Congratulations to Pat Mirenda and her team on their success in the CIHR’s inaugural Foundation Scheme Competition!
Program Leader: Peter Szatmari, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Toronto)
Program Experts (from West to East): Pat Mirenda, UBC; Charlotte Waddell, SFU; Lonnie Zwaigenbaum and Joanne Volden, U. of Alberta; Wendy Ungar and Steven Scherer, U. of Toronto; Teresa Bennett, Stelios Georgiades, and Eric Duku, McMaster; Tracy Vaillancourt, U. of Ottawa; and Mayada Elssabbagh, McGill; Isabel Smith, Dalhousie
Pathways to Better Developmental Health in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Phase III
$5,332,277 | 7 years
The goal of this research program is to examine the developmental health (DH) of a large cross-Canada sample of young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the preschool years through to their transitions into adulthood. We aim to identify the distinct DH trajectories that adolescents with ASD follow; the biological, child, family and service variables that influence these trajectories; and the extent to which these domains of DH interact over time to determine outcome. We will also seek to understand the broader social and economic context for those growing up with ASD, including conducting economic analyses of the impact of ASD across adolescence and exploring the perspectives and lived experiences of youth with ASD through in-depth interviews.
Only 150 applications across Canada were funded (out a total of 1366 submitted at Stage 1) with an average grant size of $2.7 million.