Queen's Health Sciences researchers secure $3.3M in federal funding

News & Announcements | 05 Feb 2026

Creating change in areas ranging from primary care availability to cancer research and the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, three Queen's Health Sciences research projects have been awarded a combined $3.3M in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Selected from thousands of funding applications, these prestigious Project Grants align with the federal agency's mandate to support discoveries and innovations that improve health and strengthen the healthcare system.

Understanding the impact of team-based primary care

Canada is facing a growing primary care crisis, with over 6.5 million Canadians without a family doctor. There is increasing recognition that part of the solution to this crisis is the formation of primary care teams that include a diversity of team members, such as social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dieticians, and pharmacists. The number of primary care teams in Canada is growing, but there is a lack of evidence on how they are being implemented, and how to support implementation. Drs. Jordan Miller and Catherine Donnelly are leading a four-year project that studies the implementation of 15 interprofessional primary care teams across six Canadian provinces. They will gather actionable evidence to answer questions around how these care teams are developed, how they operate in specific contexts, and how policymakers can continue to support improvements that will lead to better, more equitable access to primary care.

Improving testing and treatment for syphilis through public outreach

Syphilis has reemerged as a serious public health concern in Canada, especially in rural, remote, and small urban communities. While syphilis can be cured, delays in testing and treatment can cause serious health problems and allow the infection to spread further.

Dr. Sahar Saeed is working with partners across the country to bring care directly to people who need it most. Their five-year project combines rapid syphilis tests with public health outreach: instead of asking people to visit a clinic and wait for results, public health nurses visit community settings, provide on-site testing, and immediately administer treatment when needed. Over the past two years nearly 1,500 rapid tests have been provided to individuals who often struggle to access care, enabling many to receive treatment quickly. The project's next phase will explore how to grow this model to reach more people and places that need it most by integrating it into routine public health programs, and will determine whether the benefits of stopping new infections outweigh the costs.

Understanding hypoxia could lead to better breast cancer treatment

Low oxygen levels (hypoxia) occur in breast tumors and have been shown to make breast cancer cells better able to spread and resist therapy. Dr. Lynne-Marie Postovit is leading a five-year study focused on determining how hypoxia causes these phenomena, to one day prevent spread and recurrence. Her team will explore how genes are able to start at a different place so that their proteins can be made more efficiently. These proteins allow the cancer cells to survive hypoxia, and to subsequently progress. By understanding this important process, this research could reveal new therapeutic targets designed to prevent the spread and recurrence of breast cancer.

Some of these successful research projects include faculty who have cross-appointments with the Kingston Health Sciences Centre and will be undertaken with partners there and at other universities and research facilities across Canada.

Learn more about CIHR funding: Funding Decisions Database - CIHR.

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2 min

Queen's Health Sciences researchers secure $3.3M in federal funding

Understanding the impact of team-based primary care

Improving testing and treatment for syphilis through public outreach

Understanding hypoxia could lead to better breast cancer treatment

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