An international scientist at McMaster University has been awarded a new national scholarship worth $174,000.

Dr. Denis Xavier, with the Population Health Research Institute, is one of three inaugural recipients of the CANADA-HOPE Scholarship.

The CANADA-HOPE Scholarship program was developed and is supported by the Canadian Centres for Health Research via its CIHR/Rx&D Collaborative Research Program, in partnership with sanofi-aventis Canada Inc.

Under this program, during the first two years, the international researchers are mentored in Canada where they are exposed to some of the best Canadian science, laboratories and training environments. When they return to India, their research projects will be transferred to their home institution for the remaining two years of the program.

At McMaster, Xavier is working with Dr. Sonia Anand and Dr. Philip Devereaux on research to determine the importance of well-known and emerging factors for different types of stroke.

Xavier of St. John's Academy for Health Sciences in Bangalore, India, is conducting a case-control study of 1,600 patients with stroke and 1,600 control subjects without stroke, but who are of the same sex and similar in age to the patients in seven countries from Argentina, Canada, China and Denmark to Germany, India and South Africa, and from five different ethnic groups.

Stroke is a major public health problem that contributes significantly to the global burden of disease. It is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability. Conventional and emerging risk factors for stroke have only been identified for developed countries in the West.

“CANADA-HOPE Scholarships offer an exciting opportunity for outstanding young researchers from developing countries to develop their research skills further in Canada,” said Dr. Alan Bernstein, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “We hope that as a result of receiving these scholarships, these researchers will establish productive research programs in their home country. Canada will benefit from their energy and skills and through the establishment of long-term relationships.”

The other two scholarship recipients are Dr. Sabu Aliyar of Acadia University and Dr. Biju George of the University of Western Ontario.