Researchers at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and BC Cancer have developed a new blood test that provides unprecedented insight into a patient’s cancer make-up, potentially allowing doctors to better select treatment options that will improve patient outcomes. 

The technology was outlined in a study published today in Nature. 

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has announced the results of its Spring 2022 project grant competition. Congratulations to all the VCHRI researchers who were awarded project grants. 

Strokes are a leading cause of death and disability in Canada, with a total of around 62,000 reported cases each year.

Cognitive health and memory often go hand in hand. A decline in one can potentially trigger a decline in the other. New research from Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez and co-author Elizabeth Gregory has found that the opposite can also be true. 

End-of-life care is never an easy topic of conversation. For people of South Asian descent, discussions about death and dying can also carry with them cultural norms and family traditions that differ from those of mainstream Western cultures, which the health care system in British Columbia is largely built upon.

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) researcher Dr. Amrish Joshi has thought deeply on the topic, both as someone of South Asian descent and as a community palliative physician with the Richmond Integrated Hospice Palliative Care Program. 

Q: What is your role in health research?
A: I am a graduate research assistant in the Kramer Lab at the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), where we study the neurophysiology of pain.

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is proud to support tomorrow’s research leaders with the Top Graduating Doctoral Student Awards and the Rising Star Awards. These awards recognize outstanding efforts by VCHRI trainees for research excellence, service as role models and other contributions that each has made to benefit the Vancouver Coastal Health research community.

The 2022 Top Graduating Doctoral Student Award recipients are:

Following the legalization of cannabis in Canada, drivers presenting to some British Columbia hospitals with moderate injuries were twice as likely to have over-the-limit tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels in their bloodstreams. This revelation was one of several presented in a recent study led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) clinician-scientist Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher.