Announcing the 2020 MSFHR Scholars and Research Trainees

8 September 2020

Artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening, mental health in immigrant and refugee children, substance use harm reduction, and vaccine education for midwifery clients are just some of the areas being investigated by this year’s MSFHR Scholar and Research Trainee award recipients who are advancing science, addressing health priorities, and improving the health of British Columbians.

The 63 award recipients are located in centres across BC including Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George, and Vancouver.

“As MSFHR’s flagship funding programs, the Scholar and Research Trainee Awards recognize and help develop the health research talent BC needs to create healthier lives through discovery and improve our health system,” says MSFHR President & CEO, Dr. Bev Holmes. “It’s more important than ever to support the early-career health researchers who will help solve the health issues most pressing to British Columbians.”

Funding for early-career researchers and post-doctoral fellows is particularly important at this time, as data indicate that they are most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MSFHR Scholar and Research Trainee awards support BC’s next generation of health researchers in developing their leading-edge research programs and helps them attract additional funding, train and hire full-time staff, create knowledge to inform policy, and further research.

The MSFHR Scholar program supports early-career health researchers in building health research programs and training the next generation of scientists. Most MSFHR Scholars have been enabled to leverage their award to bring additional research dollars into BC. In 2019/20, MSFHR Scholars obtained an average of $493K in additional funding — over five times the annual value of their Scholar award.

The Research Trainee program provides supports health researchers in the training phase of their research career to enable BC’s talent development and build health research capacity for the long-term success of the BC health research landscape. The majority of past MSFHR Research Trainees remain in BC and find employment in academia or biotech companies.

Partnerships are integral to helping develop BC’s health research talent. This year, MSFHR has partnered with organizations to co-fund three Scholar awards and seven Research Trainee awards. These partnerships allow MSFHR to fund more researchers and provide an opportunity to build research capacity in our partners’ priority areas, coordinate research support, and reduce duplication of effort.

Thank you to the 2020 Scholar and Research Trainee award partners: