Prateek Sharma, Angela McLaughlin and Jonathan Simkin
Six School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) students have won 2016 – 17 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships.
Stephen van Gaal
The $17,500 awards are given to students who are involved in excellent health science research. Current Master of Science (M.Sc.) students Tamara Dudley, Angela McLaughlin, Prateek Sharma, incoming students Stephen van Gaal and Kate Wahl, as well as incoming doctoral student Jonathan Simkin, are all studying different areas of health science, from cancer prevention to minor strokes evaluation.
The winners also have different academic backgrounds. Ms McLaughlin worked in a biotechnology company before pursuing her degree at the School, Dr van Gaal completed a medical degree, and Mr Simkin graduated from the Master of Public Health program at SPPH. His research project is titled Understanding cancer trends in Northern Canada.
Tamara Dudley
Ms McLaughlin said winning the award was an honour and a surprise. When she made the decision to return to studying, she said she had no idea whether she would be able to secure funding. “All I knew was that I wanted to study genomic epidemiology, and everything would sort itself out”. Her research project is titled Phylogenetic clustering of surveillance drug resistance mutations in HIV-1 among patients naïve to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and those who are non-adherent to treatment.
“As a woman in science, particularly in a non-traditional field, this award is incredibly meaningful in supporting both my research and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS’s work in Vancouver”.
CIHR award winner Tamara Dudley
Kate Wahl
Mr Sharma said this was a big and difficult jump, and different approaches to problems were needed, as well as a positive attitude.
Ms Wahl’s research project is titled Reliability and validity of a single-item measure of deep dyspareunia for patients with endometriosis, and Dr van Gaal’s is titled Prospective cohort study of appropriate use criteria for CT angiography in the emergency department evaluation of suspected transient ischemic attack.
“It is important to develop partnerships with people of different background and make connections, build networks”.
CIHR award winner Jonathan Simkim