News

Winner of the 2021 PIP Small Grant Competition

Participants and supporters of the 2021 PIP are pleased to announce that Dr. Stéphanie Bernard, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Rehabilitation – Physical Therapy, is the winner of the inaugural PIP Small Grant Competition, a one-year $15,000 grant geared to trainees and early-career investigators. PIP participants who adjudicated the grant competition felt that Dr. Bernard’s proposed research, “Exploring gynecologic cancer survivorship needs, barriers and facilitators to virtual pelvic health care: a patient-centred multi-methods study,” had long-range potential to improve outcomes and quality of life for patient cancer survivors and their partners.

Dr. Bernard will use a mixed-methods approach involving a sample of gynecologic cancer survivors from northern Alberta and eastern Quebec to identify patients’ priorities and preferences on a virtual pelvic health module that will be trialed and ultimately integrated with the CIHR funded eHealth web-based application called the Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL-ME).

“On behalf of our team, we are very thankful to have been selected and this recognition highlights how meaningful this work is to patients,” says Dr. Bernard. “My long-term goal is to bring this type of intervention to all cancer patients dealing with pelvic health issues.”

Dr. Bernard will be officially acknowledged at the Canadian Cancer Research Conference (CCRC) by Ms. Ruth Ackerman, Chair of the 2021 PIP Working Group (see https://youtu.be/2TY305YwJbU or below). Dr. Bernard will report her findings to the PIP participants and CCRA members in one year’s time.