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Rod McCormick is B.C.’s choice to lead researchers studying early childhood development among First Nations in Kamloops. He will head teams at Thompson Rivers University. McCormick, a psychologist, has worked with the Canadian Institutes of Mental Health on such projects as Aboriginal mental health and youth suicide. Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux said McCormick is a national expert and will help improve culturally-appropriate programs for Aboriginal children. Support from First Nations helped attract McCormick to the facility, said Alan Shaver, president of the university. The project involves $2.5 million; half from a 2007 grant from the Children’s Ministry. An endowment fund created in 2002 with the private sector and awarded to 29 post-secondary facilities around the province will supply the balance.