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Every month, staff, researchers, physicians, learners and teams across Unity Health Toronto celebrate important honours, achievements and awards. Congratulations to all who’ve been recognized in February!

Several teams from Providence Healthcare were successful in obtaining grants and publishing research papers:

• Registered Dietitian Lisa Mannik was awarded funding for her research project, “Assessing diabetes distress in adults with cystic fibrosis related diabetes”
• Registered Dietitians Arti Parpia and Gabrielle Deveaux published their paper, “Improving malnutrition screening among hemodialysis patients” in the Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research
• Social Workers Neha Mohan and Rissa Raposo-Ferreira were awarded funding for their research project, “Exploring the factors contributing to geriatric homelessness and its impact on ED utilization: a retrospective chart review”

Congratulations to all of the winners of the Providence Our Shared Vales Awards! Clinical Resource Coordinator Michele Bush won the Human Dignity Award, Resident Assistants Josiah Nyembwa Malemba and Peter Jay Aratea won the Compassion Award, Administrative Coordinator Kimberly Estrela won the Excellence Award, The Activation Team won the Community Award, and Dr. Teela Johnson won the Inclusivity Award.

A total of 10 Unity Health Toronto investigators were awarded research grants from CIHR in the Fall Program Grants competition. The successful investigators were awarded more than $5 million in funding to support their impactful research projects. Congratulations to Drs. Venkat Bhat, Claudia dos Santos, Anna Durbin, Benita Hosseini, Fahad Razak, Joanna Sale, Sharon Straus, Amol Verma, Argie Veroniki and Ron Wald.

Dr. Christine Fahim, scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, has been appointed as a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Governing Council. CIHR collaborates with partners and researchers to support new scientific knowledge and enables its translation into improved health, health services, and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

Dr. Greg German, physician and researcher at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, has been awarded a professorship at the University of Toronto in bacteriophage research and innovation. The professorship is for a five-year term.

Dr. Flora Matheson, researcher at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, has been appointed by the University of Toronto and Unity Health as the endowded Chair in Homelessness, Housing and Health at St. Michael’s Hospital. The professorship is for a five-year term.

Dr. Natalia Vasconcellos, research fellow at St. Michael’s Hospital, received the TBF Rita Skertich Brain Aneurysm Health Equity Grant from the Bee Foundation, which funds brain aneurysm research in honour of Black, Hispanic and female populations. The grant will support her project, “Worldwide disparities in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage risk factors, gender, ethical groups, clinical outcomes and mortality: a multicenter study.”

Dr. Dan Werb, scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, has been appointed by the University of Toronto and Unity Health Toronto to the Chair in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders. The appointment is for a five-year term.

Dr. Duminda Wijeysundera, clinician-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, has had his Chair in Translational Anesthesia Research renewed by the University of Toronto for another five-year term.