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Lawson scientist Dr. Robert Teasell is considered a global leader in neurorehabilitation research and has been instrumental in transforming clinical care in this area across Canada by ensuring that clinical practices are informed by the best available and up-to-date research evidence. In recognition of his accomplishments, he received the Scientist of the Year Award at the 2018 Lawson Impact Awards event this past spring.

Dr. Teasell leads the Collaboration of Rehabilitation Research Evidence (CORRE) research team at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Parkwood Institute. He is also the Medical Director of the Stroke Rehabilitation Unit at Parkwood Institute and has an active outpatient chronic pain practice.

He has led the development of three internationally renowned evidence-based reviews for stroke rehabilitation, brain injury and spinal cord injury, which are regarded as the three most comprehensive research syntheses in neurorehabilitation in the world. Dr. Teasell has advised and helped plan stroke care for all of Ontario’s 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and six provincial healthcare systems. This is in addition to the many clinical guidelines and models of care he has helped develop and update.

Dr. Teasell also bridges the gap between research and clinical practice through collaborations between his research and clinical teams. His multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Knowledge to Action Project (REKAP) team received the 2014 Sandra Letton Quality Award for their quality improvement project designed to make Parkwood Institute a leader in stroke rehabilitation by improving care through implementation of best practices.

In addition to his neurorehabilitation research, Dr. Teasell has published extensively on chronic pain with a recent focus on the role of obsessive personality traits in determining chronic pain disability and coping abilities. 

Drawing on his clinical and research expertise, Dr. Teasell has supervised many students and has been committed to developing the next generation of medical researchers.

“Dr. Teasell has been successful in a number of areas. Certainly in terms of publications and mentorship of students who have gone on and had very successful careers of their own. Despite a busy clinical schedule, he always makes a point of engaging with his research team every day. His staff and students really appreciate the opportunity to work with him,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Assistant Director, Lawson Health Research Institute.

Dr. Teasell has authored 335 peer-reviewed articles, as well as many other collaborative group peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, published abstracts, posters, presentations and monographs. He has also been the editor for 14 special journal editions and is on the editorial boards for Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, Journal of Rehabilitation, and Pain Research and Management. 

In 2016, he was invited to present the Ramon J. Hnatyshyn Lecture, the leading annual national stroke lecture at the Canadian Stroke Congress in Quebec City. In 2010, he received the Canadian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Merit award for his many contributions to the field of physiatry. He was also awarded the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada McLaughlin-Gallie Visiting Professor in 2012.  This year he will be awarded the Post-Acute Stroke Award of Excellence from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the National Stroke Association in the United States.

“I’ve received a lot of national and international awards but there’s nothing better than being recognized by your peers and particularly your peers in the city where you work. It’s been a nice acknowledgement of not just my work, but also the work by the whole research team and all the people who have supported me over the years,” says Dr. Teasell.

Dr. Arlene MacDougall has been appointed as Director of Research and Innovation for mental health care at St. Joseph’s Health Care London and Lawson Health Research Institute.

She will oversee and facilitate all mental health care research at both Parkwood Institute and Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, working to develop strong local and global partnerships, engage patients and their caregivers in research activities, and foster trans-disciplinary approaches to research.

Her goal is to build on existing research strengths in mood disorders, suicide and smart technology. She also will look to develop research links between Mental Health and Parkwood Institute’s other major research programs, Cognitive Vitality and Brain Health, and Mobility and Activity.

Dr. MacDougall joined Lawson and the Department of Psychiatry at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University in 2013 working with the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses at London Health Sciences Centre. Last year she was cross appointed to the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Schulich.

“I come to this new role with a great deal of optimism, energy and enthusiasm. Parkwood Institute Research has a number of established strengths in the mental health care field as well as potential for new streams of research and innovation,” says Dr. MacDougall. “I look forward to working with researchers, staff, and patients and their supporters, as well as academic and community partners, to make Parkwood Institute a leading centre in Canada for mental health research.”

Parkwood Institute Research is a Lawson program that represents inter-disciplinary clinical research and focuses on the advancement of innovations and discoveries that directly improve patient care. 

Dr. MacDougall will continue her own program of research, which includes recovery-oriented interventions for people with serious mental illness locally and in Africa. She is leading local studies on the use of mindfulness meditation and participatory video interventions to promote recovery among youth with early psychosis. She is also leading a project based in Kenya using social businesses and a low cost psychosocial rehabilitation toolkit to create meaningful employment, promote social inclusion and support the overall functioning and recovery of people with serious mental illness in low income settings.

Most recently she has been involved in developing and leading initiatives that use social innovation approaches to tackle complex mental health system challenges both locally and globally.

At Western, she is the Director of Global MINDS (Mental Health Incubator for Disruptive Solutions) @ Western, an educational and research initiative that supports students, faculty and community stakeholders to create solutions that will reduce the global burden of mental disorders. Global MINDS is focused on innovating for low and middle income countries and for marginalized communities in Canada. Another initiative, MINDS of London-Middlesex, is working with multiple local stakeholders to collaboratively establish a social innovation lab and use collective impact approaches that will lead to solutions that address complex challenges in the local mental health system.

Dr. MacDougall began her new role on February 1, 2017 and joins Drs. Michael Borrie and Tim Doherty as Joint/Acting Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery. She also joins Lawson’s Research Executive Committee as Assistant Director (interim) for Parkwood Institute Research, Mental Health.

Community members, patients and families, and those working in the health field attended a special open house on November 28 by research groups at Lawson Health Research Institute. Together, they celebrated the holiday spirit and the gift of hope that is made possible through hospital-based research. 

A part of St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Parkwood Institute represents the next era in care, recovery and rehabilitation. Across the site, clinical and research teams in different disciplines and specialties collaborate not only with each other but also with patients and families. 

“Many people in the community know the high-quality and compassionate care that is supported by the various clinical teams at Parkwood Institute, but aren’t aware of the research happening at this site,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson.

“Lawson researchers at Parkwood are tackling important challenges with highly innovative and meaningful solutions that help improve care and quality of life.”

For the past three years, the open house gives guests a more in-depth understanding of hospital-based research and its impact. Dr. Forchuk notes that it is a great chance to talk to the researchers and their teams, and to learn about research in a really fun and interactive way. Guests may also learn about opportunities to participate in studies, as the research teams rely on people in the community getting involved.  

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There were 12 interactive program displays from Parkwood Institute Research, a Lawson program, in the areas of cognitive vitality and brain health, mobility and activity and mental health: 

• Cognitive Clinical Trials Group (CCTG)
• Collaboration of Rehabilitation Research Evidence (CORRE)
• Gait and Brain Lab
• Geriatric Mood Disorders Lab
• MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre (Occupational Stress Injury)
• Mental Health Nursing Research Alliance (MHNRA) 
• Mental Health INcubator for Disruptive Solutions (MINDS) of London
• Neuropsychiatry and Therapeutic Brain Stimulation Research Group
• Occupational Therapy and Spiritual Care Research Lab
• R2P (Research to Practice) 
• Rehabilitation Mental Health 
• Wound Care

The open house had a festive theme and many of the exhibits involved a problem solving or interactive elements to encourage learning and foster teamwork. 

Karen Vecchio, federal Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London, was among the over 200 people in attendance.  

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At the open house, from left: Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, MP Karen Vecchio and Roy Butler, St. Joseph's Vice President. 

“London is a great community to conduct research,” explains Dr. Forchuk. “We are a mid-size city surrounded by rural areas, in many ways reflecting Canada as a whole. A lot of our projects cover the country with multiple sites and results found here by our leading experts are being implemented in health centres and national strategies in this country and around the world.”

Mental health services are rooted in relationships. When it comes to delivery, and specifically community-based and outpatient services, connection and communication between the individual and care provider need to be the focus. 

When we think of youth in particular, technology is a regular form of communication for them. 

“Our research team at Lawson is looking at how technology can assist in the delivery of mental health services for youth in a way that still supports the important components of treatment,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson. “In our work with youth, they’ve talked about wanting the technology they are already using integrated into their care.”

In the health care sector, the use of technology needs to be carefully tested and implemented, to ensure it is not only meeting the needs of those using it but also that it complies with the standards for privacy and security. 

On February 7, 2019, Lawson Health Research Institute and InputHealth welcomed community members and stakeholders for the announcement of a new health care technology solution that is being researched by Dr. Forchuk and her team, with generous contributions from the provincial government.

TELEPROM-Y is a mobile-based TELEMedicine and Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Youth study aiming to improve access to specialized services and reduce inpatient mental health admissions for youth. The initiative is one of 11 that received funding from Ontario’s second round of the Health Technologies Fund (HTF), a program of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care administered by Ontario Centres of Excellence.

TELEPROM-Y received $395,109 in provincial funding with $494,630 in matching contributions for a total investment of $889,739. 

InputHealth’s CEO Damon Ramsay and Chief Medical Officer Puneet Seth, along with Jennifer Moles from the Ontario Centres of Excellence were on hand with Dr. Cheryl Forchuk to hear more about how the technology and funding will help support youth. Project contributors Woodstock General Hospital and Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.) also attended the announcement. 

This project is taking a unique approach to creating connections with youth. Researchers will use an electronic Collaborative Health Record (CHR) developed by InputHealth, an innovative Canadian digital health software company, which allows for secure communication. Patients will have access to virtual visits, prompts and reminders, text or email messages, and educational materials delivered by phone. 

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InputHealth's Puneet Seth and Damon Ramsay provided a demonstration of the software being used in the study. 

Dr. Forchuk explains that “the study is focusing on an important transitional period. The majority of mental illnesses occur between the ages of 16 to 25 years old.” The research team is recruiting participants between these ages who have symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, and are receiving outpatient services from a hospital-based mental health care program at London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Care London and Woodstock General Hospital, or community-based services from partner organizations. 

A key aspect is to assess whether the technology is effective and efficient, while acceptable to both the staff and youth using the app. 

“Careful evaluation is essential to make sure we are doing the right things for the people we serve,” adds Dr. Forchuk, who is also the Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery. 

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The mobile software will also be evaluated on its ability to improve the ease of access to care; monitor mood and behaviour changes for earlier intervention; enhance information exchange between patient and health care provider; and, support the overall experience for the youth. 

Other project contributors include St. Michael’s Hospital Centre for Excellence in Economic Analysis Research, The Forge (McMaster University), Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Western University.  

The study extends previous findings from the Youth Mental Health Engagement Network study (Y-MHEN), which developed, delivered and evaluated an interactive web-based personal health record, the Lawson SMART Record (LSR), to assist mental health patients in managing their care and connecting with care providers.

The Health Technologies Fund is a program of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and is administered by the Ontario Centres of Excellence. Program supports the development of made in Ontario health technologies by accelerating evaluating, procurement, adoption and diffusion within the Ontario health system. 
 

In Canada, about 235,000 people experience homelessness each year. The number of homeless people, and the length of time they spend homeless, continues to rise. Homelessness is not a choice and anyone can become homeless. 

Although the root cause is poverty, some underlying issues are poor physical or mental health; violence or abuse in the home; lack of employment or income; and, a shortage of affordable housing. 

A group of researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson), working at both London Health Sciences (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s), are committed to tackling the issue of homelessness from within hospital walls, where some patients face the risk of being discharged into homelessness. 

“Many of our patients with lived experience of homelessness were saying that their journey started with a hospital discharge,” says Lawson clinician researcher Dr. Cheryl Forchuk. “Often, they were experiencing major transitions in their lives and then experienced a hospital stay. Normally a relatively short visit, they aren’t able to gather the information and make a plan to be able to leave the hospital with somewhere to stay.”

On September 10, Adam Vaughan, Canadian MP and Parliamentary Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs), on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced that Lawson will receive $223,572 from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy’s (HPS) Innovative Solutions to Homelessness funding stream to support the project “No Fixed Address Version 2 Expansion” research project. 

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“This is a brilliant approach. It supports an augmented duty of care where hospitals have the means to transfer people into stable settings where they can continue to heal and move towards self-sufficiency,” says Parliamentary Secretary Vaughan. 

Taking place at London Health Sciences Centre, this research will further refine the No Fixed Address strategy for reaching and supporting patients during the crucial transitional period when they are being discharged from the hospital and re-integrated into the community. 

“Lawson’s expanded No Fixed Address research project is the first evaluation anywhere of a strategy to reduce the number of patients being discharged into homelessness. There is almost no literature on any aspect of this troublesome issue,” explains Dr. Forchuk who is the study’s Principal Investigator. Dr. Forchuk is also the Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery and Assistant Director at Lawson.

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This project is an extension of three previous studies conducted by Dr. Forchuk’s research team, which developed and tested this novel approach. They demonstrated the efficacy, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using the No Fixed Address strategy in acute and tertiary psychiatric care in the London region, at both LHSC and St. Joseph’s. In the first phase, they found that the interventions used prevented homelessness in 95 per cent of cases. 

The researchers are now taking a solution proven to have worked in the mental health units and applying it in selected medical departments at LHSC. Through the study, the services will be available to all patients in those units who are at risk of homelessness. There have already been 17 patients who have accessed this support since the project got underway this summer. 

Three community partners from London are supporting implementation of the strategy - Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex, Ontario Works in the City of London and the Salvation Army’s Housing Stability Bank. They will provide assistance in areas like securing appropriate private-sector housing, provision of income and employment supports, and financial assistance. 

“In many ways London, Ontario is the high water mark of solving and tackling homelessness. This community has a lot of be proud of given the way that the municipality is stepping up to the plate and how many different organizations are working together towards a common goal,” says Parliamentary Secretary Vaughan. 

This kind of collaboration showcases the important partnership between the Canadian Government, research-intensive hospitals and community organizations to translate innovative solutions from the research stage to the front line of care. 

“The hope is that the findings will be even more robust, leading to the development of a best-practice model of hospital discharge that can be adopted throughout Canada. This will reinforce the need for a systemic change in the way hospital discharges occur and ensuring the person is transitioning to a secure housing arrangement,” says Dr. Forchuk. 

Learn more about the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy. 

News Coverage

• CBC London - Helping medical patients in London avoid homelessness when they leave hospital 
• CTV London - Expanded research hopes to break the cycle of homelessness that psychiatric patients sometimes face when discharged
• Global News, AM 980 - Program that finds housing for homeless patients in hospital gets $223K in federal funding
• London Free Press - 'Brilliant approach' to homelessness gets federal grant
   

Over 130 hospital-based clinical, administrative and research staff members, persons with lived experience of mental illness, family caregivers, peer and community supporters, and staff from local community mental health agencies attended the 18th Annual Mental Health Research & Innovation Half Day on November 1, 2017. The event provided an opportunity to learn more about mental health research at Parkwood Institute and the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care (Southwest Centre), part of the St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) family.

“This year’s Mental Health Research and Innovation Half Day was one of the best attended in our history of hosting the event. We had a very diverse and engaged audience with great energy and a lot of enthusiasm,” says Dr. Arlene MacDougall, Director of Research and Innovation for mental health care at St. Joseph’s and Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson). 

Exciting recent projects were showcased though talks highlighting excellence in recovery and rehabilitation research, the theme of this year’s event; poster presentations; the 13th Annual Tony Cerenzia Research Lecture delivered by Dr. Sean Kidd; and interactive workshop sessions.

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“We chose ‘recovery and rehabilitation’ as the theme for the event because it is so important in our clinical care and research programs to have this focus. We need to prioritize the development, implementation and evaluation of practices and interventions that foster recovery of the whole person experiencing mental illness, which includes their psychological, social and other needs that go beyond traditional notions of healthcare,” Dr. MacDougall adds.

13th Annual Tony Cerenzia Research Lecture

Guest speaker Dr. Kidd’s talk – “From clinical trials to the clinic: A story about making Cognitive Adaptation Training for schizophrenia more accessible” – focused on how to implement interventions proven in clinical trials. Dr. Kidd is a clinical psychologist, senior scientist and psychology division chief at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. 

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Workshop Sessions

Following Dr. Kidd’s lecture, attendees had the opportunity to participate in one of six workshops on a variety of topics related to recovery and rehabilitation focused mental health research:

“Implementing Interventions: A facilitated conversation attending to evidence, strategy, and recovery oriented care”

Led by Dr. Sean Kidd

Participants shared successful strategies for implementing novel approaches to care and discussed the challenges involved. They also looked at ways to leverage technology and education materials. 

“Spirituality in Mental Health Care: Practically Supporting Recovery and Wellness”

Led by Stephen Yeo, Lawson allied scientist and chaplain, Southwest Centre; and Dr. Clark Heard and Jared Scott, Lawson associate scientists and occupational therapists, Southwest Centre

This workshop focused on the practical application of spirituality within the clinical setting, including the use of labyrinths, which contribute to recovery by promoting spiritual self-care, insight development and personal meaning-making reflection.  Attendees had the opportunity to participate in a labyrinth walk and a related spiritual reflection. Read more about the labyrinths at Parkwood Institute and the Southwest Centre or watch the following video featuring highlights from the workshop:

“Indigenous Men’s Health and Wellbeing: Connection with Culture as a Rehabilitation and Recovery Tool”

Led by Bill Hill, social worker, Parkwood Institute and Dr. Vicki Smye, associate professor, director of nursing at Western University

Through the sharing of practitioner experience and Indigenous men’s voices, the workshop focused on understanding the powerful links between connection to culture and mental health and well-being (pictured below). 

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“Engaging Service Users and their Families in Research”

Led by Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, The Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, Lawson; and Deborrah Sherman, executive director, Ontario Peer Development Initiative

Participants in this workshop discussed the benefits of patient and family involvement in mental health research and identified strategies to support patient and family engagement (pictured below). 

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“Innovation in Mental Health Care: Moving Ideas to Impact”

Led by Kaitlin Saxton, research and innovation facilitator, Parkwood Institute; and Lisa Bitcola, centre manager of projects and operations, Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation

This workshop focused on how innovation relates to research and quality improvement initiatives within St. Joseph’s Mental Health Care facilities. Participants discussed innovative approaches that could be implemented within their own clinical practice, research and quality improvement initiatives (pictured below).

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“My Professional Practice: Where's the Research?”

Led by Amanda Thibeault, director, professional practice, St. Joseph’s

In this session, participants discussed how they can incorporate research into their clinical practice (pictured below).

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During a virtual event for Londoners hosted by Lawson Health Research Institute and the City of London, a multi-sectoral research team announced two projects representing a collaborative approach to preventing homelessness from within hospital walls. 

Built on the unique and successful No Fixed Address (NFA) strategy, these projects are being tested as a potential best practice for preventing hospital discharge to homelessness. 

Led by Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson, NFA seeks to stop the cycle between hospital admissions and homelessness by providing timely and accessible supports to patients who would otherwise be discharged into homelessness. It brings housing and financial supports into the health-care system, starting as soon as upon admission, to assist in finding appropriate housing and supports or avoiding a potential eviction. 

Several departments at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London collaborate with staff from the City of London, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Elgin-Middlesex, Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), Salvation Army’s Housing Stability Bank and Ontario Works in the City of London to provide direct, on-site (or virtual) support for patients at risk of homelessness.

Patients discharged from hospital to homelessness in Canada face many challenges that make recovery more difficult. They often experience higher readmission rates and emergency department visits. This is particularly concerning for youth, who have been found to be the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

NFA was initially tested with strong success for mental health patients across the city and the second version of the project was extended to medical units at LHSC’s University and Victoria Hospitals.

PROJECT 1: Collaboration to Address Homelessness - Health, Housing and Income (H2I) 

This research study will evaluate the City of London’s Coordinated Access Outreach program at hospital sites. A Coordinated Access Outreach worker will support individuals at risk of homelessness to maintain or obtain housing. Ontario Works will assist with the provision of income and employment supports and the Salvation Army Housing Stability Bank may be accessed for needed financial resources to secure or maintain housing.  

Over two years, 106 participants will be interviewed in hospital and again six months post-discharge. Focus groups with participants, health care providers and community partners will provide further insight into the effectiveness of NFA. This project is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s National Housing Strategy. 

PROJECT 2: Preventing discharge to No Fixed Address – Youth (NFA-Y) 

This research study will customize, implement and evaluate the NFA strategy for vulnerable youth agSwitch to plain text editores 16-24. The unique health and housing needs of youth at-risk will be explored by streamlining housing and financial support into a coordinated system of care, with additional support provided by Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Children’s Aid Society London and Middlesex. 

Over 3-4 years, data to be collected from 93 youth at three time points. Focus groups with youth participants, health care providers, and community agency partners will help enhance the NFA strategy to meet the unique needs of youth. This project is funded by the National Centres of Excellence (NCE) Making the Shift (MtS) Youth Social Innovation Lab. 

Media Coverage 

• Could this project keep discharged hospital patients from homelessness? - London Free Press 
• London, Ont., expands work to prevent homelessness after hospital stays - Global News
• London expands strategy to curb homelessness after hospital stays - Blackburn News 
• What happens to people who are discharged from hospital if they have nowhere to go? - CBC London

Learn more about No Fixed Address 

• Expanded No Fixed Address strategy houses half of those in danger of homelessness   
• Funding for unique strategy to prevent homelessness after hospital discharge

More than 100 researchers, staff and trainees attended the third annual Parkwood Institute Research (PIR) Spring Update Half Day on April 27, 2018 to share their innovative research and learn about work from across PIR through interactive workshops and poster presentations.

A program of Lawson Health Research Institute and located at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Parkwood Institute, PIR represents three major research programs: cognitive vitality and brain health, mobility and activity, and mental health. The event allowed guests to hear about new studies and recent research developments from across these three themes.

“Parkwood Institute Research covers different research areas but what we want to emphasize with this event is the overlap and collaboration between our programs. Having an inter-disciplinary approach that encourages partnerships ultimately helps us to incorporate new knowledge into patient care at Parkwood Institute,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Assistant Director, Lawson.

Five interactive workshops were held on a variety of different topics, such as clinical trials, systematic reviews, innovation in health care, practice-based research methods and evaluating SMART technology. The workshops were led by some of Parkwood Institute’s research leaders, including Drs. Cheryl Forchuk, Robert Teasell, Michael Borrie, Dalton Wolfe, and Arlene MacDougall.

Attendees also had the opportunity to visit poster presentations on recent PIR projects.

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Ashrafunissa Janmohammad (above), Lawson research coordinator at Parkwood Institute’s Chronic Wound Management Clinic, was one of the poster presenters at the event. She presented on a study led by Lawson associate scientist Dr. David Keast, which assessed whether chitosan gelling fibre dressing could be effective in controlling bleeding after minor wound surgery. Chitosan is derived from chitin, the structural component of the cell walls of fungi and the shells of arthropods such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps and insects.

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Juweiriya Ahmed (above), a MSc candidate at Lawson and Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, was another presenter. Her poster outlined a study investigating the interaction between neuroanatomical and genetic risk factors that may contribute to the development of psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Supervised by Lawson scientist Dr. Elizabeth Finger, the study could help inform the development of therapeutic targets and treatment plans.

Community members and those in the field of health research attended a special open house and interactive tour by research groups at Lawson Health Research Institute – celebrating the holiday spirit and the gift of hope that is made possible through hospital-based research.

A part of St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Parkwood Institute represents the next era in care, recovery and rehabilitation. Across the site, clinical and research teams in different disciplines and specialties are collaborating in new ways.

The teams that make up Parkwood Institute Research, a Lawson program, are conducting clinical studies with the goal of understanding disease and improving care for a wide range of patients.

“Many people in the community know the high-quality and compassionate care that is supported by the various clinical teams at Parkwood Institute,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery, and Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson. “What most don’t know is that we have research teams working across these sites, with each other and research patients.

Researchers tackle the most important challenges and provide access to highly innovative and meaningful solutions that improve the lives of patients and their families, added Dr. Forchuk.

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At the open house on November 30, there were 11 interactive displays in the areas of cognitive vitality and brain health, mobility and activity and mental health. This included the Gait and Brain Laboratory, the Operational Stress Injury Clinic, wound care, the Mental Health Nursing Research Alliance and more: 

• The Mental Health INcubator for Disruptive Solutions (MINDS) of London Middlesex is a social innovation lab focused on developing, testing, implementing and evaluating disruptive solutions that promote the mental and emotional wellbeing of Transition-Aged Youth in our London-Middlesex community.
• The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), supported by CIHR and many partners, is the premier research hub for all aspects of research involving neurodegenerative diseases that affect cognition in aging – including Alzheimer's disease. 
• A dynamic lab with the top neurorehabilitation evidence-based reviews in stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis, or insight into clinical trials of stroke rehabilitation using exoskeletons, exercise paradigms, pharmaceuticals, and clinical studies of psychosocial factors that influence chronic pain in brain injury and spinal cord injury populations.

The open house had a festive theme and each of the exhibits involved a problem solving element to encourage learning and foster teamwork.   

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Peggy Sattler, Member of Provincial Parliament for London West, and Terence Kernaghan, Member of Provincial Parliament for London North Centre, were among the over 300 people in attendance.

“This special open house opportunity is meant to be a fun experience where you were also learning about research,” explains Dr. Forchuk. “During this holiday season, we wanted to share our own gift of hope in the form of collaborative research that is making a real difference.”

See photos from the open house on Facebook. 

It’s a discovery that has been more than ten years in the making: the use of a human protein to potentially treat patients with sepsis.

Lawson Scientist Dr. Qingping Feng noticed that a human protein called annexin A5 showed positive results with sepsis back in 2007. 

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Fast forward 14 years later to now, and this discovery could very well be the first ever viable treatment for sepsis patients, including severe COVID-19 patients who develop sepsis. “With COVID initially, it is in the airway and then in the lungs, then from there the inflammatory response in fact spreads to the whole body,” says Dr. Feng, Ivey Chair in Molecular Technology at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.  “Sepsis causes major organ dysfunction and carries a high mortality unfortunately.”

It has become a challenging issue for Intensive Care Physician at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), Dr. Claudio Martin, who can only do so much to treat severe COVID-19 patients that develop sepsis.

“What we have seen is a very primary severe respiratory failure to the lungs for severe COVID patients,” says Dr. Martin, Associate Scientist at Lawson. “We have used steroids and other treatments to try to help, but the results and effects aren’t dramatic and we see patients who have these treatments and still progress and end up in the ICU.”

However, Dr. Feng and his team has found in a pre-clinical study, that annexin A5 can inhibit inflammation, improve organ function, and survival when treating sepsis.

Another potentially deadly situation for COVID-19 patients is cell death and blood clots, specifically near the lungs.  The good news is that the research team also believes the annexin A5 drug will prevent these complications through the drugs anti-apoptotic (cell death prevention) and anti-coagulant (blood clot prevention) properties.

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Supported by provincial funding through Ontario's COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund, the research team has launched a clinical trial with critically ill COVID-19 patients at LHSC, using a manufactured form of annexin A5. The goal is to enroll a total of 60 patients for the clinical trial, and enrollment has already begun. “Patients are receiving standard treatment and then those enrolled will also receive the annexin,” says Dr. Martin. “It’s a placebo blinded clinical trial, so patients will either get a lower dose of annexin, a higher dose of annexin, or a placebo.”

If the clinical trial shows promising results, Dr. Feng says the team plans on expanding into a larger phase three trial with not just COVID-19 patients with sepsis, but other sepsis patients as well. “If in fact annexin A5 is shown to be effective in sepsis, then this will be a huge benefit for society because sepsis is the leading cause of death worldwide.”

The drug is currently being produced through a partnership with Suzhou Yabao Pharmaceutical R&D Co., Ltd., based in China, Lawson Health Research Institute, and WorldDiscoveries.  “Our long-standing partnership with Suzhou Yabao has enabled annexin A5 drug development to proceed to this point,” says Kirk Brown, Manager of Business Development, Lawson Health Research Institute. “We are now in a unique position through this trial to offer a potential life-saving treatment for this emergent global disease, with the objective of soon expanding to all cause septic patients.”

St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s 2016-2017 Annual Report features stories of care, recovery, discovery, teaching and resiliency – of care teams, patients, residents, and their families.

Included in the 2016-2017 Annual Report are the following research stories:

• New imaging research chairs make history: In a historical-first, St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation and Western University announced two research chairs to advance imaging research at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute. The research chairs have been named after the two scientists who are revolutionizing health care through their groundbreaking imaging research – Drs. Ting-Yim Lee and Frank Prato.
• A world-first approach to dementia: Researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute are the first in the world conducting a clinical trial to test a triple intervention aimed at treating mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and delaying the onset of dementia. The Mobility, Exercise and Cognition (MEC) team will be incorporating physical exercises, cognitive training and vitamin D supplementation to determine the best treatment for improving mobility and cognition.
• First clinical guidelines in Canada for pain following spinal cord injury: Researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute are the first in Canada to develop clinical practice guidelines that address the unique challenges for managing pain during recovery and rehabilitation from spinal cord injury.
• CAHO HWS field trip to Lawson: The Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO) toured the labs of Lawson Health Research Institute to encourage stable investment in hospital-based research and showcase the groundbreaking work underway at St. Joseph’s and London Health Sciences Centre.
• iSee Vision Screening Research Program: iSee, an innovative vision screening research program of St. Joseph’s Ivey Eye Institute is catching problems early for children ages 18 months to five years. The screening, which takes only seconds, detects amblyopia (lazy eye) and other eye conditions that can cause poor vision

St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s 2017-2018 Annual Report features stories about patients and residents, and their journey of care and recovery.

The following research is highlighted in the 2017-2018 Annual Report:

• Smart tech, smart treatment: Many mobile applications are on the market to help people struggling with mental health issues, but these aren’t necessarily created or used by health care providers. Creating an entire smart mental health system is one of the strategic priorities of St. Joseph’s and Lawson’s Mental Health Research Group led by Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery. Numerous projects have been identified as components of a plan spanning seven years.
• Walking while talking a possible early predictor of dementia: In a new study, researchers at Lawson and Western University are demonstrating that gait, or motion testing, while simultaneously performing a cognitively demanding task can effectively predict the progression to dementia and eventually help with earlier diagnosis. To date, there is no definitive way for health care professionals to forecast the onset of dementia in a patient with memory complaints.