Meet the 2025-26 Recognizing SHRF Connections recipients, honoured at the Santé Awards for strengthening Saskatchewan’s health research through community partnership.

Dr. Shela Hirani receives the 2025-26 SHRF Impact Award for advancing culturally responsive breastfeeding support for immigrant and refugee mothers in Saskatchewan.

Dr. JoLee Sasakamoose receives the 2025-26 SHRF Achievement Award for Indigenous-led research grounded in community governance, wellness, and lasting systems change.

Dr. Barbara Fornssler’s research explores how people in Saskatchewan navigate both community-based supports and formal health services when seeking help for substance use. By bringing together insights from healthcare data and community organizations, her work aims to better understand real pathways of care and support more coordinated, responsive planning across the province.

By Evan Poncelet for SHRF What Does Saskatchewan Need? That’s the question at the heart of SHRF’s Align Grant, a Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) program created in 2022 to help researchers address provincial health priorities in a meaningful, community-focused way. The Align Grant provides up to $10,000 for Saskatchewan researchers to meet provincial needs by connecting with communities and co-developing ideas. It was designed to be quick, adaptable, and strate

For children diagnosed with rare and rapidly progressing brain diseases, timing can determine everything. Dr. Tyler Wenzel’s research is focused on expanding treatment options by developing safer, faster ways to deliver therapeutic cells directly to the brain. Through innovative human-based models and close collaboration with clinicians, patients, and families, his work aims to improve outcomes and reduce the long-term burden of care for children and their families.

Dr. Akram Mahani’s SHRF-funded research explores how neighbourhood design can support youth mental health by centring youth voices, community engagement, and creative expression. By combining research, art, and policy, her team is uncovering how spaces that foster safety, belonging, and connection can help prevent mental health challenges before they begin.

Community-driven research, supported by JPCHF and SHRF, is helping strengthen childhood immunization programs in rural Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and Brain Canada make a two-year commitment to fund Saskatchewan Brain Health research...