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Young
Investigator
Award
YIA 2026
SUBMISSION PROCESS OPENS JUNE 22, 2026!
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 12th year, provides recognition and financial support to an outstanding young researcher whose research activities are focused on the health of South Asians. Research projects involving the South Asian population related to cardiometabolic diseases and their risk factors are eligible.
Generously sponsored by:
Past Winners
2025 Winner
Brooke D’Mello completed three years of her bachelor’s degree at McMaster University before starting the Doctor of Medicine program at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. She is concurrently completing research training through the Graduate Diploma in Health Research (GDipHR) program. Under the supervision of Dr. Calvin Ke at the University Health Network, Brooke’s project evaluates the association between South Asian genetic ancestry and type 2 diabetes prevalence according to body mass index (BMI). Her research is funded by the University of Toronto GDipHR student funding, the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC), and the SANSAR/Burgundy Youth Investigator Award.
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.
2018 Winner
Dr. Calvin Ke* (pronounced “key”) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, a clinician scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, an adjunct scientist at ICES, and a staff endocrinologist at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. He leads the Health Services and Quality of Care Working Group of the Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations at the University of Toronto. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia and Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Toronto. He completed his PhD in clinical epidemiology and global health as a Global Scholar at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. He has conducted diabetes research internationally across Canada, China, India, and Guyana. His research interests include the management and outcomes of type 2 diabetes, with a focus on young-onset type 2 diabetes and on Chinese and South Asian populations. He is a member of the International Diabetes Federation Atlas Committee and the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. He served as an Honorary Visiting Scholar at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has published peer-reviewed research articles in high-impact journals such as JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Lancet Global Health, PLoS Medicine, and Nature Reviews Endocrinology. He is a recipient of multiple awards including the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Dr. Fernand Labrie Fellowship Research Award, the Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholars Award, and the South Asian Network Supporting Awareness and Research Burgundy Young Investigator Award. He is the lead endocrinologist of the Diabetic Kidney Disease Clinic at Scarborough Health Network and provides clinical outreach services for Chinese and other diverse communities with the CareFirst Family Health Team.
2017 Winner
Dr. Anoop Mathew is an interventional cardiologist based in Edmonton, Canada, specializing in treating structural heart disease and caring for grown-ups with congenital heart disease. He has gained recognition as one of Canada's experts in diagnosing and treating complex cardiac conditions for grown-ups with congenital heart disease that require less invasive procedures for correction, as opposed to open-heart surgery. Dr. Mathew is the interventional cardiology lead for the Edmonton TAVR program, which provides a less invasive option for patients with aortic stenosis through transcatheter aortic valve replacement. He is also a key member of the Edmonton ACHD interventional program, which focuses on patients with congenital heart disease from three Canadian provinces. Dr. Mathew is known for his expertise in treating rare and complex cardiac conditions, including those who have undergone multiple surgeries or patients who cannot have re-do open-heart surgery. The program offers advanced trans-catheter therapeutic options, such as recanalizing occluded coarctation of the aorta and percutaneous management of sinus venosus atrial septal defects. He also works closely with the stroke prevention team to provide catheter-based therapies for stroke prevention in the young. Dr. Mathew is passionate about improving patient outcomes and strives to advance the field of structural interventional cardiology through research, innovation, and compassionate patient care. In his leisure time, Dr. Mathew enjoys spending time with his family and kayaking.
2016 Winner
Dr. Justin Chan believed that the SANSAR Young Investigator Award allowed him the opportunity to directly interact with an established network that aligned with his career goals and helped him in raising awareness about a growing and significant area of health burden in the Canadian South Asian community.
Dr. Justin Chan obtained his M.Sc. followed by his PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia in 2023. During his studies, he was fortunate to receive the SANSAR Young Investigator Award in 2016 as well as a BC Children's Hospital Research Institute Studentship to support his research. Justin's research interests utilize province-wide health administrative data to determine the burden of inflammatory bowel disease in British Columbia, particularly impacting the pediatric South Asian community. Justin's research has helped identify factors related to the increasing pediatric IBD burden in BC and the impact on health care utilization and accessibility across the province. Justin currently works as a clinical epidemiologist consultant among various health authorities in BC.
Dr. Justin Chan obtained his M.Sc. followed by his PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia in 2023. During his studies, he was fortunate to receive the SANSAR Young Investigator Award in 2016 as well as a BC Children's Hospital Research Institute Studentship to support his research. Justin's research interests utilize province-wide health administrative data to determine the burden of inflammatory bowel disease in British Columbia, particularly impacting the pediatric South Asian community. Justin's research has helped identify factors related to the increasing pediatric IBD burden in BC and the impact on health care utilization and accessibility across the province. Justin currently works as a clinical epidemiologist consultant among various health authorities in BC.
2015 Winner
Currently, Dr. Michael Zulyniak is a lecturer of Obesity at University of Leeds, United Kingdom. His areas of expertise are metabolism, epidemiology; personalised medicine, genetics, data analytics; molecular nutrition; systematic reviews & meta-analyses; and high-risk populations.
As an Assistant Professor at the University of Leeds, Michael is building on his research fellowship at McMaster University (with Drs. Anand and de Souza) and now leads a multi-disciplinary and highly-collaborative research program that aims to untangle the lifestyle, environmental, metabolic, and genomic networks that underpin disease disparity between ethnic groups in order to inform appropriate and improved prevention and treatment strategies. With numerous formative publications investigating the underlying metabolic drivers and predictors of disease disparity, his work has attracted research funding in Canada (i.e., CIHR, Hamilton Health Sciences) and the UK (i.e., Wellcome UK, BBSRC, N8 Research Partnership, and the UK Nutrition Society).
As an Assistant Professor at the University of Leeds, Michael is building on his research fellowship at McMaster University (with Drs. Anand and de Souza) and now leads a multi-disciplinary and highly-collaborative research program that aims to untangle the lifestyle, environmental, metabolic, and genomic networks that underpin disease disparity between ethnic groups in order to inform appropriate and improved prevention and treatment strategies. With numerous formative publications investigating the underlying metabolic drivers and predictors of disease disparity, his work has attracted research funding in Canada (i.e., CIHR, Hamilton Health Sciences) and the UK (i.e., Wellcome UK, BBSRC, N8 Research Partnership, and the UK Nutrition Society).
2014 Winner
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