...Uplifting Music...

I'm Dr. Nathan Nickel, I'm the Director of The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and a professor in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

This year we released our 3 year strategic plan which established a new mission, vision and set of values that better aligns with our organization and the work we do today, as well as where we're headed in the future. 

One of our strategic goals is to expand the use of the data that come to us from outside the healthcare sector. Data like education data, social services data and information from the legal system. Unfortunately, these data are often underused.

This year, Dr. Marni Brownell, a Senior Scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, and a professor at the University received Tri-council funding to set up the SPECTRUM partnership, which brings together community organizations, government departments from outside the health sector, and academics to identify research priorities that center the lived and living experiences of Manitobans to create knowledge that benefits all communities. 

Reconciliation is a key focus for the University of Manitoba and for the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and it's central in our strategic plan.

It's important to remember that the delivery of health and social services happens within the context of colonial systems, which impact outcomes, as well as the data that are collected. 

Dr. Amanda Fowler Woods is a First Nations Scholar who is a new faculty member at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. 

Previously she worked with Dr. Marcia Anderson to develop the Indigenous Health Quality Framework and now she's working to bring Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing to the curation analysis, and interpretation of the data in the repository.

There's a lot of uncertainty and unknowns in the world right now and what's exciting is that MCHP is well positioned to navigate these uncertainties with the partnerships we have with government, community organizations, and the incredible staff at MCHP. 

We're working together to co-create knowledge that will support a thriving society moving forward. 

...Uplifting Music...

MCHP Year in Numbers

• 30 new researcher projects using Repository data
• 12 new student projects using Repository data
• 116+ peer reviewed publications
• 7 ongoing government-commissioned Deliverable projects
• 98 data sets in the Repository
• 3.67M Concept Dictionary hits
• 153,478 Deliverable report downloads
• 414 total metadata concepts
• 2,761 total metadata glossary terms 
• 2,162 new followers across MCHP social media profiles

Between April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025

“Deliverables” research projects led by MCHP on topics requested by Manitoba Health:

• Needs-based planning for mental health and substance use services and supports in Manitoba
• RHA Indicators Atlas
• Developing an impact evaluation framework for Deliverables
• Women’s reproductive health
• First Nations health atlas
• Métis health atlas

• MCHP Director Dr. Nathan Nickel and his research team were awarded just under $600,000 over 3 years by the CIHR National Women’s Health Research Initiative Innovative Fund for the THRIVE project. THRIVE: Transforming Healthcare through Research to Improve Breastfeeding and Advance Women’s Health seeks to expand the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to community health centres in Canada.
• MCHP Director Dr. Nathan Nickel and MCHP Research Scientists Drs. Lisa Lix and Tracie Afifi received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant ($883,576), alongside Dr. Souradet Shaw, for their project The Manitoba STBBI epidemiology platform (MB-STEP): Leveraging epidemiology to transform public health responses to sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections.
• Dr. Amanda Fowler-Woods, MCHP Research Scientist, received a New Investigator Operating Grant from Research Manitoba. This grant will fund work examining Manitoba's collection of Race, Ethnicity and Indigenous (REI) data in hospitals to help identify institutional racism and improve equity in healthcare services for Indigenous people in Manitoba.
• Dr. Marcelo Urquia received a CIHR Project Grant ($569,924 over 4 years) for his project: Pediatric Outcomes of Children Whose Mothers Experience Violence: A Multi-Province Study.
• MCHP Senior Research Scientist Dr. Lisa Lix received several grants including: Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba ($60,000), Are there others like me? Discovering juvenile arthritis patients in Manitoba using machine learning derived patterns of healthcare encounters; Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($592,876), Gaining insight into immune checkpoint inhibitor associated inflammatory arthritis using administrative health data; Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($179,776), The association between denosumab and the risk of atypical femoral fractures in osteoporosis management; Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($100,000), Gaining insights into immune checkpoint inhibitor associated inflammatory arthritis using administrative data.

• Evelyn Shapiro Award for Health Services Research
  2024-25 recipients: Md. Abdul Aziz, Amanda Everton, Isabel Garces Davila, Carrie O’Conaill, Funmilola M. Taiwo
   
• Roos Prize for Best Publication in Population Health
  2024-25 recipients: Amin Abed, Laila Aboulatta, Naomi Christine Hamm

• Nasiba Ahmed (supervised by Dr. Lisa Lix) - University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship
• Muditha Bodawatte Gedara (supervised by Dr. Lisa Lix) - Faculty of Graduate Studies Research Completion Scholarship, University of Manitoba; Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Award, University of Manitoba
• Anita Durksen (supervised by Drs. Nathan Nickel and Marni Brownell) - Winnipeg Foundation Martha Donovan Women's Leadership Development Award
• Maria P. Godoy (supervised by Dr. Marcela Urquia) - Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Epi-Summer Course Scholarship: Rethinking Criminal Justice as Public Health; Mahatma Ghandi Centre of Canada, Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship in Human Rights; Argentinian Manitoban Association, Enrique Eismendi Scholarship; University of Manitoba Employee Scholarship; 2024-25 Godoy; M.P & Urquia, ML – Early Career Researcher Award.
• Hassan Maleki Golandouz (supervised by Dr. Lisa Lix) - Faculty of Graduate Studies Research Completion Scholarship, University of Manitoba; Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Award, University of Manitoba
• Naomi Hamm (supervised by Dr. Lisa Lix) - Health System Impact (HSI) Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Barret Monchka (supervised by Dr. Lisa Lix) - AI4PH Trainee Scholarship Program 
• Darrien Morton (supervised by Dr. Nathan Nickel) - Vanier Scholar
• Tracey-Ann Spence-Golaub (supervised by Dr. Marcelo Urquia) - Graduate Studies Research Completion Scholarship, University of Manitoba; Manitoba Training Program for Health Services Research (MTP-HSR) scholarship
• Melanie Williams (supervised by Dr. Marcelo Urquia) - University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship Award 
• Sepideh Yousefiasl (supervised by Dr. Marcelo Urquia) - Jenny Fraser Memorial Award; Graduate Studies Research Completion Scholarship, University of Manitoba

• MCHP Evidence to Action Day
  • In-person event held November 26, 2024, at Delta Hotel Winnipeg
  • 162 attendees representing organizations including Manitoba Health Seniors and Long Term Care, Shared Health, Regional Health Authorities, First Nations and Métis governments and health authorities and members of the health data and research communities
• Canadian Association for Heath Services and Policy Research Conference
• Canadian Public Health Association Conference
• International Population Data Linkage Network Conference 
  • 27 total presentations & workshops featuring MCHP faculty, staff and students
• Health Data Research Network Canada Health Data for All of Us Public Forum
• Health Data Research Network Canada Webinar Series
• International Meeting on Indigenous Child Health
• University of Manitoba Indigenous Scholars Speakers Series 
• University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences Bold Ideas Colloquium Series 
• University of Manitoba Centre on Aging Webinar Series

• Manitoba Métis Federation Annual General Assembly
• First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba “Our Data” First Nations Data Sovereignty and Research Conference
• Canadian Public Health Association Conference
• 2 SPECTRUM workshops

• Dr. Alan Katz on the health benefits of regular Medical Fitness Centre attendance
• Dr. Amani Hamad discusses her findings on the intergenerational heritability of mental disorders
• Dr. Kathleen Kenny discusses joint research completed with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs’ First Nations Family Advocate Office on Child and Family Services Agencies involvement with First Nations newborns 
• Five years after COVID-19 was first in Manitoba, Dr. Alan Katz reflects on lessons and impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

• 6,046 total followers across MCHP social profiles 
• 899 total posts across MCHP social profiles
• 144,955 post views across MCHP social profiles
• 4,855 engagements across MCHP social profiles
• New Bluesky account, launched November 15, 2024 
  • 1,143 new followers 
  • 48 posts
  • 2,990 post views
  • 129 engagements
• Second full year on LinkedIn, account launched December 2023
  • Follower total grew by 82.4%, from 911 to 1662. 
  • 119 posts
  • 69,584 post views
  • 2,200 engagements
• 65% of followers identified with “higher education”, “hospitals and healthcare”, “government administration”, “research services” or “public health” sectors. 

Manitoba Housing (Department of Housing, Addictions and Homelessness) introduced a new system that replaced the prior Tenant Management System (TMS). The Housing Operations Management System (HOMS) started capturing housing details in December 2018, and we have received data years up to May 2024. Over 90 tables have been received that cover Properties, Applications, Client related details, Income, Rent, Transactions, Subsidies, Income Support, and other research content that was not previously available from TMS.

TMS has data years from 1995 up to November 2018; and HOMS covers data years from December 2018 up to May 2024. If your research goes across the full housing data timeline, both TMS and HOMS will be required.  

• Umer Bin Faiz, Repository Access Unit Support
• Dr. Harsha Blumer, Associate Director, Research and Analytic Services
• Priscila Da Silva, Research Associate for Dr. Amanda Fowler-Woods
• Dr. Anita Durksen, Post-doctoral Fellow
• Dr. Amani Hamad, Research Scientist and Assistant Professor, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair
• Shalya Hossack, HR-Finance Assistant
• Luci Namuli, Research Project Coordinator
• Narmada Retnakaran, Associate Director, Repository
• Dr. Nazmus Sakib, Data Analyst
• Dr. Sarah Turner, Post-doctoral Fellow
• Dr. Ashani Wickramasinghe, Data Analyst
• Kinna Zhao, SOARR (Supporting Older Adult Healthcare Reform through Research) epidemiologist

• Last summer, Charles Burchill retired from MCHP as Associate Director, Repository after a nearly 30-year career with the Centre. Among many years of contributions, Charles was instrumental in expanding the scope of data available in the Repository, and he trained countless staff and students in introductory SAS workshops. Charles’ background is in Botany (MSc), and his experience ranges from plant identification, statistical analysis of ecological communities, field work, and training in multiple computer platforms and applications. Charles is also an avid paddler and cyclist, and logs about 12,000 km a year on his bike. He was well known among his colleagues for his expansive knowledge of urban trails in Winnipeg. We wish him well in life’s next adventure!
   
• After more than 50 years with the University of Manitoba, MCHP founding co-director Dr. Les Roos retired at the end of March 2025. Dr. Roos is a celebrated academic: a Distinguished Professor in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010. Dr. Roos began his career with the University of Manitoba in 1973 in the Faculty of Administrative Studies (now known as the Asper School of Business) and later transitioned to the Faculty of Medicine in 1990. In 1991, he co-founded MCHP with his wife and fellow University of Manitoba Professor Dr. Noralou Roos (now an Inductee of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame). Dr. Roos was instrumental in securing two Canada Foundation for Innovation grants which supported the creation and expansion of what is now the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository held at MCHP. His innovative work in the expansion of record linkage and quality has had an incredible impact on the scope of research MCHP is able to do today. Happy retirement, Les!

• Dr. Lisa Lix was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellow, which is one of the highest honours a Canadian academic can receive. Congratulations, Dr. Lix!
• Dr. Mina Nouredanesh joined Community Health Sciences cross-appointed to Canadian Heath Institutes (CHI) and MCHP in October 2024. She is a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in AI for Complex Health Data.
• Abhishek Dhankar transitioned into a new role as Data Analyst at MCHP, previously working as a Natural Language Processing Specialist.
• Ashley Green has stepped into a new position with MCHP as Office Manager, expanding her role as Event Planner.
• The entire MCHP Data Analyst team took on additional training in Python this year to ensure our research uses the latest statistical and analytical tools.

Funding Sources

Tri-Council: $939,439.82

University of Manitoba: $349,021.86

Province of Manitoba: $2,632,188.67

Government of Canada: $33,937.50

Additional sources: $2,974,575.09

Endowed Funding: $233,459.37

Funding total: $7,162,622.31