Dr. Bowdish speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations to the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance

On November 4, 2023, the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance hosted an educational webinar and panel discussion about COVID-19 vaccines moderated by Dr. Dawn Richards, Vice-President with CAPA. The panel included: – Nadine Lalonde, who lives with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and is – involved as an active patient partner on various research projects and a member of the Arthritis Patient Advisory Board with Arthritis Research Canada – Inés Colmegna is a rheumatologist, researcher and Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University – Dawn Bowdish is a Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity, and Professor, McMaster University #CAPA #CanadianArthritisPatientAlliance #arthritis #rheumatoidarthritis #arthritisawareness #livingwitharthritis #ra #ramedications #managingra #earlystagesofarthritis #arthritisadvocate #arthritispatient #arthritistreatment #rheumatoid #arthritisresource #didyouknow #flares #managingflares #flaring #vaccines #covid19 #RAvaccines

Congrats to high school student Anika Gupta as she heads off to the international science fair!

The Bowdish lab was very proud to host Anika Gupta, a high school student, for her Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF) project.

Her project was entitled “Quantifying Lung Macrophages to Understand Increased Susceptibility to Bacterial Pneumonia with Age.”

Anita won the Dr. Doyle Biology Award for the best Biology project, a Gold merit award as well as the Pinnacle Award for the Third Best in Fair and a sponsored Trip Award to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in May!

Way to go Anika!

Anika Gupta receiving the third place “ArcelorMittal Dofasco Pinnacle Best-in-Fair” award.

See her featured in the Hamilton news here.

Dr. Bowdish gives a lecture for kids “Who’s got more cooties – boys or girls?”

Dr. Bowdish explains what cooties are, how the microbes that live on and in us can be friends and foes and describes how differences in infections and health between boys and girls, men and women are sometimes due to biology and sometimes due to behaviour.

Read the article summarizing the event here.

To see Dr. Bowdish put on a macrophage cape and teach the school kids the difference between a commensal, a pathobiont and a pathogen by dressing up their teachers, watch here…..

Children wrote down questions they had during the lecture and got answers back to them the next day. Had to break out the dictionary to find the etiology of the word “cooties”.

Dawn participates in the Steeltown Stairclimb to raise money for the Ontario Lung Association

On February 3rd 2018, Dawn will be doing the Steeltown Stairclimb to raise money for the Lung Association.
To donate, see her page

http://support.on.lung.ca/site/TR/StepUpampBreathe/StepUpClimbEvent?px=2041173&pg=personal&fr_id=1160

Not only does the Lung Association support research into lung infections and lung health but it advocates for the 1 in 5 Ontarians living with lung disease. One of our major successes this year was passing Bill 71 in provincial parliament which means we now have a Lung Advisory board consisting of patients, caregivers, clinicians and importantly, researchers, to create a Lung Health Action plan and tangible goals to improve lung health in our province. Please consider a donation!

Here’s the CHCH news clip on the event:

SteelTown Stair Climb

#TakeABreather at the Lung Association’s Pop-up Park.

On average, everyone takes an astonishing 22,000 breaths per day – something we’re not conscious of doing.  And, although breathing is fundamental to life, lung research doesn’t get the attention it truly needs.

November is Lung Month, the perfect time to reinforce and remind Canadians how important it is to #TakeABreather. To capture attention, invite participation and help raise donations for lung research, The Lung Association is launching interactive pop-up parks across Canada.

Joseph Neale is a "Breathing Ambassador" who survived lung cancer when he was only 20 years old. Despite having surgery he got his voice back and is hoping to win a "Grammy for Lung Cancer Research". Together we answered questions at the #TakeABreather pop-up park at Sherway Gardens. Stories like his remind me that I need to be the best scientist that I can be to make the discoveries that will improve the lives of those living with lung disease.

Joseph Neale is a “Breathing Ambassador” who survived lung cancer when he was only 20 years old. Despite having surgery he got his voice back and is hoping to win a “Grammy for Lung Cancer Research”. Together we answered questions at the #TakeABreather pop-up park at Sherway Gardens. Stories like his remind me that I need to be the best scientist that I can be to make the discoveries that will improve the lives of those living with lung disease.

Highlight’s of the kick off were livestreamed on Breathing as One’s Facebook Page – be sure to check them out!

It was such an honour to hear Joseph's story of overcoming lung cancer and to share what the research community is working on. We all agreed - more money for lung research!

It was such an honour to hear Joseph’s story of overcoming lung cancer and to share what the research community is working on. We all agreed – more money for lung research!

Remember, everything shared with #takeabreather is being curated at breathingasone.ca – take a look and make your contribution today!

Don’t forget, there are three ways that you can get involved:

VISIT THE POP-UP PARK

  • Pop in and take a breather and a selfie, and share it on social

    Nuno Lourenço (Balanced Heart Being) led us through a yoga practice at the pop-up park.

    Nuno Lourenço (Balanced Heart Being) led us through a yoga practice at the pop-up park.

    media with #takeabreather

  • We even have our very own custom #takeabreather Snapchat filter – but you’ll have to visit to see it!
  • Location: Sherway Gardens (25 The West Mall)
  • When: Thursday, Nov. 3 (11:00-8:00); Friday, Nov. 4 (11:00-8:00); Saturday, Nov. 5 (10:30-8:00); Sunday, Nov. 6 (12:00-5:00)

SHARE #TAKEABREATHER ON SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Can’t visit the park? Instead, show us your favourite time and place to take a breather with #takeabreather
  • It could be anywhere, anytime – in a field, on a hillside, at dawn or sunset, at the gym, or watching your kids play
  • Tell us why you love breathing, why you love this particular breathing moment, what your breath does for you, and any other breathing thoughts you want to share
  • Don’t forget #takeabreather
  • All contributions will be curated at BreathingasOne.ca

    It was great to meet the health and wellness bloggers who supported the #TakeABreather event! Darlene Anderson (The New Girl), Cory Lee (The Fashion Set), Joseph Neale (Take a Breather & Breathing as One Ambassador), Dr. Dawn Bowdish (Board Member), Marybeth DeSantos (Life in Rouge)

    It was great to meet the health and wellness bloggers who supported the #TakeABreather event! Darlene Anderson (The New Girl), Cory Lee (The Fashion Set), Joseph Neale (Take a Breather & Breathing as One Ambassador), Dr. Dawn Bowdish (Board Member), Marybeth DeSantos (Life in Rouge)

SPREAD THE WORD

  • Challenge your friends, family, and extended networks to #takeabreather by forwarding the information above!

It’s time Canadians stop taking our breath for granted. Through Breathing as One and the #TakeABreather campaign, together, we can lead the conversation, and radically change the way we think about breathing.

Dawn discussed why she chose to go into a career in science in the IIDR’s Incubation Podcast Series

Fiona Whelan and Ryan Buensuceso, sit down with the IIDR’s Dr. Dawn Bowdish to discuss how and why she chose science as a career.

Hear the podcast here.

Twitter handles:

Fiona Whelan (@whelanfj)
Ryan Buensuceso (@rcbuensuceso)
Dr. Dawn Bowdish (@MsMacrophage)
Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) (@McMasterIIDR)

The Bowdish lab thanks a 5 year old philanthropist for donating $5 of her allowance to our research!

Running a research lab is expensive (very expensive!) and the vast majority of funding to the Bowdish lab comes from taxpayers by way of agencies like the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the National Science and Engineering Council or from generous donations to non-profit agencies like the Ontario Lung Association. We do get donations from individuals on occasion and these are even more special to us because they mean that our work has inspired someone to donate their hard-earned dollars. Below is a particularly heart-warming story of a 5 year old who donated $5 of her allowance to help us keep all the grandmas and grandpas healthy. The video below shows what we bought with that money and allows us to express our thanks.

Your donations, no matter how big or small, are special to us. They strengthen our resolve to work harder and smarter to make research breakthroughs, the inspire us to communicate our research with you, the public, and they remind us of that we are working for you, the public.
If you are inspired to donate money for research to improve lung health we’d encourage you to consider donating to the Ontario Lung Association’s Breathing as One campaign.

The McMaster Immunology Research Centre is fundraising with the Lung Association to create a new PhD scholarship in lung health. If you would like to donate to that, please contact Dr Bowdish at bowdish@mcmaster.ca or Dr. Carl Richards (director)richards@mcmaster.ca .

And lastly, if you’ve been inspired by the work of the Bowdish lab and would like to make a donation, thank you! Please contact Dr. Bowdish (bowdish@mcmaster.ca, 905-525-9140 x22313)

Thank you to all our donors. Thank you for your generosity and your belief in our work!

Dr Bowdish gives a deputation at Queen’s Park in support of Bill 41, The Lung Health Act.

The Bowdish lab has been working with the Ontario Lung Association to encourage politicians to support Bill #41 – The Lung Health Act. You may not be aware that of all the common chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular, diabetes), lung disease is the only one that doesn’t have a dedicated action plan. Because of this rates of lung disease are higher then they need to be and many “best practices” for treating or preventing lung disease are not in place, compromising the health of many Ontarians and increasing health care costs. For this reason MPP Kathryn McGarry put forth a private members bill to create a Lung Health Act for Ontario. Bill 41 would entail establishing a Lung Health Advisory Council to make recommendations to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care on lung health issues; and requiring the Minister to develop and implement an Ontario Lung Health Action Plan respecting research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung disease. In Novemver our lab attended a provincial lobby day where we discussed the importance of this bill with politicians.  On June 6th Dawn gave a deputation to the Committee on Social Policy on why this Bill would be of particular importance to older adults.

To see the entire 4 hours of deputations (ouch!) click here.

To read more of the FAQ around the Lung Health Act click here.

To read more about the Ontario Lung Association’s draft Lung Health Action Plan, click here. (Bonus – you can donate to the Lung Association to support this work via that link too!).

Tammy Villeneuve (OLA), Andrea Kellner, Justin Boyle, MPP Dave Levac, Kyle Novakowski, Dessi Loukov and Dr. Dawn Bowdish meet to discuss the Lung Health Act.

Tammy Villeneuve (OLA), Andrea Kellner, Justin Boyle, MPP Dave Levac, Kyle Novakowski, Dessi Loukov and Dr. Dawn Bowdish meet to discuss the Lung Health Act.

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The Bowdish lab attends lobby day in November 2015 to discuss the importance of the Lung Health Act with MPPs.

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Walter Gretzky supports the Lung Health Act – you should too! (with Justin Boyle & Dessi Loukov)

Dawn at Queen's Park after her deputation on Bill 41- The Lung Health Act. The Bowdish lab participates in democracy!

Dawn at Queen’s Park after her deputation on Bill 41- The Lung Health Act. The Bowdish lab participates in democracy!