Memorial University of Newfoundland | Health & Biosciences

Key facilities

Craig L. Dobbin Genetics Research Centre. A $29M, CFI-funded best-in-class centre for the field of biomedical and genomics research. The adjacent Molecular Imaging Facility houses a cyclotron and state of the art PET/CT scanner.

Animal Resource Centre. A state-of-the-art $27M, facility supporting biomedical research activities and certified degree programs.

Centre for Health Informatics and Analytics (CHIA). A $30M next generation health informatics and data analytics hardware and software platform. CHIA will facilitate research into patient outcomes and offer insight into how services may be improved through the use of high-performance computational infrastructure and de-identified patient datasets.

Major collaborations

Translational and Personalized Medicine Initiative (TPMI) – This $50M program is an unprecedented health-care initiative that will provide enhanced, personalized patient care through collaborative, multidisciplinary research. With funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research SPOR SUPPORT Units program the mandate is to foster an atmosphere of learning, capacity and sustainability within patient-centric research.

Genetic Test for Sudden Cardiac Death – Stemming from the $9.6 Genome Canada-funded Atlantic Medical Genetics & Genomics Initiative, this project developed a diagnostic kit to determine susceptibility to sudden cardiac death. Patients can now be screened for the mutation, and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) devices prevent death.

Researchers

Patrick Parfrey, Distinguished University Professor, Medicine (Nephrology); member of the Order of Canada; fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences: A global authority on the clinical epidemiology of kidney and genetic disease whose research interests include inherited diseases, patient-related problems in nephrology and health care delivery research. He has led or collaborated in many successful national and international interdisciplinary research teams and provided evidence to the provincial government that has changed multiple health-care delivery policies.

Terry-Lynn Young, Professor, Discipline of Genetics; recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Research: Dr. Young made international headlines when they discovered the gene that causes sudden death in many Newfoundland families due to a cardiac muscle disorder known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) type 5. She has also made significant contributions to the understanding of the genetic bases of blindness, kidney disease and several neurological conditions including hearing loss.

Proton Rahman, Associate Dean Clinical Research, University Research Professor, Medicine (Rheumatology); fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences; recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40: An international leader on the genetic basis of inflammatory arthritis whose pioneering research has led to the identification of numerous novel genes that contribute to the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis and anklyosing spondyltis. In collaboration with an international psoriasis consortium, he has identified over half of all psoriatic arthritis genes reaching genome wide significance.

Barb Neis, Distinguished University Professor, Sociology; member of the Order of Canada; fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; former Trudeau fellow: One of the most accomplished social scientists in Canada, Dr. Neis has made ground-breaking contributions to research and knowledge mobilization on the collapse of Atlantic cod stocks and the impact of that collapse on workers, families and communities, occupational health and safety of workers, and the effect of long-distance commuting to work on Canadian workers, families and businesses.

Special programs and work integrated learning initiatives

Atlantic Indigenous Mentorship Network. Based at the Labrador Institute, the Network is focussed on supporting Indigenous students and researchers, and allies in training and supporting the next generation of Indigenous-led and Indigenous-focused health researchers.

Clinical Learning and Simulation Centre. Trains healthcare professionals in a variety of simulation settings.

Graduate training programs in health economics, health care sustainability, drug discovery and delivery.

Partners

Janssen
Novartis
Fisher Scientific
Eppendorf Canada
Waters Limited
IBM