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Young
Investigator
Award
YIA 2025
SUBMISSION PROCESS NOW CLOSED
SANSAR is a charitable organization whose mission is to
promote the health of South Asians through community
awareness, education and research. The SANSAR/Burgundy
Young Investigator Award, now in its 11th year, provides recognition and financial support to an outstanding young researcher whose research activities are focused on the health of South Asians. All areas of medical research, including COVID-19, involving the South Asian population, are eligible.
Generously sponsored by:
Past Winners
2024 Winner
2023 Winner
Dr. Avinash Pandey's winning project was entitled, Risk Stratification and Uptake of Secondary Prevention Therapies of South Asian Patients with ASCVD in Cardiac Rehabilitation.
2022 Winner
Rani Kobayashi - A summa cum laude graduate of the Honours Life Sciences program (BSc.) at McMaster University, Rani is a Master's student at McMaster University in the Health Research Methodology program. Under the supervision of Dr. Rahul Chanchlani, she is involved in the ASHA study. The primary goal of the ASHA study is to derive normative data on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for South Asian Children. Rani is also the proud president of the McMaster Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Initiative - a graduate club working to support, celebrate, and advocate for diversity and equity at McMaster University. Rani’s ultimate goal is to attend medical school after completing her graduate studies.
2021 Winner
Salima Hemani is a post-doctoral research fellow at Chanchlani Research Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario under supervision of Dr. Sonia Anand. She completed her PhD in Nursing from the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto under supervision of Dr. Monica Parry.
Her area of research is South Asians and their risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly the self-management of chronic disease and adoption of a healthy lifestyle through engagement in preventative strategies such as healthy eating. South Asian individuals have significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Hypertension is prevalent in South Asian Canadians and there are various risk factors associated with HTN, from excessive sodium intake, physical inactivity, stress, alcohol consumption, smoking and lower levels of fruits and vegetable intake.
Salima has conducted the South Asian Low-sodium sTudy (SALT) using a Multi-Method Approach as part of her doctoral dissertation. The aim of the pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a culturally tailored low-sodium dietary intervention in reducing systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, 24-hour urinary sodium and knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to dietary sodium. The aim of the cross-sectional study was to assess sodium intake, physical activity, stress, alcohol intake, smoking behaviours and fruit and vegetable intake and the knowledge, attitude and behaviours related to dietary sodium intake for South Asian Canadians living in Ontario.
In 2021 Salima became the first registered nurse to win the SANSAR Burgundy Young Investigator Award recognizing the impact of her research on the health of the South Asian community. Her current work focuses on developing a healthy active living curriculum based on evidence through systematic review for newcomer immigrant population in Hamilton, Ontario.
Her area of research is South Asians and their risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly the self-management of chronic disease and adoption of a healthy lifestyle through engagement in preventative strategies such as healthy eating. South Asian individuals have significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Hypertension is prevalent in South Asian Canadians and there are various risk factors associated with HTN, from excessive sodium intake, physical inactivity, stress, alcohol consumption, smoking and lower levels of fruits and vegetable intake.
Salima has conducted the South Asian Low-sodium sTudy (SALT) using a Multi-Method Approach as part of her doctoral dissertation. The aim of the pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a culturally tailored low-sodium dietary intervention in reducing systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, 24-hour urinary sodium and knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to dietary sodium. The aim of the cross-sectional study was to assess sodium intake, physical activity, stress, alcohol intake, smoking behaviours and fruit and vegetable intake and the knowledge, attitude and behaviours related to dietary sodium intake for South Asian Canadians living in Ontario.
In 2021 Salima became the first registered nurse to win the SANSAR Burgundy Young Investigator Award recognizing the impact of her research on the health of the South Asian community. Her current work focuses on developing a healthy active living curriculum based on evidence through systematic review for newcomer immigrant population in Hamilton, Ontario.
2019 Winner
Dr. Maneesh Sud is a Clinician Scientist and Interventional Cardiologist in the Schulich Heart Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He completed his medical training at the University of Manitoba followed by Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Interventional Cardiology at the University of Toronto. He completed his PhD in clinical epidemiology and health care research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is the recipient of multiple national awards including the Canadian Institute for Health Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship award and the South Asian Network Supporting Awareness and Research - Burgundy Asset Management Young Investigator Award. Dr. Sud’s body of research has focused on improving risk assessment tools used in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in primary care with a goal to improve risk estimation of individuals from South Asian ancestry.
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