Lauren Lindsey, from Mississippi, USA, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Alberta, conducting community-driven health research on Helicobacter pylori infection in Arctic Indigenous communities, where the prevalence of infection is 52% compared to 30% in multiple southern provinces. An asymptomatic infection typically acquired in childhood,  it causes more severe disease, and is often more difficult to treat among Indigenous Northerners relative to the North American average.  

“The Arctic Indigenous communities we are collaborating with were alarmed about the frequent diagnosis of H. pylori infection and its relation to gastric cancer deaths, which they perceived to occur with alarming frequency in this region,” explains Ms. Lindsey.  

The Canadian North Helicobacter pylori (CANHelp) Working Group, led by Dr. Karen Goodman, conducts community-driven research on health risks from H. pylori infection by incorporating the perspective of those who bear the burden. Ms. Lindsey is currently working with nine communities (Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Tuktoyaktuk, & Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, and Old Crow, Teslin, Ross River, Carmacks, and Pelly Crossing in the Yukon), and will travel to Old Crow after giving a poster presentation on her research at the 2025 Clinical Trials Training Summit. “Traveling there can be a bit difficult, specifically to Old Crow, because it’s only accessible by airplane.” 

A graduate of Tuskegee University (known for the human experimentation study that led to the publication of the Belmont Report and development of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care), Ms. Lindsey is deeply committed to the cause of health equity, diversity in research, and uplifting underserved communities.  

“Being a CANTRAIN Awardee has benefited me immensely,” says Ms. Lindsey.  “Thanks to the CANTRAIN fellowship, I was able to restructure my PhD thesis to address concerns voiced by CANHelp community participants. I took courses on community-based research and evidence-based medicine, and one of my favorite things has been learning about how to critically evaluate clinical trials.”  

Ultimately, Ms. Lindsey would like to stay in clinical trials, working on how to better reach rural and remote areas: “With our technological advances we should be able to treat patients and offer them access to trials in the comfort of their home, with trucks that can function as mobile hospitals and lab units,” says Ms. Lindsey. “It can be very stressful to go far outside the community during a difficult disease.”

Ms. Lauren Lindsey is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Alberta. Her study title is: “Trials for optimizing treatment to eliminate Helicobacter pylori infection in northern Canadian Indigenous communities.”