Director's Welcome
The last year was a whirlwind of activity at the Women & Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI).
We started last year with many new faces to our administrative team, and have most recently welcomed Hitesh Bhatt as Core Lead for the renamed Biostatistics Service Core. Hitesh is already very busy providing statistical expertise to our researchers and trainees and will be developing and leading workshops on various biostatistical themes in the near future.
We established a number of new partnerships last year including:
- A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between WCHRI, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research that includes the development of a Child Data Centre.
- A partnership with the Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence (ARCHE) which provides support in systematic review to all of our members.
- Playing a key role in the development of the research strategies and directions of the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) focused on child and maternal/women’s health.
- Establishing a very productive partnership with the University of Alberta-wide CIHR special project for internal review of grants and providing bridge funding.
Our second annual All Members’ Meeting will be held June 19, 2013. We hope that you will take the opportunity to attend to hear about new plans and to give us your input on our programs. We rely on your participation to guide our strategies, so please mark your calendars!
Our sixth annual Research Day is scheduled for November 6, 2013. It is a great opportunity for our members and trainees to share their research and network with their peers. Please look for more details later this year.
We continue our series of WCHRI Lunch & Learn Sessions; Dr. Lawrence Richer presented a very well attended workshop on “Privacy and Data Security in Clinical Research” in January and Dr. Lisa Hartling, Director of ARCHE, presented on the services of her Centre in March. Presentations and useful links are posted on our website after the workshops. We welcome your suggestions for future workshops or lectures. Watch our weekly bulletin for more information.
If you want to find out more about WCHRI, an electronic version of our WCHRI Overview: A Living Document is available by request from Katie Buchanan.
Sandy Davidge, PhD
Director
About Dr. Sandy Davidge
Dr. Davidge received her PhD from the University of Vermont in 1993 and continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Jim Roberts at the Magee-Womens Research Institute in Pittsburgh. She then moved to Edmonton with her husband and two children in 1996.
Dr. Davidge is Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology with an adjunct appointment with the Department of Physiology. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and is an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) / Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Scientist.
Her research and leadership experience spans both women and children’s health. Briefly, Dr. Davidge’s research program encompasses studying vascular function as it relates to: 1) complications in pregnancy (preeclampsia); 2) hormonal status (i.e. pregnancy and menopause); and 3) fetal origins of adult cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the Davidge laboratory combines their expertise in pregnancy research and aging to understand long-term consequences of an adverse pregnancy on cardiovascular health of the offspring as they age. She has published over 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts in these areas. Dr. Davidge is currently funded by grants from Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta, NWT & Nunavut and WCHRI.