Dr. Cheryl Barnabe
Affiliation
Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences and Director of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
Senior Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada
Committee membership
Standing Committee on Science
Biography
Dr. Cheryl Barnabe is a Clinician Scientist at the University of Calgary, holding both a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autoimmune Diseases and the Arthur JE Child Chair in Rheumatology Outcomes Research. She completed medical school and internal medicine at the University of Manitoba, and her rheumatology fellowship and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology at the University of Calgary before joining faculty in 2012. She is a proud member of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, and has provided rheumatology care in Treaty 7 territory in both urban and on-reserve settings for over 15 years.
Her research program has contributed knowledge of the epidemiology of rheumatic diseases and drivers of rheumatoid arthritis outcomes in First Nations and Métis communities. She identified an increased prevalence of osteoarthritis and autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases in First Nations communities, however with lower rates of specialty care involvement for management of these conditions. Partnering with communities and leadership, she explored how racism, policy, specialty care access processes, and disparities in social determinants of health were contributing to inequitable outcomes for Indigenous peoples with arthritis conditions. In addition to medical education contributions and advocacy for policy changes, she has worked with multiple communities to co-create, implement and evaluate promising Indigenous strengths-based health system interventions to improve access to diagnosis, treatment, and quality of care. These interventions have included facilitated care access models, community-based support roles, and implementation of shared decision making for therapeutic decisions.
Another contribution she is making is capacity building in health research, in particular supporting Indigenous scholars pursuing health research careers. She was the nominated principal investigator for the Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation, a CIHR-funded Indigenous Mentorship Network Program from 2017 to 2022. She is currently the Director for the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health at the University of Calgary, providing leadership in transdisciplinary scholarship and education.
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