Breaking with tradition
A $500,000 gift from AstraZeneca Canada aims to help reverse a dangerous diabetes trend among Aboriginal Canadians
By Christine Ward, BA'08
Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Stewart Harris was shocked to discover a high incidence of diabetes among First Nations communities in northern Ontario—along with a great deal of fear, misinformation and a lack of coordinated health care.
The situation isn’t all that different today. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, the incidence of diabetes among First Nations communities in Canada is three to five times greater than the general population, and it’s growing exponentially. Which is why Dr. Harris, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s Canadian Diabetes Association Chair in Diabetes Management, has launched a five-year diabetes research effort in collaboration with 12 First Nations communities in six provinces. Called FORGE AHEAD, the program will identify local health challenges, and facilitate better care and improved outcomes for diabetes patients living on remote fly-in reserves and in urban communities.
A $500,000 gift from global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Canada Inc. is helping to make the work possible.
“This is exactly the kind of critical health challenge that, as a leader in health care, AstraZeneca has a broader responsibility to help address through supporting leading Canadian researchers and organizations,” said Ed Dybka, AstraZeneca Canada president and CEO.
Among several outcomes, the company’s gift and a $2.5-million grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research will support Dr. Harris and his team in developing a unique toolkit for improved care coordination between community and clinical programs. Ultimately, they hope their research will halt and eventually reverse the upward trend of Type 2 diabetes and its complications.
“We don’t need to learn anything more about diabetes,” said Dr. Harris. “We don’t need to discover new drugs. We know how to manage the disease and we have all the tools... now we need to apply them in Dr. Stewart Harris these communities.”
