Sex Now is a community-based health survey for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in Canada. The next round of Sex Now will be conducted at LGBTQ Pride events in 8 Canadian cities and participants will be asked to provide small blood spot samples for HIV testing. This will majorly […]

Members of the SCI community must be involved in the process of designing and implementing SCI research to ensure the largest impact possible. SCI Ontario, an organization that supports people with SCI, is strategically planning their efforts to ensure research is used in practice. Understanding the needs and priorities of SCI communities and their families […]

Personal Support Workers (PSWs) provide 70-80% of all paid home care. Unfortunately, they experience occupational injuries at more than twice the rate of the general population. These injuries increase costs for home care providers, reduce the availability of skilled workers, reduce workers’ quality of life, and impact the consistency of care that can be provided […]

NXTSens has developed an implantable continuous monitoring, stand-alone and potentially mass-producible microsensor for accurate monitoring of tissue pressure and temperature in damaged limb muscles to better diagnose ACS. The proposed research will involve several sub-projects that include: i) develop appropriate surgical models for the accurate and reproducible placement of the microsensors in rodent compartments; ii) […]

Medical air is commonly used in healthcare institutions as a life support drug distributed to patients. This medical air is often produced on site through devices which draw, compress and filter outside air in order to redirect it into buildings. However, depending on the outdoor conditions, the state of the ventilation system or the presence […]

Cancer is associated with weight loss, decreased muscle strength and inflammation. This has a tremendous impact on daily activity, autonomy and quality of life, involving both patients and care-givers. I previously worked on a preoperative intervention called ‘pre-habilitation’, a personalized exercise and nutritional supplementation delivered before surgery. The main idea is to prevent postoperative complications […]

Healthcare acquired infections (HAIs) represent a common complication for hospitalized patients and can produce significant financial implications for the health care system. Unfortunately, mobile and handheld devices are recognized as a hub for bacteria and viruses that can cause these infections. To aid in a remedy for this, ultraviolet light is an emerging technology that […]

Insufficient and mistimed artificial lighting within the hospital environment can disrupt circadian rhythms, adversely affecting patients’ sleep, mood, and recovery. In collaboration with BC Hydro, we will run a study at the Burnaby Center for Mental Health and Addictions to test whether controlled 24-hour lighting with enhanced daytime brightness and restricted nocturnal light exposure can […]

Healthcare organizations in British Columbia currently lack an eHealth system as a network of multiple data sources to manage EHRs in meaningful ways. To support clinician decision in operational needs, this project will investigate a cloud-based eHealth system to improve the scalability and interoperability of health information system. A data integration system and an online […]

Wearable physical activity monitors have become increasingly commonplace as commercial fitness products. However, current devices can be expensive and cannot accurately measure activity for older adults. Xerus, Inc. has recently built an affordable activity tracking system able to measure physical activity levels in older adults. However, the accuracy of Xerus activity tracking monitor has not […]

The proposed research will support the effective knowledge translation of evidence-based best practice information related to healthy lifestyle behaviours (such as physical activity, healthy eating, smoking cessation, stress management, and alcohol moderation). Over a two-year period, the post-doctoral fellow will create a series of knowledge translation tools (including web- and smartphone-based applications) that can be […]

Children born with an absent or ineffective right or left ventricle (single ventricle) have a low life expectancy and will undergo at least three surgical procedures ultimately leading to the Fontan Procedure (FP), which allows blood to travel directly to the lungs (bypassing the heart) to become oxygenated. Adolescent FP-patients indicate poor cardiovascular health which […]