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Keeping Our Members Informed and Connected

August 2023

Member Highlights and Successes

Letting us know about the accomplishments of you and your colleagues let’s us celebrate the great work being done in our region, build further collaborations, and ignite excitement about research in Windsor-Essex! Here are just a few of your latest successes.

Introducing Jillian Calandra!


We would like to offer a warm welcome to our newest Translational Research Associate, Jillian Calandra. She recently completed her Masters of Science in Translational Health Science degree.


We are thrilled to have her join our team!

2023 Health Research Conference!



WE-SPARK's 2nd annual Health Research Conference is scheduled for Saturday, November 4, 2023 at Caesars Windsor.


This event will bring together an esteemed gathering of researchers, health care professionals, students, and community partners, representing diverse health research areas. We are currently accepting abstracts and registration is open. We hope to see you there!


Visit the conference website for more information.

New Projects


Ananda Amstadter, Virginia Commonwealth University, Abigail Powers, Emory University (MPI). Silvio-Alin Bacanu, Vasiliki Michopoulos, Roseann Peterson, Lance Rappaport, Kerry James Ressler, Christina Sheerin. (USD $3,877,617) USA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Integrating genetic and ecological and momentary assessment technologies to advance models of PTSD-AUD comorbidity.


Jonathan McGavock, University of Manitoba, Jessica Kichler, University of Windsor. ($25,000) CIHR-SPOR. Type 1 Diabetes, Exercise and Mentorship Trial: Peer Mentor Training & Patient Workshop Program.


Kate Zinszer, Cheri McGowan, University of Windsor, Henry Isabirye, Paula M. van Wyk, University of Windsor, Charles Kalumuna, Geofrey Musinguzi, Stella Nabirye, Jessie Stone. ($363,374) CIHR. Getting a GRIP on Hypertension in Uganda: Giving Repetitive Isometric Exercise for Blood Pressure Control.


Paula M. van Wyk, Cheri McGowan, Kevin Milne, University of Windsor. UWindsor Research Grants for Women. Isometric Handgrip Training Study: Answering the Urgent Call for Black Populations.



Publications / Articles / Presentations


Ali Z, Kukhta T, Jhunjhunwala A, Trant JF, Sharma P. (2023) Occurrence and classification of T-shaped interactions between nucleobases in RNA structures. RNA.


Corchis-Scott R, Geng Q, Al Riahi AM, Labak A, Podadera A, Ng KKS, Porter LA, Tong Y, Dixon JC, Menard S, Seth R, McKay RM. (2023) Actionable wastewater surveillance: application to a university residence hall during the transition between Delta and Omicron resurgences of COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health.


Coyne P, Csabai B, Woodruff SJ. (2023) A social media give and take: What young adults would give up to stay connected. Int J Soc Media and Online Comm.


Elliott J, van Wyk P, Butler R, Giosa J, Sims-Guold J, Tong CE, Taabazuing MM, Johnson H, Coyne P, Mitchell F, Whate A, Callon A, Carson J, Stolee P. (2023) Developing an in-depth understanding of patient and caregiver engagement across care transitions from hospital: protocol for a qualitative study exploring experiences in Canada. BMJ Open.


Elnemr YE, Abu-Libdeh A, Anthony Raj GC, Birjis Y, Nazemi H, Munirathinam P, Emadi A. (2023) Multi-Transduction-Mechanism Technology, an Emerging Approach to Enhance Sensor Performance. Sensors.


Khan MA, Kurniawan A, Khan MER, Khan MCM, Smith KL, Scharoun Benson S, Carlsen AN, Lawrence GP . (2023) The influence of foreperiod duration on the preparation and control of sequential aiming movements. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.


Modak S, Abdel-Raheem E, Rueda L. (2023) Applications of deep learning in disease diagnosis of chest radiographs: A survey on materials and methods. Biomedical Engineering Advances.


Naidu P. (2023) Presenting: Real-world Weight Loss Outcomes of Optifast® Total Meal Replacement Program in a Community Clinic at The Obesity Society Annual Meeting October 2023


Saeed S, Ning L, Badreddine A, Mirza MU, Boissel M, Khanam R, Manzoor J, Janjua QM, Khan WI, Toussaint B, Vaillant E, Amanzougarene S, Derhourhi M, Trant JF, Siegert A, Lam BYH, Yeo GSH, Chabraoui L, Touzani A, Kulkarni A, Farooqi IS, Bonnefond A, Arslan M, Froguel P. (2023) Biallelic mutations in P4HTM cause syndromic obeisity. Diabetes.


Zhou A, Osman A, Flores G, Srikrishnaraj D, Mohanty J, Al Bader R, Llancari A, El-Hashemi A, Elias M, Mirza K, Muldoon M, Palazzolo R, Zaib F, Woldie I, and Hamm C. (2023) Critical Illness in Migrant Workers in the Windsor-Essex Region: A Descriptive Analysis. Int J. Environ. Res. Public Health.


Appointments and Awards

 

Nursing professor, Edward Cruz, received a Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award for his work with internationally educated nurses. For more, visit the University of Windsor's DailyNews.


Sarah Woodruff was appointed to Associate Dean, Academic Programs as of July 1, 2023.


Congratulations everyone!

Submit your news items to The Spark! (Pictures/links encouraged)

Quarterly Report Available On-line


The first quarterly report for year 5 is available on the WE-SPARK website.


The first quarter of our year runs from May 2023 to July 2023.


Year 5 is focused on "Driving Results."

Research Toolkit
WE-SPARK Health Institute offers support to researchers. Here are a few of the tools that you may find useful.

The next Think Tank is scheduled for October 13th, 2023 from 1:00pm to 3:00 via Zoom. Register for free today! Enjoy 1 of 4 great discussions to end your week!

Are you looking at ways to present your health research? Submit your abstract to present in our oral or poster sessions! Submissions are due September 15th, 2023.


Want to make some new connections, eat great food, and converse with others involved in health research?Join us for our next WE-SPARK After Dark on September 7th @ The Bourbon on Ottawa Street.

We want to hear about your latest projects, grants, publications, awards, and conferences!
Send your great news to [email protected]
401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor ON N9B 3P4



(519) 253-3000 x 4394

Support WE-SPARK: wesparkhealth.com/donate
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