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Author: Linxi Mytkolli

Launch of New Diabetes Wellness Website

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New Diabetes, Exercise & Healthy Lifestyle Program, “Diabetes College“, launched at the University Health Network in partnership with the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre – University of Toronto, supported by SunLife Financial.

To learn more about this innovative program, click on the link below: 

 

Diabetes Action Canada – at the SPOR SUMMIT – Oct 25-27th in Ottawa

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November 1, 2016
For immediate release

Diabetes Action Canada – at the SPOR SUMMIT – Oct 25-27th in Ottawa

Diabetes Action Canada is a major participant in the SPOR SUMMIT – Health Innovation: Working Together on Shared Health Priorities meetings in Ottawa from Oct 25-27th.  The SPOR SUMMIT brings together over 300 members and partners of the CIHR SPOR Program to demonstrate progress to date, network and learn about new opportunities to collaborate with both public and private sectors.

Since its launch in 2012, CIHR has committed approximately $600 million to SPOR, with partners committing an additional $400 million. Most recently, CIHR provided $62 million to support five SPOR Networks in Chronic Diseases – an investment that leveraged an additional $126 million dollars from partners, including universities, hospitals, industry, health charities, and provincial agencies. This is a clear demonstration that stakeholders and decision-makers across Canada understand the powerful impact that SPOR has on improving health and health care delivery.

Diabetes Action Canada presented its 5 year plan engaging patients at all levels of its activities. As well, our Executive Director was invited to participate in the session entitled: Interaction Between SPOR SUPPORT Units and Networks. Representing the 5 SPOR Networks in Chronic Disease, Dr. Whiteside indicated that CIHR has the opportunity to lead a network-of-Networks collaboration across Canada through collaboration that could immediately focus on the core common interests among all parts of the SPOR Program including: patient-engagement, Indigenous Health, health informatics and clinical trials. Diabetes Action Canada is collaborating with a number of SPOR SUPPORT Units across Canada and looks forward to expanding this collaboration as research and knowledge translation projects evolve. The joint provincial and CIHR funding for the SPOR SUPPORT units will be completed over the next two to three years, providing an opportunity for more clear alignment of major goals with the SPOR Networks.

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Diabetes Action Canada – Symposium at the Canadian Diabetes Association Annual Conference – Oct 28th in Ottawa

“Initiative – Leveraging Technology and Networking for Diabetes Research in Canada”

Diabetes Action Canada: A SPOR Network in Diabetes and Its Related Complications’

Chair: Gary Lewis 

What is the Added Value of Patient Engagement in Diabetes Research?

Maman Joyce Dogba

Sex and Gender: The Key to Better Diabetes Research

Paula A. Rochon

Reaching the Patient: Modernizing Diabetes Outcomes Research Through the Use of the Mobile Health Apps

Joseph Cafazzo

Muscarinic Receptor Antagonism to Treat Diabetic Neuropath

Paul Fernyhough

New Network Launched to Address Diabetes Complications

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Partnership unites nine institutions in fight against diabetes

For Immediate Release – March 31, 2016

TORONTO, ON – A new national research network was launched today to transform the health outcomes of individuals with diabetes and its related complications. It will be led by two of Canada’s top researchers in the field and includes researchers conducting leading-edge health and biomedical research at nine institutions across the country.

“Diabetes is a huge burden to our health system right now. One in four Canadians have diabetes or pre-diabetes and it’s costing us $16-billion per year to treat. By 2020, we anticipate that more than 3 million Canadians will have diabetes. We have an opportunity to harness the tremendous research being done in Canada to find better solutions,” said Professor Gary Lewis, Director of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist with the University Health Network.

Lewis will lead the new Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Network in Diabetes and Related Complications – with Professor Jean-Pierre Després, Scientific Director of the Cardiology Division of the Quebec Heart and Lung institute, Director of Science and Innovation at Alliance santé Québec and a Professor of Kinesiology at Université Laval.

Today, Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott announced funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) for five SPOR Networks in Chronic Disease. “These networks will produce the innovations that improve health of Canadians and position Canada as a global leader in research on these chronic diseases,” said CIHR President Dr. Alain Beaudet.

Each SPOR Network will receive $12.45-million from CIHR to be matched by partners. The SPOR Network in Diabetes and Related Complications has partnered with the Canadian Diabetes Association, JDRF, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Research Manitoba, Alliance santé Quebec, New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal, as well as private sector contributors including Merck Canada Inc., Astra-Zeneca Inc., Caprion Proteome Inc., and WinSanTor Inc., for a total five-year investment of an additional $19-million for the SPOR Network in Diabetes and Related Complications.

“JDRF is proud to be a SPOR partner, as we greatly value Canadian researchers working collaboratively to accelerate diabetes research. This gives patients hope for a better world, a world without type 1 diabetes (T1D) and this research will move us there faster,” said Dave Prowten, President and CEO of JDRF Canada.

“Our network will facilitate meaningful connections between primary healthcare providers, their patients and relevant specialists to achieve improved care and significant cost savings within our health system,” said Després.

“I have been living with T1D for 49 years, and have experienced how devastating diabetic related complications can be; I lost my eyesight 25 years ago. Last week my 14-year-old nephew was diagnosed with T1D. This disease continues its devastating path, which is what compels me to fight back and be a member of this SPOR Network,” said patient advocate Debbie Sissmore. “I am delighted to represent and advocate for the Canadians that need help in the prevention and treatment of diabetes related complications.”

A focus for the network will be the impact diabetes has on vulnerable groups, including Indigenous peoples, immigrants, women and lower socio-economic groups. “We know that diabetes has a disproportionate impact on these groups, but there is still much more research to be done on why and how to deliver appropriate and culturally sensitive treatments,” said Lewis.

The network will be based in Toronto at the University Health Network and University of Toronto. The other partner organizations are Université de Sherbrooke, Université Laval, Université de Montréal, University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba, and the University of New Brunswick.

You can learn more about the SPOR Network in Diabetes by visiting their website:www.SPORNetworkDiabetes.ca
For more information:

Liam Mitchell
Associate Director, Communications
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Tel: 416-978-4672
Email: liam.mitchell@utoronto.ca

 

Message from Our Co-Scientific Leads

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It is an exciting time to be part of Diabetes Action Canada.  We have now been in operation for almost a year and a half and already we are starting to see meaningful contributions to improving the lives of those living with diabetes.  So far we have organized ourselves into eight Goal Groups, with four of these group being cross-cutting – Patient Engagements, Training and Mentoring, Knowledge Translation, Sex and Gender and four of these groups addressing an acute concern among our patient partners with diabetes –  Diabetic Retinopathy, Indigenous Health, Innovations in Type-1 Diabetes, Health Informatics.  We are also thrilled to introduce a newly formed ninth goal group in Foot Care and Prevention of Lower Extremity Amputation.  This group will be tailoring its goals and objectives in the very near future and will bring great value to our Network, as amputation is a significant concern raised by our Indigenous Circle and Collective Patient Circle.  It is quite gratifying that our Goal Group projects are informed by patients with experiential knowledge to optimize impact. We are proud that all the parts of our Network are working together focused on improving the lives of those living with diabetes.

Diabetes Action Canada is truly asserting itself as a catalytic research consortium that has the capacity to scale-up effective health-care solutions. We have ongoing fruitful partnerships with Diabetes Canada and JDRF and in the following Newsletter you will read about how Diabetes Action Canada was involved in both the CIHR/JDRF innovative clinical trials multi-year operating grant applications and the Diabetes Canada Professional Conference.  Diabetes Action Canada is really starting to produce results and over the next couple of months, we will be implementing a new communications plan to better inform our community and patients of all our activities. Also, look out for us on Twitter and LinkedIn for more frequent news items and updates!

Also featured in this newsletter is the incredible work of our Training and Mentoring Goal Group, led by André Carpentier, Mathieu Bélanger, Aurel Schofield and Michelle Murray.  This Goal Group aims to strengthen patient-oriented research capacity in Canada for diabetes and its related complications. They develop and organize training and mentoring opportunities for graduate students (MSc and PhD), postdoctoral fellows and health professionals to develop the next generation of patient-oriented researchers.   Already this group has run numerous training sessions (in French and English) across Canada and we are excited to announce a major training event to be held in Toronto on May 3, 2018, immediately prior to our Annual Workshop, May 4, 5.  Our Training and Mentoring Goal Group engages patients as facilitators in these training sessions. The aim is to successfully build teams of patients and researchers to ‘humanize’ diabetes and guide researchers towards outcomes that directly address the concerns of patients.  This group also actively collaborates with other SPOR Networks to enhance capacity building and design new approaches to teaching and learning. We encourage you to read this feature for a more complete picture of our training and mentoring initiatives.

We will close by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season.  2018 promises to be a remarkable time for Diabetes Action Canada as we move forward rapidly to realize our vision and mission.