SPPH faculty awarded nearly $5 million from CIHR to lead innovative health research projects

UBC Faculty of Medicine researchers were awarded more than $40 million in combined funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant: Spring 2025 competition. As part of this achievement, faculty members from UBC’s School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) secured nearly $5 million in funding to lead diverse and impactful research initiatives addressing urgent health challenges facing Canadians. These SPPH-led projects, which include studies on climate-related health impacts, substance use in the trades, youth mental health, and cervical cancer prevention, are among 45 Faculty of Medicine projects funded through this national competition. In total, UBC researchers received $47 million across 54 projects, contributing to CIHR’s broader investment of more than $411 million in health research across the country.

Sarah Henderson

Project title: Understanding the public health impacts of evacuations due to climate-related disasters: A mixed methods approach

Principal investigator: Henderson, Sarah

CIHR contribution: $100,000

Abstract/Summary: Climate change is causing more intense and frequent natural disasters in Canada. Evacuations protect individuals and communities from the immediate harm of disaster, but the process itself can have substantial short- and long-term impacts on health, especially for those who already face social or economic inequities. The goal of this study is to understand these health impacts and develop public health tools and methods to better support evacuees. Using administrative health data, two study groups (cohorts) from British Columbia (BC) will be formed to compare health outcomes between evacuated and non-evacuated people from (1) the 2021 flooding in Merritt and (2) the 2021 wildfire in Lytton. The study will examine how risk factors – such as pre-existing health conditions and social circumstances – relate to short- and long-term outcomes like mental health, respiratory and cardiovascular illness, injury, infection, and access to healthcare services. The insights from these analyses will guide the creation of public health tools and methods for identifying, tracking, and supporting the health needs of evacuated people. A community of groups and organizations that support people who are displaced from disasters will be brought together to identify opportunities for reducing the health impacts of evacuation based on the results of the analyses and the public health tools created for monitoring them. It is expected that negative health outcomes will increase immediately in the weeks after evacuation and over the longer term in months and years, with groups already facing health, social, and economic inequities experiencing a larger impact. Identifying, understanding, and developing ways to monitor the health outcomes of evacuated individuals and communities is critical to public health response and decision-making as people are increasingly displaced due to climate-related disasters in BC, across Canada, and around the world. (source: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/)

Chris McLeod

Project title: Substance Use, Work and Well-Being in Trades and Construction

Principal investigators: Richardson, Lindsey; McLeod, Christopher B

CIHR contribution: $1,870,424

Abstract/Summary: People working in construction and trades bear a disproportionate burden of substance-use related harms, including fatal overdose, despite considerable efforts to address these harms in the sector. There is an urgent need to advance action-oriented research that supports the well-being and occupational outcomes of this occupational group. The Substance Use, Work and Well-Being in Trades and Construction Study seeks to address this gap with a view to developing evidence-based substance use policies, programs and protocols that reduce substance-related harms, improve employment outcomes, and sustain the trades and construction workforce. This multi-pronged, multi-methods study will pair robust research with an integrated knowledge mobilization and exchange strategy, collaborating with workers, unions, people with lived and living experience of substance use, employers and clinicians to bridge critical knowledge gaps and advance evidence-based approaches to substance use in this sector. The study integrates survey-based research among current workers, longitudinal qualitative research among trades and construction workers undergoing medical assessment and monitoring for substance use, and a provincial occupational disease surveillance cohort using linked administrative data. Research activities will advance understandings of the scope and dynamics of substance use and related harms, responses to substance use among workers, and the impacts of current policies and programming, as well as identify potential points of intervention to support prevention, treatment, recovery and return-to-work outcomes. In turn, this research will be mobilized to support workers, employers, unions, clinicians and decision makers in mitigating occupational and substance use-related harms through, anticipating direct, material, and significant impacts on the work and well-being trajectories of people with living experience of substance use in the trades and construction sector. (source: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/)

Gina Ogilvie

Project title: HPV FOCAL LEGACY: Longterm Evaluations of Gains in Cervical Cancer Prevention

Principal investigators: Ogilvie, Gina S; Gottschlich, Anna; Proctor, Lily

CIHR contribution: $1,285,200

Abstract/Summary: Cervical screening programs across Canada are transitioning to primary Human Papillomavirus (HPV) screening, which is more sensitive than cytology, leading to improved detection of cervical precancer and the ability to extend screening intervals. However, there are currently no data-driven protocols to guide when to safely exit primary HPV screening. Current guidance is based on historical experience with cytology and expert opinion. Evidence to guide care for midlife women and individuals with a cervix (WIC) is lacking across virtually all medical fields, and cervical screening is no exception. A robust evaluation of evidence for WIC >=50yrs is critically needed to determine the optimal age to exit WIC from HPV primary screening and how to manage HPV positive (HPV+). As primary HPV screening is a relatively new strategy, there is minimal long-term outcome data. This study will use the only North American cohort with ~20yrs of follow-up after HPV screening to address three urgent policy questions in Canada: 1) optimal age to exit WIC from HPV screening; 2) appropriate management strategies for HPV+ WIC >=50yrs at screen exit; and 3) parameters for population-level outcome models to inform HPV screening strategies across the lifespan. Participants from the HPV FOCAL trial (2008-2016), which compared HPV screening to cytology, received one or two rounds of HPV screening, then were returned to cytology testing in the provincial program. Trial participants who were >50yrs at the time of their first negative HPV test (n=9012), will be followed for ~20 years to assess risk of precancer post-HPV testing. As well, we will invite all FOCAL participants currently 67-75 (n=5439) (screening exit age is 69 in BC) to participate in HPV self-screening, with extended genotyping, which may act as a potential triage test among HPV+ WIC. This data will support the development of the first data-driven screening exit protocols for primary HPV screening, applicable in Canada and beyond. (source: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/)

Jason Sutherland and Kirsten Marchand

Project title: IYS Impact 1.0: A multi-methods, qualitative, and population-level study of the impact of Integrated Youth Services (IYS) on youth mental health care access and experiences in British Columbia

Principal investigators: Barbic, Skye P; Marchand, Kirsten I; Sutherland, Jason M; Tee, Karen A

CIHR contribution: $1,732,726

Abstract/Summary: About 25% of youth (ages 12-25) in Canada experience mental health and substance use (MHSU) challenges but accessing services for these concerns is often difficult. Integrated youth services (IYS) are a new initiative in Canada that provide youth with a single access point for MHSU and other services. IYS are now expanding across Canada, but limited evidence exists to understand their impact. The IYS initiative in British Columbia (BC) presents a unique opportunity to study this new model of service delivery. The overall aim of our study is to understand what impact IYS have on youth using MHSU services and their experiences. To do so, we will 1) learn about youth experiences accessing IYS from the perspectives of youth, families/caregivers, and service providers, 2) compare the characteristics of youth who have accessed IYS and youth who have not, and 3) determine the effect of IYS on patterns of service utilization (such as use of mental health services). We will use multiple methods over 5 years to achieve this goal. First, we will use integrated knowledge translation to collaborate with knowledge users, such as youth and service providers, to make sure findings are relevant to them. Next, we will interview youth, families/caregivers, and service providers with experiences in both traditional and IYS settings to understand how their experiences accessing or delivering services for MHSU compare in both settings. Next, we will link data from the BC-IYS initiative with routinely obtained provincial administrative data to understand the characteristics of youth who access IYS and youth who do not. Finally, we will compare youth who have accessed IYS to those who have not to see if IYS are having an impact on patterns of MHSU care, particularly for mental health services like emergency departments and hospital admissions. Our work provides an opportunity to inform and improve the quality of IYS initiatives in Canada. (source: https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/)

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