University researchers working to enhance women’s health in Ontario and beyond
Transformative women’s health research is taking place across Ontario’s universities on critical topics, such as potential treatments for ovarian cancer, cost-effective interventions for preventing and treating malnutrition, advocating for mental health resources for new mothers and understanding the impact of intimate partner violence-related brain injury.
Ten outstanding Ontario university scholars have received this year’s Women’s Health Scholars Award, earning scholarships of up to $50,000 to continue their important research with a goal to improve the health and well-being of women across Ontario and beyond.
The studies will lead to addressing women’s unique health challenges and improving the overall well-being and quality of life for women, resulting in achieving better health outcomes and equity in health care for all genders across the province and beyond.
Below are this year’s Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Awards recipients.
Recent studies suggest that diet can influence mental health by affecting the gut microbiota and the immune system. Dr. Caroline Wallace’s research is expected to benefit Canadian women at risk of, or experiencing postpartum mental health issues by informing the development of evidence-based dietary recommendations and interventions that are accessible, non-invasive and potentially useful for prevention and treatment.
The research focuses on the perinatal period, specifically the physiological and psychosocial changes that can lead to postpartum mental health disturbances in women. Poor mental health during this period can have negative effects on both the mother and the child.
Dr. Wallace aims to identify specific dietary patterns during pregnancy that may protect against poor mental health postpartum. Additionally, she intends to investigate the gut microbiota and immune markers in the blood that might be responsible for the beneficial effects of these dietary patterns on women’s mental health.
This multidisciplinary approach will provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between dietary patterns, gut bacteria, inflammatory molecules and mental health during the perinatal period.
Dr. Wallace is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Part-Time Professor in the School of Nutrition Sciences and Institute for Mental Health Research at the University of Ottawa and the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
The participation of women in sports and their return to competition after giving birth is increasing. However, there is a lack of guidance for both athletes and clinicians on safely navigating the postpartum period and facilitating a return to sports. To address this gap, Dr. Jenna Schulz aims to develop clinical practice guidelines specifically for postpartum athletes and explore the relationship between postpartum return to sport and potential health concerns, such as pelvic floor dysfunction, bone mineral density loss and energy deficiencies.
The first step of this research is to conduct a systematic review of existing literature to understand the current guidelines available for postpartum athletes. Additionally, surveys will be conducted with postpartum athletes and health-care practitioners specializing in women’s health to gather insights on the effects of returning to sport and the recommendations provided. With the data collected from the review and surveys, an expert panel comprising clinicians and patients will develop the clinical practice guidelines.
As a physiotherapist specializing in sport and women’s health, Dr. Schulz sees this fellowship as an opportunity to leverage both clinical expertise and research experience to make a significant impact in the field. By advocating for necessary changes, they aim to improve the safety and well-being of postpartum athletes and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in this area.
Dr. Schulz is currently working as the first combined Post-Doctoral Fellow and Sport Physiotherapy Fellow at Fowler-Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic in London. Her current research interests lie in Women’s Health/Female Athletes and improving longevity in sport.
Erika Puiras’ dissertation aims to shed light on the mental health outcomes and overall well-being of intentionally childfree women, providing insights into the likelihood of these women seeking medical and mental health care, considering the potential barriers imposed by stigma.
The research focuses on studying the experiences of women who choose not to have children. These women can often face stigma, including negative societal messaging and discrimination, and the mental health consequences of this stigma and its impact on childfree women are not well understood.
Puiras aims to explore whether childfree women experience self-stigma, where they internalize and agree with negative perceptions about themselves, which can have detrimental effects on mental health. Additionally, she seeks to examine how stigma influences their help-seeking behaviours and trust in health-care systems that have historically stigmatized this population.
Puiras is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Lakehead University. She received both her HBA Specialization in Psychology and Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at Lakehead University and is an active member of various research teams that have received grant funding from SSHRC, Mitacs, GREO and Frayme.
Malnutrition is a significant problem in Laos, affecting millions of people who suffer from deficiencies in micronutrients and undernutrition. Jocelyne Labonté and her team’s research will assess the effectiveness of a new ready-to-use supplementary food in preventing and treating malnutrition in women of reproductive age.
Women in particular face high rates of anemia and being underweight. The specific nutritional requirements of women during pregnancy, lactation and menstruation make them more vulnerable to malnutrition. Food restrictions during the peripartum period further limit women’s nutritional intake. Malnutrition during pregnancy and lactation can have severe consequences for both the mother and the child.
The use of ready-to-use supplementary foods in Laos is limited due to low acceptability, as the flavours and formats of existing products are unfamiliar to many people in Southeast Asia. To overcome this barrier, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and local partners have developed a ready-to-use supplementary food using local ingredients tailored to the dietary preferences of women in Laos.
Labonté and her team will conduct a randomized controlled trial involving 450 women in Laos in order to compare this new supplementary food to the current standard intervention of iron-folic acid supplementation and a non-fortified local snack food. The study aims to provide crucial evidence on simple and cost-effective interventions for preventing and treating malnutrition in Laos.
Labonté is a Registered Dietitian working in maternal and child health research in Canada and Southeast Asia. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Ottawa’s Honours Bachelor of Nutrition Sciences program in 2020. As part of that degree, she completed a dietetic internship, which included placements with the Government of Yukon and Indigenous Services Canada.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health for many people with women experiencing a greater burden. To help increase knowledge in women’s mental health, Hoda Seens conducted one of the first studies to assess the impact of the pandemic on mental health by sex and gender.
Using a mixed methods approach, Seens designed a two-part study to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms and to explore the lived experiences of women. Seens and her colleagues found that people (of all sexes and genders) experienced more anxiety (57 per cent more) and depression (74 per cent more) after the start of the pandemic. However, women and gender nonconforming individuals had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than men (with women having the greatest increases). They further examined what type of personal characteristics were related to experiencing anxiety and depression during the pandemic. In this intersectional analysis, they found that being a mother was related to increased anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Currently, they are using a qualitative analysis approach to explore women’s experiences of health and mental health during the pandemic.
Seens now uses her findings to raise awareness about women’s mental health, particularly for mothers and advocates for mental health resources. Seens and her colleagues are currently engaged in creating a series of infographics that will be used to connect women in Ontario to mental health resources and services.
Seens is a doctoral candidate in Health Promotion in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Western University and is concurrently completing a doctor of medicine program. Previous to this, she completed a Master of Science where she examined the health of women trafficked for sexual exploitation. Seens also holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences (with Honors), which she completed simultaneously with a degree in Honors Business Administration from Ivey Business School.
As many as 1 in 5 women will experience an anxiety disorder during the perinatal period. Melissa Furtado’s research determines whether a low-risk, focused treatment during pregnancy can help prevent the development of postpartum anxiety.
Women who experience anxiety during pregnancy are at increased risk of obstetric complications, such as delivering pre-term and to babies of lower birth weight. Throughout the perinatal period, defined as any time during pregnancy and up to 12 months postpartum, women experience significant changes physically, emotionally and psychologically, making this an especially vulnerable time for mental health difficulties, such as anxiety.
Through better understanding of what places women at risk of developing anxiety or worsening of anxiety symptoms during the perinatal period can help with the development of preventative methods and treatment options.
The study focuses on examining the effectiveness of a new Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for intolerance of uncertainty treatment completed during pregnancy. If this study is successful, it will be the first psychotherapy treatment shown to prevent postpartum anxiety.
Furtado is a current doctoral student in the Research and Clinical Training Stream in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University, pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology. She has been actively involved in women’s mental health research and strives to promote research aimed at improving outcomes for perinatal women and their children.
There are a number of diseases and conditions that have long diagnostic periods, such as endometriosis and ADHD, as well as pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. Kelly Gregory’s investigation aims to provide knowledge from a variety of sources to extend the current understanding of diagnostic delays for women and, in turn, better understand how to curb diagnostic delays for women.
Research on delays in diagnosis is siloed in biomedical, sociological and philosophical fields of study and is also focused on distinct pathologies. The aim of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of what is contributing to diagnostic delay and support its conceptualization as a gendered phenomenon that occurs across many pathologies. In doing so, the larger goal of this work is to draw attention to this phenomenon from the medical community and general public, and shape clinical practice guidelines to reduce the suffering of women.
With research interests in women’s experiences of the health-care system and qualitative research methods, Gregory is a doctoral student at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, under the supervision of Dr. Pia Kontos, where she is pursuing a PhD in social and behavioural health sciences, specializing in women’s health.
Danielle Toccalino’s study addresses a critical gap in understanding the impact of intimate partner violence-related brain injury and mental health concerns on health-care needs. It is the first Canadian investigation into the health-care needs of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors with brain injury and mental health concerns, and will provide key insights into how to adapt health service and policy to address existing gaps.
Brain injuries have long-term cognitive, physical, psychiatric and social impacts; yet lack of awareness, gaps in screening and unique challenges in health-care access often leave brain injuries overlooked in IPV survivors, hindering identification and support.
One in four Canadian women experience IPV in their lifetime and up to 75 per cent of women survivors are suspected of sustaining a brain injury, while 50-75 per cent experience mental health challenges as a result of this violence. Toccalino’s research uses qualitative research methods to (1) explore the health-care-related needs and experiences of women-identifying survivors of IPV with brain injury and mental health concerns; and (2) explore service providers’ knowledge of the effects of mental health and brain injury among survivors of IPV and experiences with care provision and coordination.
Toccalino is a PhD candidate in Health Services Research at the Institute of Health, Policy, Management and Evaluation and a member of the Collaborative Specialization in Women’s Health at the University of Toronto. She holds a master’s degree in neuroscience and a bachelor’s degree in cognitive science from McGill University.
Ovarian cancer spreads quickly and often becomes resistant to chemotherapy. However, targeting different cell types within the cancer and using immunotherapies are showing promise in improving treatment effectiveness.
Through her work at the Bell lab, Sydney Vallati’s research aims to engineer viruses that selectively infect and kill cancer cells, while inducing immune responses, making them potential treatments for ovarian cancer. By delivering therapeutic payloads directly to the tumor, this approach can engage multiple cancer cell populations and overcome resistance, while reducing potential side effects and treatment costs. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute has the manufacturing capabilities to produce these novel oncolytic viruses for translation into clinical applications for ovarian cancer patients.
Vallati is a master’s student in the department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa. She is conducting her research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, looking at using oncolytic viruses in combination with T cell engagers and adoptive cell therapies to treat solid cancers.
Certain factors, such as an individual’s sex and gender, have been shown to significantly shape what living with chronic pain entails. Batu Kaya’s research has the potential to demonstrate how psychological and biological health factors can be targeted therapeutically to alleviate chronic pain experienced by women undergoing prophylactic mastectomies.
Kaya’s study is the first of its kind to investigate how body image can contribute to the development of chronic pain after a mastectomy. They will recruit cisgender women and transgender men. Cisgender women will undergo a simple mastectomy as a preventative surgery against hereditary breast cancer, while, in the transmen group, mastectomy is carried out to affirm an individual’s gender, aligning their body to their ideal body image.
These two groups report different levels of post-surgical pain and psychological accounts of how they perceive their body before and after surgery. The study will then compare these two groups directly to parse out the relationship between gender, pain and body image.
Kaya is currently completing a thesis-based Master of Science in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto. Kaya’s research interests lie at the intersection of biological, psychological and social determinants of health in relation to persistent post-surgical pain in women and transgender men after mastectomies.
Additional Resources:
For more information about how the awards are administered, click the link below.
Council of Ontario's Universities
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