“The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship has given me a tremendous opportunity to develop a research program in the non-invasive treatment of uterine fibroids. I want to thank the PSI foundation for supporting translational research and early career clinician scientists.
Taking this technology from bench to beside has the potential to positively impact the lives of women suffering from symptomatic fibroids and it also has the potential to decrease health care costs associated with the treatment of fibroids.”
The PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Naana Afua Jumah of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre as the 2014 PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellow. This Fellowship — valued at $150,000 per year for two years — is intended to protect a new, promising clinician’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high impact translational research.
The Fellowship will allow Dr. Jumah to conduct translational research in the treatment of uterine fibroids with magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). In Canada, menorrhagia and fibroids are the leading indication for hysterectomy. MRgFUS is a non-invasive method that could decrease the need for surgery. The Fellowship will allow Dr. Jumah to take this technology from a research platform into clinical practice where it can improve the quality of life of women with symptomatic fibroids, particularly those who live in rural and remote settings.
Dr. Jumah received her B.A.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, her D.Phil. in Medical Engineering from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, her M.D. from Harvard University and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Toronto. She is an Assistant Professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and a clinician researcher at the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute. In addition, she has sat on numerous boards and committees including serving as an advisory board member for the CIHR Institute of Nutrition Metabolism and Diabetes and serving as a Governor on the University of Toronto Governing Council.
