Grant: Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease - Chronic Immunologically-mediated

Humans are more mobile than ever before in history. The economic and geo-political landscape of our world has prompted significant migration waves to countries like Canada, and Canada's society, economy, and culture are continually being shaped by immigration. Immigration often transplants individuals and families into radically different environments in terms of climate, prevailing diet, exposure to microbial pathogens, exposure to pollutants, and changes in lifestyle dictated by economic necessity; yet, we know little about the impact of global migration on health and disease. Access to a large at-risk population (the South Asian diaspora in the Toronto area), cutting-edge expertise in clinical and basic sciences, social sciences, and public health, an Ontario health database that links immigration status to disease, and state-of-the art infrastructure ($15M CFI investment) uniquely positions our research team to tackle an important issue that has implications for Canadian society.