Researchers Under the Scope

In Mozambique, the Xitswa phrase, "wa sati wa nhenha" means "strong women" or "women's strength".

Jessie Forsyth and Nazeem Muhajarine are two of the University of Saskatchewan researchers learning how to build on that strength in rural and remote communities.

And they've done so during a pandemic.

In this episode, hear why Covid-19 did not stop the Mozambique-Canada Maternal Health project from opening several brand-new rural medical facilities this year. Nurses also managed to keep upgrading their skills with training in reproductive and obstetric services.

Alongside the bricks-and-mortar buildings, there's also more predictable income now for families in Inhambane province, thanks to micro-projects led by local women.

"Mozambican policy ever since the liberation movement has been about promoting gender equality," said Jessie Forsyth, director of the Mozambique-Canada Maternal Health project.

"But it's difficult. Change is difficult," she said. "So much of what we do requires long-term vision."

One year ago, Dr. Preston Smith remembers watching the coronavirus inch closer and closer to the University of Saskatchewan.

"It felt like being in the emergency room and hearing the police and ambulances had been called to an accident. You knew something was coming," he said.

By mid-March 2020, nearly every aspect of teaching and research was shutting down at the medical college he oversees.

"Experiments were interrupted. There was an enormous loss to our research," said Smith.

Crediting 'amazing teamwork' for moving coursework online and getting biomedical researchers back into their laboratories, Smith makes it clear -- science is the only way out of this pandemic.

In this episode, he discusses the pandemic, the need for research and dollars to support it, and his recruiting drive to fill 15-20 faculty positions over the coming years, as a cohort of senior researchers in Saskatoon retire.

"It is a fabulous time to be trying to recruit doctoral and post-doctoral biomedical scientists," said Smith, who is now in his second term as dean.

And he's unequivocal: provinces that spend tax dollars on biomedical research see fewer preventable illnesses and deaths.

"Our researchers are incredibly creative," Smith said, noting his faculty punch well above their weight in securing grants.

"We need more local funding that will equip our researchers to be competitive nationally."

To crack the causes of metabolic disease, Changting Xiao (PhD) is peering into the "black box" of the human gut.

As a boy, Xiao frequently ran homemade experiments, trying to figure out how systems work. Over the decades that followed, he observed an 'epidemic' increase in diabetes, obesity, strokes and heart disease.

In this episode, the biomedical researcher explains why he recently moved to Saskatchewan, and his fascination with the human gut, and its role in creating 'bad blood fats'.

"The gut is often overlooked and often under-studied," Xiao said. "The gut is very smart and complex, and there is much more to be learned."

"Western medicine can give you the heart of another person, but no meaningful direction on how to lead a good life with that heart," said Dr. Caroline Tait.

That's the dilemma many Indigenous people face, as disproportionately early deaths and chronic disease boost the need for organ transplants.

"Our whole public education if you look at it, is all about convincing people to sign their donor cards," said Tait, a medical anthropologist and psychiatry professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

"We really don't do any public health education at all around being a recipient."

Tait serves as co-lead of Canada's Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research, and research lead for the First Nations and Metis Organ Donation and Transplantation Network.

Through an indigenous lens, she and fellow think tank members tackle ethical and philosophical questions around transplant medicine.

"Indigenous people are very pragmatic and sometimes people forget that," Tait said. "It's okay for us to change our minds."

In this episode, Tait discusses the role of blood memory, why the 'wall' of anonymity between donor families and recipients is problematic, and ethical dilemmas raised by Indigenous elders, surgeons and patients with lived experience.

"People are messy," said Tait. "They aren't entirely sure how they feel about it. If they look at it from different vantage points, they may decide to do things differently."

Respiratory disease now accounts for one in four hospital admissions, with lung cancer killing more patients than any other cancer.

As both a respirologist and a health economist, Dr. Erika Penz (MD, PhD) knows Canadians spend a staggering amount of money treating lung diseases and cancer -- conditions that can be prevented.

That's why, early on, Penz chose to put respiratory disease in her crosshairs.

"That's actually why I get excited," said Penz. "The more we can understand and reduce these risks.... the more we can reduce the burden on both caregivers and the health care system."

By cutting smoking, vaping, and exposure to pollutants such as asbestos, Penz says we can release the tremendous pressure lung diseases place on hospitals, patients and their families.

In this episode, we hear why she became fluent in the language of both clinicians and bureaucrats; what being a clinician entails during a respiratory pandemic; and why Penz is determined to halt the pain and suffering of preventable lung disease.

Whether it's a blog, a podcast, a wiki, a tweet, or an infographic, a growing number of doctors now turn online when they need answers.

For the past five years, Dr. Brent Thoma has led research supporting the use of free, open-access, and high-quality resources for medical education.

"I think we're really elevating our game in medical education, because these resources are available from such exceptional educators and researchers," said Thoma, who specializes in emergency medicine and trauma. He's also the CEO and founder of CanadiEM.org.

In this episode, Thoma lays out the risks and rewards of moving medical education from textbooks to the online world. He also explains how to spot false and misleading information.

Thoma said the Covid-19 pandemic gives clinicians and researchers a sense of urgency in debunking the proliferation of false and misleading medical statements on social media.

"If we're not at the table and having some of these conversations and sharing high quality resources and work, we're just going to get drowned out," he said.

Like the "slow food" movement, Dr. Alexandra King promotes "slow research" when it comes to Indigenous people's health and wellness.

As a First Nations physician, and the Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness at the University of Saskatchewan, King wants Indigenous elders and people with lived experience to lead and shape more health research.

"What does knowledge translation look like if it's being done on a very personal level?" asked King. "We're now finding new and interesting ways of going about this."

When interviewing people who've experienced chronic conditions, homelessness, addictions, or abuse, she said researchers bear an ethical duty to avoid inflicting pain or harm on the people they're interviewing.

"If you bring someone into a dark place, it's really important that you bring them back into light," said King, who said Indigenous spiritual beliefs and ways of knowing carry healing power.

"When they're done the interview, they're feeling much better about themselves," she said.

In this episode, King challenges the traditional academic approach to health research, along with its outcomes for Indigenous people.

Ever wonder how tumours spread?

For Dr. Anand Krishnan, finding effective anti-cancer therapies means finding a way to decode the language tumours use to communicate with nerves.

"What we are trying to do is cut the lines of feeding from the nerves to the tumours," Krishnan said.

In this episode, he explains why applying the principles of cancer biology to neuroscience may lead to more targeted anti-cancer therapy, even regenerating damaged nerves.

A self-described computer nerd, Dave Cooper was always fascinated by the way technology could push fundamental science research forward. After bone density scans became commonplace in the 1980s, Cooper watched imaging technology and forensic science begin to advance. Today, his laboratory uses the Canadian Light Source to take detailed snapshots of bones evolving and changing in real time, honing treatments and improving outcomes for patients with osteoporosis. "People are living longer, and part of living longer and healthier lives will be protecting the skeleton," said Cooper, who says unraveling the mysteries inside bones and their evolution over time can have ramifications across health disciplines, even for space travel. "Now, we can watch it as it's happening rather than using a blunter instrument after the fact," he said.

Emma Linsley managed to power through fatigue and weight loss, but when her joints started to swell, she and her family knew something was wrong.

"I thought I would have to quit all my sports, and that I wouldn't be able to do all the things I loved," she said. "This is something that's going to play a role in the rest of my life."

In this episode, we look at research from her perspective, as a teenager and young adult navigating the medical system as a patient with a chronic illness.

"I never wanted my illness to define me," said Linsley.

"I made the best of the situation and took the opportunities that it provided me with so that I could grow and achieve my goals instead of using my illness as a reason to not push myself."

That experience shaped her view of medicine, and it's motivated this second-year McGill science undergrad to keep pushing herself in the academic world.