OUR MISSION
Advancing innovative, high-quality research to enhance skin health for Canadians.
The Skin Investigation Network of Canada (SkIN Canada) was launched in July 2020 to bring together the diverse community of researchers, patients, and clinicians and catalyze innovative, high-quality research that improves the skin health of Canadians. We are funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis).
OUR VISION
Advancing skin research in Canada through national collaboration and patient-guided innovation.
SkIN Canada has three strategic aims that will build capacity, foster new collaborations, and promote cross-fertilization of groundbreaking research ideas:
AIM 1
Expanding Research Infrastructure
To expand and implement national infrastructure that will empower multicentre research teams to engage diverse communities across the country with greater scale and efficiency.
AIM 2
Prioritizing Patient-Centered Research
To prioritize research questions relevant to patients and catalyze interdisciplinary teams of researchers, patients, and knowledge users to address them.
AIM 3
Growing a Stronger Research Community
To grow the community of successful skin researchers and patient research partners by developing talent across academic ranks and training levels.
We aim to develop national infrastructure, identify research priorities relevant to patients, create new interdisciplinary collaborations, and expand the critical mass of skin research expertise. By breaking down barriers and engaging patients and partner organizations, the Network has achieved early successes with mapping the skin research landscape in Canada; developing national data infrastructure and research platforms; completing a landmark Priority Setting Initiative involving over 500 patients, care providers, and researchers; catalyzing over a dozen interdisciplinary collaborations; and providing educational sessions for hundreds of trainees and early career researchers.
areas of Work
Pioneering Research for Skin Health
At C-NeST, we tackle the most pressing challenges in dermatology through interdisciplinary research. Our work spans biomedical, clinical, health systems, and population health studies, focusing on three key areas:
Inflammatory skin conditions
Advancing treatments for chronic conditions like eczema and psoriasis to improve patients’ quality of life.
Wound healing/fibrosis
Exploring innovative therapies to accelerate healing and prevent scarring.
Skin cancer
Enhancing early detection and treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes.