Funding Round up- April 2018

Here is a short list of funding opportunities that have deadlines in April. Every month known funding opportunities are rounded up and posted here on our online news.

Please note: This is not a comprehensive list. For more information about specific opportunities, check out our funding calendar. 

If you have an opportunity you'd like to add, please contact: 
Amy Wilson, Publications Coordinator, NSHA Research Services

April 2018 

18-Apr: Canadian Cancer Society- Impact Grants- Abstract Registration (Stage 1 of 2)


19-Apr: Weston Brain Institute- Rapid Response- Letter of Intent Deadline




1-May: TRIC Grant Deadline

3-May: Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute Seed Funding Rolling Competition- $10,000- Cancer Research

No Deadline: Canadian Arrhythmia Network of Canada- Ignite Grant- $25,000- The Ignite Grant aims to foster collaborative relationships between Canadian-based companies and network investigators. An Ignite project must focus on creating an innovative solution for a company-specific problem through the generation of new knowledge or the application of existing knowledge.


 

Local Researchers Capture CIHR Project Grant Funds

We are very pleased to congratulate NSHA researchers and their teams who were successful applicants in the Fall 2017 CIHR Project Grant Competition. 

The Project Grant Program "is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes."

3,415 applications were submitted across Canada and 512 were funded (12 in Nova Scotia) with an average over all success rate of 15%. Applications are peer reviewed by committee and successful applicants were notified on January 24th 2018.

Please join us in congratulating our NSHA success stories:

Geriatrics: Rockwood, Kenneth- $466,652 (4 years)- How does frailty influence the risk and expression of dementia in Alzheimer disease?

Cardiology: Sapp, John- $979,200 (6 years)- The VANISH2 Trial: Ventricular Tachycardia Antiarrhythmics or Ablation in Structural Heart Disease 2

Psychiatry: Tibbo, Philip- $493,425 (3 years)- Cannabis effects on white matter microstructure and outcomes in early phase psychosis: a 1 year dual site longitudinal study
 

Researcher Profile: Dr. Ratika Parkash

Dr. Ratika Parkash

What is your current research project? 
Currently I am working in 2 main streams: atrial fibrillation and cardiac devices. We just published a study about the effect aggressive blood pressure control has on the recurrence of atrial fibrillation after a procedure called ‘catheter ablation’;  we were looking to figure out if this could improve outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation.

We are also looking at the best way to follow up with patients who have cardiac devices, this population is growing and we need to improve our efficiency of follow up.

How did you become interested in your research topic?
When I was a medical student, I was fascinated with the heart mechanics and then also became interested in the electrical function of the heart. When therapies for atrial fibrillation became more advanced, it became more interesting and I wondered how we could improve outcomes for patients which steered me to research.

What has been unexpected about your findings so far?
Mainly that our hypothesis about blood pressure control didn’t work. It had shown up in animals and prior studies but it didn’t work for us. We learned a lot from this, our study was short term and we learned that better outcomes likely require more time to work. If you started off with good blood pressure you were ok, but we learned that we need to treat people for longer periods of time to have a bigger effect.

What’s innovative about your research? 
Our project is one of the first clinical trials specifically for atrial fibrillation and catheter ablation. We are also looking at a web based platform to give better access to our patients, especially those at a distance so they don’t have to travel as much.

One word that best describes how you work: Persistent

What technology can’t you live without?  Blackberry, Mac, SAS

How do you envision your research benefiting the “public at large”?
I hope my research improves the quality and quantity of life for patients with atrial fibrillation but I also want to reduce adverse events for those with cardiac devices and perform follow up with patients with these devices as efficiently as possible.

Note: This profile appeared in the May 2017 print edition of Research in Progress