TORONTO, June 27, 2008 -- A York University professor who is engaging teens in research to combat sexual health problems among their peers has received an award in recognition of her work.
Professor Sarah Flicker and the Toronto Teen Survey Team are winners of this year's Synapse Award for Research Group from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
The award recognizes the work of CIHR-funded researchers who make exceptional efforts to promote health research among Canadian high school students. Through mentorship, the winner must regularly motivate youth to consider both the value of health research and the many career opportunities that exist within various scientific fields.
“This award recognizes our efforts to engage young people in sexual health research and the amazing work of our youth advisors who have made us so proud,” Flicker said.
The Toronto Teen Survey Team is employing a “community-based participatory approach” in a major ongoing study that looks at the accessibility and relevance of sexual health services in the Toronto area.
Youth were involved in the design of the Toronto Teen Survey, and were rigorously trained by research partner Planned Parenthood Toronto to go into various agencies, shelters and after-school programs to conduct interactive surveys with their peers.
“We trained a number of young people to become peer sexual health educators and many spoke about how their peers started to approach them and ask them questions,” Flicker said. “They became mini health promoters in their communities. We’ve now lost a couple of them to university.”
The research team plans to reinvest the $10,000 Synapse award money in creative ways to disseminate their research findings to young people and to mobilize community response through agencies in Toronto. Preliminary research results are expected in December, Flicker said.
Flicker has been awarded three new grants from the CIHR as principal investigator to continue her sexual health research through the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. Flicker is receiving $99, 949 from 2007 to 2010 to assess the methods used by research ethics boards to evaluate community-based research in Canada.
Her ongoing study of adolescent access to sexual and reproductive health services will receive $83,783 from 2007 to 2008.
Finally, Flicker’s exploration of arts-based approaches to developing aboriginal youth leadership in HIV prevention will receive a total of $297,117 over three years.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
-30-
Media contact:
Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca
