Dr. Erin Michalak awarded $100,000 for bipolar disorder research

Dr. Erin Michalak, researcher with VCH Research Institute and the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial Issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD) has received a $100,000 Catalyst Grant in e-Health Innovations from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

The grant will support the development of a web-based tool to help people with bipolar disorder (BD) and their healthcare providers in the management and self-management of the condition. Thetool is based on a questionnaire developed by Dr. Michalak’s team called the Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) scale. The goal of the online tool is to measure quality of life in people with BD, help support individualized healthcare and empower people living with bipolar disorder to improve their health.

CIHR Catalyst Grant in e-Health Innovations grants support the development of e-health innovations by integrating, augmenting and evaluating novel health information technologies to empower patients as partners in their care, create a new generation of decision tools for health professionals to enable individualized care, and monitor population health.

For more information on CREST.BD, visit www.crestbd.ca.