AllerGen investigator receives MSFHR grant for COVID-19 research
AllerGen investigator Dr. Christopher Carlsten, an expert in the respiratory and immunological health effects of inhaled environmental and occupational exposures, has been awarded a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) grant to undertake critical COVID-19 research.
Dr. Carlsten’s research will address two key questions: What lung problems continue to challenge survivors of COVID-19? And, what tests are needed to measure the impact of COVID-19 on longer-term quality of life?
“This research project will establish a database for the COVID-19 respiratory registry. The database will be used to determine risk factors associated with poor respiratory outcomes, inform clinical care, build research capacity, support future studies, and develop provincial expertise in post-COVID-19 respiratory care,” comments Dr. Carlsten.
Dr. Carlsten is among 10 BC researchers to receive funding under the MSFHR COVID-19 Research Response Fund. The fund is disbursing $2 million to support research that explores immediate and emerging issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and that informs ongoing responses to it, especially strategies for avoiding or mitigating subsequent waves of transmission.
Dr. Carlsten is working with Vancouver General Hospital’s Head of Respirology, Dr. Jay Johnston, and Saint Paul’s Hospital’s Head of Respirology, Dr. Chris Ryerson, to develop the project platform. It will entail interdisclipinary collaboration across a broad range of health care areas and disciplines, as well as with national and international research teams. Dr. Carlsten is professor and head of the UBC Division of Respiratory Medicine, AstraZeneca Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease, and Canada Research Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease at The University of British Columbia. He is also Director of the Occupational Lung Disease Clinic at The Lung Centre (Vancouver General Hospital).