VCHRI researchers awarded CIHR project grants to advance health research

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has announced the results of its Fall 2025 project grant competition. Congratulations to all the VCHRI researchers who were awarded project grants. 

Project Grants

Investing in matriarchal power, access, care and traditional wellness (IMPACT)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Brittany Bingham 

Circumstances of active transport injuries
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher 

The toxic drug study: Clinical and toxicological profiles of people with unregulated drug poisoning.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher

Does tailored referral support increase the reach of the Breast Cancer Endocrine Fitness (BE-FIT) program 
Principal Investigators: Dr. Kristin Campbell 

Fatal toxic drug poisonings among street-involved youth: Evaluating public health interventions and characterizing neurocognitive impairment in the fentanyl era
Principal Investigator: Dr. Kora DeBeck 

Adapting, producing, and testing a youth overdose prevention toolkit through community-based participatory methods
Principal Investigator: Dr. Danya Fast

Expanding opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy to laparoscopic cholecystectomy to prevent ovarian cancer: A feasibility and safety trial
Principal Investigators: Dr. Gillian Hanley

Transforming access to medications in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities: Implementing and evaluating virtual pharmacist care and drone delivery services
Principal Investigator: Dr. Femke Hoekstra 

Emulating randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness and safety of semaglutide in inflammatory arthritis and type 2 diabetes
Principal Investigator: Dr. Diane Lacaille 

Alleviating waitlist woes: Implementing and evaluating a health-promoting program for people awaiting hip and knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis
Principal Investigator: Dr. Heather McKay 

Large-scale multimodal genomics meta-analysis to gain insight into brain gene regulation
Principal Investigator: Dr. Paul Pavlidis 

Multimodal neuromonitoring during normothermic regional perfusion in organ donors determined dead by circulatory criteria following withdrawal of life sustaining measures
Principal Investigators: Dr. Mypinder Sekhon, Dr. Mark Cembrowski, Dr. Donald Griesdale, Dr. George Isac

Multi-omics plasma biomarkers for early detection of cardiac allograft vasculopathy in adult heart transplant recipients
Principal Investigator: Dr. Scott Tebbutt

PROX1 drives cell lineage reprogramming in neuroendocrine prostate cancer
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yuzhuo Wang 

Defining circulating tumor DNA kinetics as a treatment response biomarker in metastatic prostate cancer
Principal Investigator: Dr. Alexander Wyatt 

Read the full list of project grant recipients

Priority Announcement Grants

CHD7 as a key upstream chromatin regulator driving NEPC development and aggressiveness
Priority Announcement: Early Detection/Cancer Prevention
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yuzhuo Wang

Sex-specific biomechanical thresholds and cumulative risk models for sports-related brain injury
Priority Announcement: Female Athlete Health
Principal Investigator: Dr. Lyndia Wu

Cartilage, biomechanical, and clinical responses to a start to run program in masters aged individuals: Implications for long-term knee joint health
Priority Announcement: Female Athlete Health
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael Hunt

Mental health, resilience, memory and memory sharing in the aftermath of pregnancy loss
Priority Announcement: Sex and Gender in Health Research - Advancing intersectionality in sex and gender science
Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniela Palombo

Transforming access to medications in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities: Implementing and evaluating virtual pharmacist care and drone delivery services
Priority Announcement: Health Services and Policy Research Rising Star Early Career Award
Principal Investigator: Dr. Femke Hoekstra

Read the full list of priority announcement grant recipients