Women’s College Hospital congratulates Dr. Crystal Clark and Dr. Aisha Lofters for their recent appointments as Tier 2 Canada Research Chair and Applied Public Health Chair, respectively.
Dr. Crystal Clark, scientist at Women’s College Hospital Research and Innovation Institute has been appointed a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Reproductive Mental Health. As a CRC, her research will focus on understudied high-risk populations – Black women and women with bipolar disorder. She is a part of the Spring 2024 Recipients.
“The appointment is an incredible honour and it will enable me to further explore and address the unique mental health challenges faced by women and birthing persons during the reproductive life stages – what I like to refer to as anytime the hormones meet the mood – enhancing the support and care they receive,” says Dr. Crystal Clark, who is also the associate head of research, at the Department of Psychiatry, Women’s College Hospital.
Canada Research Chair positions are designed to reinforce academic research and training excellence with a view to improving depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthening Canada’s international competitiveness and helping to train the next generation of highly skilled people.
“As a CRC, I aim to conduct rigorous studies that inform evidence-based practices personalized to the patient,” adds Dr. Clark. “I hope to develop innovative interventions and provide new data that can be integrated into clinical settings to optimize clinical care and outcomes. My goal is to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring that our findings directly benefit our patients who need it the most.”
Dr. Aisha Lofters, medical director of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women’s Cancers at Women’s College Hospital has been appointed as an Applied Public Health Chair (APHC) by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
“This appointment is incredibly exciting, as it provides me with resources, collaborations and networks to make a meaningful improvement in advancing health equity in cancer care,” says Dr. Lofters, who is also a family physician at WCH. “We know almost 1 in every 2 Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer, and we also know that up to half of all cancers can be prevented. But prevention and screening are not taken up equitably.”
The chair aim is to co-design, implement, and evaluate population health interventions to reduce inequities in access to cancer prevention and screening services for populations experiencing structural marginalization in Canada. Funded by the Government of Canada, she will lead high-quality research programs to tackle pressing public health challenges, work with decision makers from various sectors and communities and support evidence-informed decisions that improve health and health equity.
“My planned research program is centred in health equity and focuses on the development and evaluation of population health interventions in cancer prevention, screening and diagnosis – the core components of primary healthcare,” adds Dr. Lofters. “I hope that the work I do will reduce inequalities in access to, delivery of, and outcomes of primary cancer care, and improve the health of Black Canadians and other Canadians experiencing structural marginalization.”