Lucas, Lynnette J

Purpose

The specific objective(s) of this funding opportunity are: • To address all of the objectives of this funding opportunity within an Indigenous health research context. That is, the approach to the funding opportunity objectives will need to be conducted by, grounded in, or engaged with First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities, societies or individuals and their wisdom, cultures, experiences or knowledge systems, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present. • To build on the infrastructure, capacity and partnerships developed by the three previously CIHR-funded I-HeLTI team grants in order to conduct one I-HeLTI Intervention Cohort Research Study and to establish one I-HeLTI Collaborating Centre, including the following four activities: (1) recruiting women, both preconception and during pregnancy, their infants and the fathers; (2) designing an intervention to develop, conduct and evaluate interventions for and with women and men during preconception, pregnancy and, for infants, during the postnatal period to substantially reduce the prevalence of NCDs; (3) conducting evaluative and mechanistic studies that will explain the effect of the selected interventions on outcomes, including epigenetic and economic analyses of interventions; and (4) developing governance processes, including research data management practices. • To develop cross-community collaborations that will provide an interdisciplinary learning platform and training environment for early career researchers and trainees. • To generate evidence that will guide policy and other decision making, and identify opportunities for future research and interventions as part of a longer-term strategy of NCD prevention. • To decrease the incidence of risk factors for later-life NCDs by targeting early exposures and early development, particularly related to women’s and men’s health preconception, during pregnancy, early life and in early childhood. • To establish a platform for sustained investments through long-term Indigenous community engagement and institutional commitments.