, Peter; Wilson, Kumanan

#Harmfulproductmarketing: The Digital Marketing of Unhealthy Food, Alcohol, Gambling, Vape and Cannabis Products to Youth, the Impact of Policy Environment and Key Policy Solutions- $428,400

  • Principal investigator(s): Potvin Kent, Monique C; Elton-Marshall, Tara E; Gruben, Vanessa; Hammond, David G; Knai, Cecile; Ramsay, Timothy O; Vanderlee, Lana M
  • Co-investigators: Backholer, Kathryn; Bhatti, Asim; Pauzé, Elise; Vergeer, Laura
  • Note: this grant is administered at the University of Ottawa

Optimizing patient-centered outcomes Using opioid minimization Strategies (OPUS) Pilot Trial- $386,326

  • Principal investigator(s): Verret, Michael; Fergusson, Dean A; Lalu, Manoj M; Turgeon, Alexis F
  • Co-investigators: Archambault, Patrick; Bérubé, Mélanie; Carrier, François M; D'Aragon, Frederick; Desjardins, Philippe; Gilron, Ian; Girard, Martin; Graham, Megan; Khan, James S; Ladha, Karim; Lauzier, François; Lee, Susan M; Lehmann, Christian; Martel, Guillaume; Mccluskey, Stuart A; McIsaac, Daniel I; Moore, Lynne; Nicholls, Stuart G; Poulin, Patricia A; Spence, Jessica; Uppal, Vishal; Wijeysundera, Duminda N; Zarychanski, Ryan
  • Note: this grant is administered at Université Laval

These projects are supported by core resources for research at The Ottawa Hospital, such as the Ottawa Methods Centre.

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.