UBC Health is pleased to announce that nine interdisciplinary teams across UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan have been awarded up to $25,000 each through the Health Innovation Funding Investment (HIFI) Awards. 

The HIFI Awards enable health researchers to undertake innovative activities that have the potential to create change. HIFI catalyzes cross-faculty and cross-campus collaboration at the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. Grants are awarded to develop, undertake, or translate innovative health-related research.

An interdisciplinary review committee evaluated more than 40 applications. After much consideration, UBC Health selected nine collaborative teams to receive a total of $219,975 for innovative interdisciplinary research projects across a range of areas: 

• piloting an interdisciplinary eHealth system to improve pediatric sleep care pathways;
• enabling families who have children with neurodevelopmental disabilities to access coaching at home; 
• empowering postpartum individuals with education and research;
• exploring a tri-partnership model for drug-checking services;
• optimizing sex-based interventions for concussion management;
• assessing data for equity-informed artificial intelligence for interdisciplinary wound care;
• developing an interdisciplinary nutrition intervention for patients with diabetes;
• investigating predictors of treatment response for major depressive disorder; and
• developing a virtual reality training tool to facilitate police investigations of injuries associated with intimate partner violence cases. 

Congratulations to the teams receiving a HIFI Award:

Barriers, facilitators, and outcomes of a novel interdisciplinary eHealth clinical system to improve pediatric sleep care pathways in British Columbia
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Elizabeth Keys, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Osman Ipsiroglu, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. David Wensley, Head, Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Denise Gabriel, Professor, Integrated Sciences, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Calvin Kuo, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Faculty of Medicine
• Mary Glasgow Brown, Clinical Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Charlene Esteban Ronquillo, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Quevie Abalde, Student, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Scout McWilliams, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine

Development of an app to facilitate remote implementation of KidsAction Coaching
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Jean-Paul Collet, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Stephanie Glegg, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Lise Olsen, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. William McKellin, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Mojgan Gitimoghaddam, PhD candidate, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine

Empowering individuals who are postpartum with education, self-monitoring for complications, and research through a mobile application 
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Xue Chen Ke, Clinical Instructor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Marianne Vidler, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Eric Li, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Emmanuela Ojukwu, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Science
• Dr. Lang Wu, Professor, Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen, Associate Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Faculty of Education

Harm reduction innovation: Exploring a tri-partnership model for the delivery of drug-checking services on campus and in the community
HIFI Award: $24,975

• Dr. Nelly Oelke, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan 
• Lauren Airth, PhD student, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Lianping Ti, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine; Research Scientist and Health Administrative Data Lead, BC Centre on Substance Use
• Sara Fudjack, PhD candidate, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Zach Walsh, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UBC Okanagan

Neural network-based concussion classifier: Sex-based considerations
HIFI Award: $20,000

• Dr. Naznin Virji-Babul, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Kwang Moo Yi, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Liisa Galea, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Shelina Babul, Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
• Natalie Dalton, Bachelor of Arts, Psychology

Pre-processing community nursing and allied health data for equity-informed artificial intelligence for interdisciplinary wound care
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Charlene Esteban Ronquillo, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Xiaoxiao Li, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
• Dr. Leanne Currie, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Science
• Lorraine Block, PhD candidate, School of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Science; Clinical and Implementation Lead for eWound EHR, Vancouver Coastal Health 
• Dr. Ivan Beschastnikh, Associate Professor, Computer Science, Faculty of Science

Putting type 2 diabetes into remission: Developing a patient-centred, interdisciplinary nutrition intervention for delivery in urban and rural community pharmacies
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Jonathan Little, Associate Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. James Johnson, Professor, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Tom Elliot, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Tamara Cohen, Director of Dietetics and Assistant Professor, Food, Nutrition and Health, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Dr. Joel Singer, Professor, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Jennifer Davis, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Jennifer Bolt, Clinical Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Dr. Mary Jung, Associate Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis, Director, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management; Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine; Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Brendan Byrne, Physician, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine 
• Dr. Barbara Oliveira, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Chris Xi, Student and Patient Partner, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Sean McKelvey, Registered Pharmacist, Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition 
• Marc Pelletier, Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Health Systems Transformation and Sustainability 

Reward and avoidance in major depressive disorder: Developing predictive markers of treatment response 
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Trisha Chakrabarty, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Rebecca Todd, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Stan Floresco, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Luke Clark, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
• Yuexiaoxi (Cecilia) Yu, MSc student, Neuroscience Program, Faculty of Medicine
• Ryan Tomm, PhD student, Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
• Alexander Terpstra, PhD student, Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts

Virtual reality training tool to facilitate police investigations of head injury and strangulation in intimate partner violence cases
HIFI Award: $25,000

• Dr. Paul van Donkelaar, Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Shelina Babul, Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine
• Stephanie Ashton, PhD student, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan
• John Jacob, Senior Director, Strategy and Innovation and Head, Digital Lab, BC Children's Hospital 
• Tara Haarhoff, Manager, Data Analysis Unit, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Posted on January 14, 2022