Dr. Melissa Lem, clinical assistant professor in the department of family practice, and Dr. Abhiram Cherukupalli, UBC family medicine resident, are recipients of the 2020 Joule innovation grant program.
The program supports physician-led innovation by providing flexible funding to Canadian Medical Association members making a difference in health care. Joule provides 12 grants totaling $500,000 to develop or scale up projects to improve access to care, innovate and sustain the health care system and improve physician health and wellness.
Dr. Melissa Lem will scale her initiative PaPx, Canada’s first national, evidence-based nature prescription program to improve people’s mental health while also engaging them in preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Dr. Abhiram Cherukupalli will develop Tractus Medical, a medical device company that aims to revolutionize the treatment of wrist fractures in the acute care setting.