Trainee workshops 2021

November 11 - 13 | 2021

Held in a hybrid format with in person and virtual participation.

Workshop venue: Le Westin Montreal | Quebec

Industry Career Path​

Thursday | NOV 11, 2021 | 1:00 - 2:50PM
Industry partners will engage trainees about opportunities and paths for a career in pharmaceutical industry with the goal of treating skin diseases.

Patient Engagement in Research

Friday | NOV 12, 2021 | 1:00 - 2:50PM
"Patient engagement in research: top tips for working with patient organizations" "clinical trials Ontario - patient decision aid."

Academic Career Path

Saturday | NOV 13, 2021 | 12:00 - 1:50PM
Academic career path from the perspectives of established and early career investigators.

Industry career path workshop

Thursday NOV 11, 2021 (1:00 – 2:50PM)

Our industry partners will engage trainee participants (graduate students/ post doctoral fellows) to learn more about their career paths and opportunities to work in pharmaceutical industry with the goal of treating skin diseases.

Patient engagement in research workshop

Friday NOV 12, 2021 (1:00 – 2:50PM)

PATIENT ENGAGEMENT IN RESEARCH: TOP TIPS FOR WORKING WITH PATIENT ORGANIZATIONS

Rachael Manion

Executive Director; Canadian Skin Patient Alliance, Canadian Association of Psoriasis Patients Co-director; Skin Investigation Network of Canada

Rachael Manion is the Chair of the Patient Advisory Council of the Skin Investigation Network of Canada (SkIN Canada) and the Executive Director of the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance and the Canadian Association of Psoriasis Patients. Drawing on her background as a lawyer and consultant, Rachael brings a strategic and creative approach to advocating for better patient care and is committed to enhancing patient engagement in research.

CLINICAL TRIALS ONTARIO – PATIENT DECISION AID
An Introduction to Patient-Oriented Research: A Case Study and Resources to Help You.

Dawn Richards, David Wells and Monica Parry

Join us to learn about patient-oriented research: what it is, common terms, and how you might consider this within the context of your own research project. The session will be hosted by members of a patient-oriented research team, and includes a clinician-researcher, a person who lives with diabetes, and a person who works to engage patients in projects at a not for profit clinical trials organization. The team will help you learn about patient-oriented research through sharing a case study of a research project that has resulted in tools to help you carry out research this way. There will be lots of time to reflect on your own work and ask plenty of questions.

Dawn Richards, PhD
Director, Patient and Public Engagement
Clinical Trials Ontario

Dawn Richards, PhD, is the founder of Five02 Labs Inc., and Director of Patient and Public Engagement at Clinical Trials Ontario. With a PhD (Analytical Chemistry) from the University of Alberta, and experience in a variety of roles during the past 20 years, it is her diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis ten years ago that instigated a journey to combine her passion for science with making the most of her diagnosis. In her role at CTO, Dawn is charged with executing on CTO’s strategic pillar of patient and public engagement.

David Ernest Wells
David is a patient partner with Diabetes Action Canada, the Maritime SPOR Support Unit , and Patients for Patient Safety Canada (associated with Healthcare Excellence Canada). He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and turned 82 years old on 2021-06-29. From 2005-2011 Dave chaired the New Brunswick Surgical Care Network Advisory Committee, which designed and implemented new procedures that reduced surgical wait times in New Brunswick 50% to 70%. During 2012-2015 Dave was the patient representative on the New Brunswick Primary Health Care Steering Committee, which changed the delivery of primary health care in New Brunswick by producing an extensive Guidelines document adopted for Family Medicine New Brunswick in 2017. In 2019 he qualified as a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS-CA) with Digital Health Canada.

Monica Parry, MEd, MSc, NP-Adult, PhD, CCN(C)
Visiting Associate Professor, Central South University, China
Associate Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Dr. Parry is an Associate Professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and a Nurse Practitioner in the cardiac program at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. Monica’s program of research focuses on patient engagement and the sex/gendered factors that impact the burden of cardiovascular disease. Current funded studies are focused on developing and systematically evaluating a digital health intervention (at heart) for women with heart disease. Monica is a Co-I in the SPOR Network focused on Diabetes and its Complications (Diabetes Action Canada), CIHR’s e-Health Innovation Project focused on Technology-Enabled Remote Monitoring and Self-Management, and in GOING-FWD: Gender Outcomes International Group: to Further Well-being Development. In collaboration with Clinical Trials Ontario, Monica has also been co-leading CIHR and OSSU-funded studies to systematically develop and test digital patient partner and investigator decision aids designed to increase patient-investigator partnerships in research. She is a member of CIHR’s College of Reviewers, the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, and the Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative.

Academic career path workshop

Saturday 13 NOV, 12 – 1:50PM

“Career Path of a University Professor in a Life Sciences Department: Challenges and Rewards”

Dr. John H. White
Professor & Chair
Department of Physiology
McGill University

The requirements to get hired, getting tenure, the art of balancing teaching with research including grant writing, publishing, handling rejections from granting agencies and editors, etc. – from hiring until retirement.

“Career Path of an Academic Clinician-Scientist: Challenges and Rewards”

Robert Gniadecki, MD, PhD, DMSci, FCDA
Professor, University of Alberta
Director, Division of Dermatology
Section Chief, Dermatology, AHS Edmonton Zone

The clinician-scientist, once a popular career trajectory in dermatology, is threatened by extinction. Dermatology training programs increasingly focus on the practical aspects of medicine. Many would consider research as an esoteric activity, detached from real-world medicine and thus not worth serious investment of time and effort. However, the research, with all its current limitations, remains the main source of invigorating energy without which the dermatology will wither and decline.

We will discuss how incorporating research in the career can benefit the physician, by advancing career possibilities, as an antidote to fragility, as a remedy to the cognitive filter bubble, and as a meaningful activity providing purpose in the professional life.

“Academic Career Path from the Perspective of an Early Career Investigator”

Holly Sparks, DVM, PhD
Diplomat, American College of Veterinary Surgeons – Large Animal
Assistant Professor, University of Calgary
Department of Veterinary Clinical & Diagnostic Sciences
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
McCaig Institute for Bone & Joint Health

The path to an academic research career can be remarkably diverse. In this talk, I will discuss the training experiences that lead to my success in obtaining a position as a veterinary clinician scientist in regenerative medicine.  I will discuss the skills and accomplishments that I think helped to make me more marketable, the many challenges along the way, and the realities of starting a new research laboratory as a New Investigator.