A spinal cord injury or SCI, occurs when trauma, (such as a fall or vehicle accident) or disease (such as a tumor or spina bifada) damages the spinal cord, resulting in partial or complete paralysis. It is estimated that 86,000 Canadians are currently living with SCI, with over 4,000 new cases every year.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the brain and spinal cord often affecting young adults. Injectable disease modifying drugs (DMDs) to treat MS were introduced in Canada in 1995. In recent years, three new oral DMDs have been approved by Health Canada to treat MS, with two of them approved as first-line therapies.

As the global climate changes we are seeing more intense and frequent forest fires in British Columbia. Forest fires cause some of the worst air pollution that many Canadians will ever experience, and smoke affects everyone in exposed communities.

Data access has been approved for a research project to determine the genetic causes of systemic inflammation in patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) after cardiac surgery.