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.
K’sana Wood Lynes-Ford. Credit: UVic Photo Services
Two-Eyed seeing has been described as “learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing … and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all.”
A lot of the time, I think that Western knowledge and Indigenous knowledge really do say the same thing, but what we try to do [in this research] that’s a bit different, and that you don’t see in colonial settings, is acknowledging that Indigenous people have had this knowledge for a very long time. Being able to hold those two in the same place means that you’re not only able to educate each other but, also, come to a common place and carry out great work together.”
—K’sana Wood Lynes-Ford, undergrad in Chemistry for Medical Science from the Gitxsan, Tsimshian and ‘Na̱mg̱is Nations
That practical and impactful work highlights just some of the opportunities open to prospective UVic students interested in health and active learning, she says, noting that her co-op research work deepened her interest in her other classes.
“UVic is a special place because we do research that affects the people around us,” she says, referring to a variety of projects exploring health topics ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to traumatic brain injuries to pregnancy.
Indeed, among her opportunities, she was an author listed on a paper titled The multigenerational impact of long QT syndrome: A Gitxsan perspective, whose primary author is the late Lee-Anna Huisman, a Gitxsan woman like Wood Lynes-Ford, who says, “I feel very grateful for that opportunity and carrying on the legacy of other people who have come before me.”
While figuring out her continued path in research, Wood Lynes-Ford says she’s aiming to apply for medical school in the next few years so she can contribute both to science and to Indigenous communities. Ultimately, she would like to practise medicine in her own communities, saying, “That’s a huge part of it for me, wanting to treat Indigenous patients, because they rarely get to be treated by Indigenous physicians.”
Health at UVic
For 50+ years, UVic has been leading the way in unique health and wellness programs including health informatics, psychology, social work, exercise science, nursing, medicine and more. UVic’s new Faculty of Health is positioned to respond to pressing local and global health challenges in new ways through our research, teaching and training strengths, as well as integrate Indigenous ways of knowing and scholarship into health and wellness. From practice to practitioner, we combine hands-on practicums, community-engaged learning, cutting-edge primary care and human health programs.
