CANTRAIN & Michael Smith Health Research BC Internship/Practicum for Clinical Research Professionals Program 2023-24

Sherry Sandhu is a research assistant in the Department of Addiction Medicine and Substance Use Services at the Fraser Health Authority. She supports a research program called ‘Rahi’, which means ‘a companion along a path’ in Panjabi and Hindi. The principal investigator leading the project is Dr. Nitasha Puri, an addiction medicine physician and medical lead at the Roshni Clinic which is an addictions clinic tailored for the South Asian population in the Fraser Health region. Rahi aims to develop and test the feasibility of a culturally resonant intervention to treat substance use disorder among Panjabi men in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. The first phase of this BC-based project was to design an intervention and was co-led and co-created with people who have lived and living experience using substances (PWLLE). As the team prepares for the next phase of testing the intervention, Sherry was awarded with a unique opportunity to gain clinical research  that she can bring back to her team. Sherry was one of two recipients in BC to win the CANTRAIN & Michael Smith Health Research BC Internship/Practicum for Clinical Research Professionals Program 2023-24. The clinical research internship program is an initiative of the Canadian Consortium of Clinical Trial Training (CANTRAIN), a national platform funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Michael Smith Health Research BC is a proud partner of CANTRAIN’s clinical research internship program. Sherry will use the important clinical research skills she gains through this award, to guide her team as they go on to test this community-led intervention. This research will be vital in changing the landscape of culturally tailored health care for South Asians across BC.