Dr. Robin Mason retired Sept. 30^th  from her role at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and moved  into a Scientist  Emeritus position at the hospital’s research institute. While she  will continue to support important research in sex and gender, this milestone is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on and celebrate her career.

With an early focus on intimate partner and gender-based violence, Mason later expanded her lens to look at sex and gender in research. She was one of the first researchers to become involved with Diabetes Action Canada, contributing to the initial proposal for the organization. She is passionate about the need to include those with  lived experience in research and ensuring there are diverse voices at the table.

Working with patient partners, including the late André Gaudreau, and her team at Women’s College, Robin highlighted the importance of incorporating sex and gender at all levels of research in their study of the lived experience of diabetes among men and women. “I think we did remarkable work. We were able to understand some of the very particular experiences of women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and men with type 1 and type 2. Within a lot of the academic literature type 1 and type 2 are often conflated and certainly not looked at through a sex or gender lens, so I think that that was really an impressive piece of work.”

The project, which was welcomed by those with lived experience, follows a trend in her work. Whether it is looking at diabetes or gender-based violence, she aims to educate providers on how best to serve women and women-identified individuals, many of whom would not have learned the importance of intersectional differences in medical school. She wanted to ensure that when looking at diabetes or any other issue, they would see the condition through the lens of the person in front of them and their life experiences – not just what was found in textbooks about  a medical condition.

“One of the other things I’m most proud of is what Dr. Paula Rochon and I accomplished through a provincial  initiative called, Women’s Xchange. We  supported small community/academic partnered research projects  that had locally relevant women’s health issues at their core. I feel really good about that because community organizations and citizens participated in  research in a very meaningful way, studying  issues that  were their issues. That felt significant,” she says.

While her latest move is a retirement of sorts, Robin  will not fully be closing the door on research. She, Joyce Li and colleagues at Women’s College are about to launch another interactive online module on community/patient engaged health research. The module, Making Research More Participatory, provides an accessible introduction to participatory research including important considerations for both investigators and potential patient partners and real case studies of patient engaged research. The module will be available in December 2024 and it, as well as other similar modules, can be found on the Women’s Age Lab website.

“Robin’s leadership and dedication have been instrumental in shaping DAC’s success,” says DAC Executive Director, Tracy McQuire. “We have learned so much from her and the team at Women’s Age Lab and we are grateful for their continued connection with our Network, in particular our Patient Partners. Robin’s leadership, compassion, and commitment have helped shape DAC’s success and fostered a positive experience for everyone involved”.

Robin will also continue  supporting  some of the research underway and  plans to stay engaged with DAC and other organizations. She’s excited to have the opportunity to take time away from full-time  work  to explore other interests, but still be involved. “I want to continue to be a contributor if and when it might be helpful, whether with  sex and gender-based analysis reviews or in other ways that help maintain my connections to the research community,” she says.

Article by Krista Lamb