NHP Catalyst Grants
About the NHP Catalyst Grants
NHP Catalyst Grants foster collaboration between academics, researchers, clinicians, and the Peel Region community. These grants support projects that design, expand, adapt, or evaluate evidence-informed tools, programs, or interventions aligned with the Network’s mission: reducing social inequities in diabetes and related cardiometabolic diseases through better care, lower risk factors, and healthier environments.
The NHP Catalyst Grants also aims to align our findings to meet the needs of the community by:
- Equity-based priority setting – Engaging community members to ensure fair and relevant research priorities.
- Community-driven research – Partnering with local organizations to incorporate lived experiences and insights.
- Education & capacity building – Enhancing research knowledge and skills for community members, trainees, and faculty.
- Academic-community collaboration – Strengthening relationships between U of T and Peel Region for long-term engagement and trust.
- Future research priorities – Involving the community in identifying meaningful and pressing research themes.
Explore our Catalyst Grant Projects
Project Spotlights
Increasing Knowledge, Reducing Risk: A community-integrated nutrition intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes in Peel.
For lead investigator, Dr. Vasanti Malik, the Network for Healthy Populations Catalyst Grant program has allowed her team to address an issue that has great relevance to the people of Peel Region. They have conducted each part of the project in collaboration with community members, including the Peel Food Action Council.
Originally inspired by community gardening programs, Malik wanted to develop something that would teach important skills like nutrition while encouraging participants to spend time together and in nature.
Reducing Health Inequities and Access Barriers in Severe Diabetic Foot Infection and Amputation by Engaging At-Risk Communities to Optimize the Implementation of Evidence-Based Strategies
With a goal of lessening access barriers for people living with diabetes who develop foot ulcers, Dr. Terence Tang’s Catalyst Grant project also aims to reduce the rates of severe infection and amputation.
For people living with diabetes, foot ulcers are a common complication caused by changes in their blood vessels and nerves. Good foot care is essential to ensuring feet remain healthy and foot ulcers don’t develop, or are treated quickly if they do appear.