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Dr. Cheryl Forchuk is the recipient of the 2020 Innovation Award for her work to prevent discharges from hospital to homelessness. Throughout her career, Dr. Forchuk has been investigating potential best practice approaches to prevent homelessness in our community for a wide range of people, including those with severe mental illness, veterans, families, and youth. 

Her recent project, ‘Preventing Hospital Discharge into Homelessness: No Fixed Address Version 2 (NFAv2)’ streamlines housing and income services by bringing them into the hospital, and integrating them into a coordinated system of care.  

Research shows that when someone is housed, their use of medical and social services decreases. Safe and adequate housing is required for individuals to recover from illness. 

 Version one of this program was a great success, providing direct access to a housing advocate and Ontario Works from inpatient hospital psychiatric units in London. The No Fixed Address v2 program provides individual inpatients, at risk of becoming homeless, with housing and financial assistance while in hospital. A collaborative approach which includes the local Canadian Mental Health Association, the Salvation Army Rent Stability Bank, Ontario Works, and the City of London brings community supports to the hospital. This enables patients to recover from their illness and reduces the number who may return to the hospital. Dr. Forchuk’s use of in-depth, individual, quantitative interviews, and qualitative focus groups, allows stakeholders to voice their experiences with the program as well as capture traditional outcomes. 

“This innovative program has been so successful in London’s hospitals that the City of London has integrated the NFAv2 service within its municipal housing support programs,” explains Dr. Arlene MacDougall, Lawson Scientist and Dr. Forchuk’s nominator. “It also has the potential to be integrated across the province as the best practice in reducing homelessness in communities. Her efforts have been recognized by multiple funding agencies, and it will soon be the model for the rest of the nation to follow. Dr. Forchuk’s commitment to improve the lives and of those in our community makes her truly deserving of this award.” 

“The No Fixed Address research project is the first evaluation anywhere of a strategy that aims to reduce the number of hospital patients being discharged into homelessness,” says Dr. Forchuk. “I’m really proud of our collective efforts. We have been able to help a lot of people, and have also learned a lot throughout the course of this study.” 

Lawson associate scientist Dr. Lena Palaniyappan has won the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CCNP)’s 2017 Young Investigator Award for outstanding contributions to the field of neuropsychopharmacology.

The Young Investigator Award is given for basic research or clinical research in alternating years. This year’s award was presented for clinical research. Scientists who have completed their post-doctoral or residency training 10 years ago or less are considered for the award.

Dr. Palaniyappan uses neuroimaging tools to study the processes that operate in the brain when patients experience symptoms of mental illness, including psychosis – repeated voices or visions (hallucinations) and disturbing thoughts (delusions). For many patients, it is not possible to prevent psychosis or reverse the condition fully. Through their research, Dr. Palaniyappan and his team are working to fully characterize the illness and create new treatments.

Recently he led a study that showed it is possible to use information from the brain’s connectivity maps to alter the chemistry of selected brain regions. The hope is that this approach can be used to target precise areas of dysfunction rather than altering the properties of the entire brain to treat psychiatric symptoms.

“Receiving this award highlights the importance of brain imaging in discovering new therapies for brain-based disorders,” says Dr. Palaniyappan. “I feel very inspired looking at the achievements of past recipients as many of them have gone on to change how we think about the brain and mind.”

Dr. Palaniyappan is the medical director of the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP), a community-focused mental health program located at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). He is also an associate professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

“With the increasing sophistication of tools to understand the mysteries of the human brain and the world-renowned expertise available in London, there has never been a better time to study psychiatric disorders,” adds Dr. Palaniyappan. “I hope we will soon be able to use brain scans to provide patient-specific information on prognosis and monitor the effects of treatments.”

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.”