2025-2026 Community Partnership and Knowledge Translation Funding
2026 Community Partnership and Knowledge Translation Projects
Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka, PhD, Medical Health Officer, Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) and Team
SK-NEIHR funding of $14,604 is awarded to Dr. Nnamdi Ndukbuka, PhD, and his team to develop an infographic series and focus group engagements to communicate key findings from their 2024 Population Health Assessment to the 33 First Nations communities that they serve throughout Northern Saskatchewan. Dr. Ndukbua is a Medical Health Officer, NITHA, and a joint associate professor in the department of Community Health and Epidemiology, and the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. These culturally grounded infographics hope to improve the understanding of complex health data to local community members and healthcare clinics to allow patients to make informed health-related decisions.
Dr. Colleen Dell, PhD, Dr. Sharon Acoose, PhD and Team
The SK-NEIHR awards $10,000 in support funding to Drs. Colleen Dell, PhD, Sharon Acoose, PhD, and their team to revitalize the From Stilettos to Moccasins workshop to reflect contemporary realities of gender diversity, Two Spirit identities, and more-than-human relations (e.g., land & animal). Developed from their successful 2009 research, the workshop has been openly available to the public and utilized across all 11 Saskatchewan Aboriginal Friendship Centres. With Saskatchewan Indigenous women currently among the most impacted by criminalization and substance use, it is timely for the workshop to be revitalized and redistributed. Dr. Dell is a joint professor in the department of Sociology, and the School of Public Health with the University of Saskatchewan, as well as holding the Research Chair in One Health & Wellness. Dr. Acoose is a professor in the department of Indigenous Social Work at the First Nations University of Canada.
Ms. Brittany Johnson MA, PhD candidate and Ms. Kirsten Lindquist MA, PhD candidate
An Alberta First Nations and Métis production, Tipi Confessions, is a live, Indigenous-led storytelling show exploring sex, sexuality, and gender through performances, anonymous audience confessions, and community-based sexual health education. Ms. Brittany Johnson, MA, and Ms. Kirsten Lindquist, MA, received $10,000 in SK-NEIHR support funding to support their 10th Anniversary show and an All-Indigenous Burlesque Show as a counter to deficit-focused and pathologizing narratives of Western and medical approaches to sexuality and sexual health, particularly those imposed on Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and other marginalized communities. It serves research-creation initiative, a community-based research space for creative and artistic experimentation, knowledge-sharing, and community engagement. Audiences can anonymously submit confessions during the show, allowing for participation, and vulnerability in a shared, safer space. Ms. Johnson is an assistant professor, department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science at MacEwan University, and Ms. Lindquist is an instructor, Faculty of Native Studies, at the University of Alberta are both PhD candidates at the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta.
Dr. Hassan Vatanparast, MD, PhD and Team
Dr. Hassan Vatanparast and team, with $10,000 in awarded SK-NEIHR funding, will build on previous community engagement work with First Nations youth and Elders on working together for community health and wellness. Dr. Vatanparast, MD, PhD, is a professor in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition and School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan, and a SK-NEIHR co-applicant. Together, with seven Saskatchewan communities, they will co-develop an Indigenous Youth Health Council (IYHC), which is a community collective youth-led “decision-making” with "Elder-guided ethical oversight" entity. It will generate community-owned knowledge on Indigenous youth health priorities to be shared back with the communities, youth, Elders, and partners. Knowledge translation products that will be produced and shared include: (a) plain-language summaries; (b) a visual poster of the IYHC framework; (c) a synthesis report compiling community responses and priorities; and (d) a quote essay documenting the gatherings.
2025 Community Partnership and Knowledge Translation Projects
Dr. Mayra Samaniego, PhD, Dr. Stacey Lovo, Ph.D and Team
Through $15,000 of SK-NEIHR Community Partnership Support funding Dr. Mayra Samaniego, Dr. Stacey Lovo, and their team at Virtual Health Hub (VHH) will work in partnership with First Nations communities and Elders/Knowledge holders to gather data on management practices and privacy expectations. They seek to integrate, centralize, and increase accessibility to patient Electronic Medical Records (EMR) throughout the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Current EMR systems lack interoperability, hinder provider decision-making, access, and patient safety. Dr. Samaniego is a research associate with the University of Saskatchewan and a VHH Cybersecurity Specialist. She is joined in this work by Dr. Lovo, an assistant professor with University of Saskatchewan, VHH Director of Virtual Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, and a principal investigator for the SK-NEIHR. The VHH is an Indigenous-led healthcare delivery project designed to increase services to Saskatchewan’s northern and rural communities through advanced remote technologies such as robotics, specialist medical services, and rehabilitation.
Dr. Jodie Bigalky, PhD and Team
Dr. Jodie Bigalky, PhD, and her team have been given SK-NEIHR Community Partnership Support funds of $14,089 to develop an Indigenous community engagement plan to work with perinatal patients who use substances. Dr. Bigalky, an assistant professor with the College of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan along with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and community partner, the Wellness Wheel, will be identifying and addressing the unconscious bias of healthcare providers in the Saskatchewan healthcare system that perpetuates stigma and impedes access to care for perinatal patients who use substances.
Dr. Hope Jervis-Rademeyer, MPT, PhD and Team
First Nations and Métis Peoples in Saskatchewan experience disproportionately high rates of spinal cord injury (SCI) and face systemic barriers to accessing culturally safe healthcare and historically been underrepresented in SCI research and policy development. A $15,000 SK-NEIHR Community Partnership Support award to Dr. Hope Jervis-Rademeyer, PhD, to engage in relationship-building activities with Saskatchewan First Nations and Métis communities in developing ethical and effective co-development of SCI care, particularly to those living in Northern communities. Dr. Jervis-Rademeyer is physical therapist and an assistant professor, School of Rehabilitation Science, at the University of Saskatchewan.