McMaster receives $8.45M in health research funding

McMaster University is receiving $8.45 million from the federal government to support 13 health research projects.

The results of the 2018 fall Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project grants competition were shared at an announcement at the Health Sciences Centre today. The McMaster grants are part of a national investment of $275 million funds for Canadian researchers studying the full spectrum of health issues.

“Congratulations to the McMaster University researchers receiving funding today,” said Filomena Tassi, Minister of Seniors and Member of Parliament for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.

“These grants are a testament to the high calibre of health science taking place in Hamilton. I am especially gratified to see support for so many research projects focused on improving the health and quality of life of Canada’s seniors.”

Today’s announcement featured two McMaster recipients, Hsien Seow (Oncology) and Sharon Kaasalainen (Nursing), who talked about their respective projects related to palliative care.

Other principal investigators at McMaster receiving funding are: Stuart Connolly (Medicine), James Dunn (Health, Aging & Society), Marie Elliot (Biology), Ahmed Jakda (Family Medicine) with Seow, Martin Kolb (Medicine), Joan Krepinsky (Medicine), Vladimir Ljubicic (Kinesiology), Louis Schmidt (Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences), Saroj Saigal (Pediatrics) and Ryan Van Lieshout (Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences), Damu Tang (Medicine), Bernardo Trigatti (Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences), Richard Whitlock (Surgery) and Boyang Zhang (Chemical Engineering).

“The research we are supporting today offers the potential to make us healthier, to reduce pain and suffering, to prevent disease and unnecessary deaths, and to bring peace of mind,” said Charu Kaushic, scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Infection and Immunity and a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster.

Learn more about the 13 funded McMaster research projects.