(Left to right: Christine Marcotte, Dr. Steven Miller, Dr. Annette Majnemer, To Nhu Nguyen)
From October 25 to 27, members of our CHILD-BRIGHT team attended CIHR's Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Summit in Ottawa, an event that brought together 300 SPOR stakeholders, including patients, federal/provincial/territorial ministries, partners, researchers and clinicians.
A marketplace opened the three-day event, during which time our team hosted a widely visited booth and exchanged with other attendees on the vision and mission of our new network. We were joined by some of our network funding partners and also got to visit the booths and meet other SPOR network members, SPOR support unit staff, and affiliated organization from across Canada and most importantly, families and patients.
Minister of Health Jane Philpott then opened the three-day series of workshops, panel discussions and informal gatherings during which time all attendees learned and exchanged on various issues relating to patient-oriented research.
Attendees on behalf of CHILD-BRIGHT were:
Dr. Annette Majnemer, CHILD-BRIGHT Network Director
Dr. Steven Miller, CHILD-BRIGHT Network Co-Director
To Nhu Nguyen, CHILD-BRIGHT Network Manager
Frank Gavin, patient representative and CHILD-BRIGHT Citizen Engagement Council (CEC) Chair
Donna Thomson, patient representative and CHILD-BRIGHT committee member
Kate Robson, patient representative and CHILD-BRIGHT committee member
Christine Marcotte, patient representative and CHILD-BRIGHT Communications Manager
Denise Lo, SickKids Foundation
Dr. Keiko Shikako-Thomas, CHILD-BRIGHT Principal Investigator, Jooay Project
““It was a great first event for our network! We got to spread the word about CHILD-BRIGHT, meet some of our funders in person for the first time, and learned a great deal about the inspiring work of other members of the SPOR family.””