The 2023 CIHR Institute of Aging Fellowship Prize of Excellence in Research on Aging
Each year, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Aging (CIHR-IA) recognizes the highest ranked postdoctoral trainee in the field of aging from the CIHR open postdoctoral competition as the CIHR-IA Fellowship Prize of Excellence in Research on Aging recipient.
Recipient
Dr. James Jeremy McCormick, University of Ottawa
Dr. James Jeremy McCormick is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Dr. Glen Kenny. Dr. McCormick’s doctoral training was in exercise physiology and molecular biology, where he studied cellular protection mechanisms associated with exercise in individuals with prediabetes. Throughout his post-doctoral training, Dr. McCormick’s research has been aimed at defining the human heat stress response from a whole-body to cellular level in heat vulnerable older adults, including older adults with common chronic diseases. For his research program, Dr. McCormick is particularly interested in understanding the complex cellular mechanisms (i.e., autophagy, heat shock response, apoptotic mechanisms, among others) that underlie the risk of developing heat injury in vulnerable populations and exploring unique approaches in modulate these pathways (i.e., heat mitigation, acclimation, etc.) to protect the health of vulnerable populations, including older adults.
Research Summary
On the heels of the hottest decade ever recorded in Canada, Canadians have faced record-setting extreme heat events. This is highlighted by recent extreme heat events, including the summer heatwave of 2021 that claimed the lives of hundreds of vulnerable elderly adults. We recently showed that older adults experience greater elevations in body temperature and cardiovascular strain relative to their younger counterparts when exposed to heatwave-like conditions. This was paired with impairments in cellular function, including the vital cellular mechanism of autophagy. However, exposure to brief ambient cooling (i.e., visiting an air-conditioned location) implemented in the middle of a heatwave simulation preserved cellular function upon re-entry to the heat, despite body temperature and cardiovascular strain returning to pre-cooling levels by the end of the heatwave simulation. Despite this, many Canadians have limited access to air conditioning or are unable to access cooled locations (i.e., those in retirement or care homes). Thus, there is need for simple alternative methods of cooling the body that can be performed at home. This includes the use of limb cooling, wherein the legs are immersed in cool water during indoor overheating, although limited evidence exists evaluating the effectiveness of limb cooling on protecting the body during exposure to the heat. My research aims to assess the efficacy of limb immersion in preventing dangerous elevations in body temperature, diminished cardiovascular function, and impaired cellular activity in older adults during daylong exposure to heat representative of indoor conditions faced by Canadians during recent extreme heat events. By evaluating simple heat mitigation strategies for alleviating the harmful effects of extreme heat, this work will contribute to the development of evidence-based and sex-specific heat protection strategies to improve health outcomes for vulnerable older adults.
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