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FHS professor wins CIHR IPPH Trailblazer Award improving health of 2S/LGBTQ populations

June 26, 2023
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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR IPPH) Trailblazer Award supports early, mid and senior career researchers who continue to make exceptional contributions that promote population and public health for Canadians and citizens around the world through evidenced-based health policies as well as interventions.

Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) assistant professor Travis Salway was awarded the Early Career Trailblazer Award for making exceptional contributions to the field of population and public health research looking at Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer - or 2S/LGBTQ identities. In his acceptance speech video, he highlights his research team:

"Because research is strengthened by the perspectives of those with living experience, I've asked some of the students I work with to answer the following question: Why is it important to increase Two-Spirit and LGBTQ visibility within public health research."

Read the transcript of the video here. 

Travis Salway

Dr. Salway is a social epidemiologist who works to understand and improve the health of Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2S/LGBTQ) populations. He conducts research in affiliation with the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity.

In 2019-2020, he testified for two standing committees of the Canadian House of Commons, to inform federal policy to promote 2S/LGBTQ health equity. This resulted in the passage of Bill C-4, making it a crime to perpetrate anti-2S/LGBTQ practices, otherwise known as “conversion therapy.”

Salway directs the REAFFIRM Collaborative, an interdisciplinary team committed to researching 2S/LGBTQ+ health and supports the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, Turtle Island’s first research group exclusively dedicated to understanding the health of Two-Spirit Indigenous people. He is the founder of MindMapBC, a 2S/LGBTQ-affirming mental health service finder.