Future health care needs require visionary approaches to tackle the challenges confronting patients and their families today. From curing disease to improving quality of life, researchers are at the forefront of medical advances that support the health and happiness of patients and their families. For this reason, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is proud to contribute to groundbreaking research with our annual Innovation and Translational Research Awards.
Inside the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), a clinician peers through a microscope. She is looking at a thin slice from a block of paraffin wax embedded with tissue samples, searching for clues to cure disease. VGH neuropathologist and VCHRI researcher Dr. Stephen Yip calls this the analogue version of histology—the study of the structure of tissues at the microscopic level. Research he and colleagues are conducting is paving the way for histology 2.0 in the age of digital technology.
Endometriosis— a condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows in other parts of the body—affects ten per cent of Canadian women of reproductive age and is associated with pain and infertility. That’s approximately a million Canadians. But endometriosis can go undiagnosed for years, while its debilitating symptoms cost $2 billion annually in lost productivity and health care expenses.
Eight mostly senior men and women are balancing on one leg as smiles and looks of concentration cross their faces. They are part of a three-month Fitness And Mobility Exercise (FAME) program for people who have experienced stroke. Under the guidance of trained instructors, FAME develops participants’ physical and mental well-being in a group setting. The West Vancouver Community Centre program is also an implementation study led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) researcher Dr.
Q: My father is much less active than he used to be. Is this normal?
A: Unfortunately, it is the norm. Only 11% of older men meet the daily requirements for exercise. But the trend starts even earlier: by age 40, men’s exercise rates decrease by about 50 per cent. That is quite dramatic and sobering. Further, across all ages, only 17 per cent of men are meeting recommended physical activity guidelines. It’s better than women’s rates of 13 per cent, but still far from adequate.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a highly contagious sexually transmitted infection that can cause cancer. HPV affects 80 per cent of sexually active people who have not been vaccinated. Considering how common HPV is, public understanding is lacking. Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist and gynecologic oncologist Dr. Marette Lee explains that misperceptions and stigmas still surround HPV. “There is a big hole in awareness and a lot of misinformation out there. We need to normalize HPV and talk about it openly so we can prevent serious illnesses for both men and women.”
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 contributions by VCHRI research trainees to research excellence, service as role models, and other contributions to the VCH research community.
The 2018 top Graduating Student Doctoral award recipients are:
Kidney stones are a common problem in Canada. Ten per cent of the population suffers from the painful condition, caused when high levels of oxalate combine with calcium in the bloodstream and crystallize into stones in the kidney. Oxalates are found in a range of foods from french fries to nuts. Some people easily eliminate oxalates but others can’t.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer for women—but one of the most deadly. In 2017, approximately 2,800 Canadian women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer1, and an estimated 1,800 lost their lives to the disease. While survival rates are slowly increasing, early diagnosis and treatment dramatically improves a woman’s chance of survival.
