Back row: Doreen Stumborg (Research Groups Coordinator), Scott Bell, Josh Lawson, Murray Hilderman, Terry Gibson, George Katselis, Niels Koehncke, John Gjevre, Mark Fenton, Johanne Asselin

Front Row: Shelley Kirychuk, Brian Graham, Don Cockcroft, John Gordon, Donna Rennie

Members & Collaborators missing from photo: Scott Butcher, Beth Davis, Jim Dosman, Darcy Marciniuk, John Reid, Baljit Singh, Rob Skomro, Steve Whitehead, Lalita Bharadwaj, Volker Gerdts, Donna Goodridge, Punam Pahwa

The members of the Airways Research Group (ARG) began meeting regularly in 2006 to discuss airway-centric diseases or issues that fit well with our expertise and that are of importance to the people of Saskatchewan.  The ARG forms a synergisitc team of airway researchers that can provide tangible outcomes for Saskatchewan's people.  Individually we have been looking at small or large research questions.  We envisage addressing important clinical issues by coalescing this new group of researchers and clinician-scientists with a common interest in airways pathobiology. 

Collectively, this group has an enormous amount of clinical expertise, a cadre of world-class respiratory researchers, Canada's leading rural environmental epidemiologists and statisticians, and a solid track record of translating knowledge into practical information for use by clinicians, the public and policy-makers.  We see this strength as an attraction for new researchers in airways diseases and look to recruit people into Saskatchewan as our success grows.  Research capacity-building, both basic and clinical, is a primary long-term objective of our group.  We seek to establish a truly fostering and mentoring environment within our group that will help our members move forward as successful scholars.

The Phase Two project will investigate the impact of airborne environmental contaminants on the respiratory public health of rural Saskatchewan residents, with particular focus on older rural Saskatchewan residents living in close proximity to coal mining, coal-fired generators and crude oil up-graders.  Research in this area will have significant impact on the respiratory public health of a vulnerable population (i.e. seniors). 

ARG is grateful for financial support from the College of Medicine, the Office of the Vice-President Research, and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation.