Diabetes Canada held its annual Professional Conference in Winnipeg Manitoba on October 2^nd – Oct 5^th, 2019.  Diabetes Action Canada once again kicked off the event by hosting a pre-conference trainee day.  This was the most successful Trainee Day yet with 29 attendees.  We as an opportunity to connect with one of our Diabetes Action Canada trainees, Dr. Ruth Ndjaboue Njike, who attended the event and is a 2019-2021 postdoctoral fellowship awardee. Ruth was kind enough to share her perspectives on her experience below.

I had the opportunity to attend the Diabetes Action Canada Trainee Day first in 2018.  Then it was such a great experience for many reasons, but the recent 2019 Trainee Day was even better. It all started with the interactive layout of the room.  Everyone was seated in small groups around a round table, leading to a more casual environment.  Spending almost the whole day with the same people was itself an ice-breaking activity!  People seated with me were from different academic background (basic science, health profession science, medicine and social science) and as the day progressed, we learnt about each other.

Click to read Ruth’s full story 

On Thursday October 4^th, 2019 Diabetes Action Canada was honoured to host a symposium on the Role of Patient-Oriented Research in the Development of New Models of Care.  This symposium featured threes talks from our research Network highlighting successful patient engagement in research planning, design and implementation.  These talks included:

1. “Transforming Type 1 Diabetes Care – a digital platform to accelerate research and build community”, presented by Kate Farnsworth, Dr. Shivani Goyal and Dr. Peter Senior from the Innovations in Type 1 Diabetes Program. This talk highlighted the patient co-design process in building a digital platform to connect those living with type 1 diabetes with clinical research opportunities
2. “Engaging Patient Partners in Co-Design of a Community-Based Self-Management Intervention for Older Adults with Diabetes and Multiple Chronic Conditions” presented by Frank Tang, Dr. Maureen Markle-Reid and Dr. Jenny Ploeg from the Aging, Community and Population Health Program. This talk discussed the role of Patient Partners in their community-based intervention to promote health aging at home for individuals with diabetes and multiple co-morbidities.
3. “Indigenous Partners Empowering Wholistic Approaches to Wellness” presented by members of the Indigenous Patient Circle, Dr. Alex McComber, Sasha Delorme, Kenya Beardy, Barb Nepinak, and Philina Sky. This talk featured the narratives of the members of the Indigenous Patient Circles and the personal and community struggles experienced when living with diabetes.

This event was very well attended and provided an opportunity for Diabetes Action Canada to promote patient-oriented research and its application in research to improve models of care at both the community and personal level.