Gitxsan student improves community’s health

K’sana Wood Lynes-Ford brings to the University of Victoria a love for chemistry and how it explains the world around her, and a devotion to her communities. In her work and studies, she’s bringing those passions together — along with Indigenous and Western science — in a hands-on research environment. By merging these different approaches to health, this ambitious student’s career path is focusing on solutions to improve health outcomes for rural and remote communities. 

An undergrad in Chemistry for Medical Science from the Gitxsan, Tsimshian and 'Na̱mg̱is Nations, Wood Lynes-Ford is working as a co-op student in the labs of Dr. Laura Arbour and Dr. Leigh Anne Swayne in UVic’s Division of Medical Sciences, researching the presence of an Ankyrin B gene variant (p.S646F) in the Gitxsan First Nation and its role in health problems among community members. 

“We see that the variant is associated with things like heart arrhythmia, structural heart abnormalities, fainting, seizures,” she explains, noting that while these conditions are a health challenge for anyone, they’re especially troublesome — and potentially fatal — for residents of remote communities, where accessing medical care often involves travel for patient or practitioner. That means the stakes are high for the research’s role in understanding the Ankyrin B variant and its function in the heart and brain.  

Wood Lynes-Ford says the research is also important to the community because it’s a true partnership between the Nation and researchers. She says that research partnership, initiated by the Gitxsan and built on respect for the community and Indigenous knowledge, was critical to her participation as she works toward a career as a physician serving Indigenous communities.

Two key elements that factor into this relationship between the Nation and researchers are practices that respect cultural beliefs — including the choice to return test samples to individuals upon request at any time and/or after the research is completed and including the community in pre-review of manuscripts prior to submission for academic peer review— and Two-Eyed Seeing.