MICYRN News      Summer 2022 | 14.3

MICYRN is excited to announce the launch of the POPCORN website! POPCORN (Pediatric Outcome imProvement through the COordination of Research Networks, NPA: Dr Caroline Quach-Thanh, CHU Sainte-Justine, coordinating centre: MICYRN) unites existing national networks in pediatric research under one coordinating umbrella to enhance responsiveness to emerging COVID-19-related issues, including unintended consequences of responsive measures. The program brings together leaders across 16 sites from eight areas of expertise: infectious diseases, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine, critical care, epidemiology and biostatistics, data governance, biobanking governance, and knowledge mobilization.
 
Be sure to follow the MICYRN’s Twitter account for updates on POPCORN!

Building on the success of the funding and establishment of the POPCORN program in June, CIHR announced that the POPCORN Supplementary grant proposal for the COVID-19 seroepidemiology in children Using Retrieved POPCORN site Leftover Samples (CURNLS) project was successfully funded in full: $3M over one year.  The CURNLS studies will support the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and other federal, provincial and territorial decision-makers by conducting repeated cross-sectional seroprevalence studies during the next year. These studies will test for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 on a large number of children visiting Emergency Departments across Canada. 
 
The overall goal of CURNLS is to obtain broad COVID-19 serosurvey data among Canadian children by leveraging POPCORN’s existing infrastructure, including the experienced POPCORN leadership, site teams and MICYRN’s role as the Coordinating Centre. The POPCORN and CURNLS leadership feature scientists with proven track records in clinical studies and childhood infections, including Drs. Caroline Quach-Thanh (POPCORN NPA, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Infection Prevention and Control) and Soren Gantt (POPCORN Biobanking Pillar Lead, Director of Research at CHU Sainte Justine). CURNLS will benefit from POPCORN’s established resources to rapidly implement serosurvey studies across most provinces in Canada. As the Coordinating Centre for POPCORN, MICYRN is expanding its resources and capabilities with the addition of two experienced project managers. 

Significant growth in 2021 led to a new level of output and achievements for MICYRN, which is increasingly recognized as the national network representing maternal, child and youth health research interests. Advances in developing a Canadian clinical trials infrastructure were pivotal in supporting a number of pediatric trials, while support for a number of national grant applications and partnerships in advocacy have helped shape issues relevant to the maternal and child health research file.

Read all about it in the new Impact Report.

Maternal and child health institute leadership across Canada highlighted a collective desire to develop a cross-institutional monitoring program. As a first step in the development of the program, MICYRN offered individuals within member sites a course that consisted of:

• Drug Development and Roles and Responsibilities

• Good Clinical Practice, Ethics, and Adverse Events

• Documentation and Audits

• Monitoring Practices 

Site-based monitors who have been trained through the MICYRN monitoring course or through other means will serve as the monitor for participating sites in an upcoming trial for which MICYRN is providing monitoring services.

Looking for a great job with a highly collaborative team? The CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH) is seeking a team Lead to play a key role in leading and supporting strategic initiatives. The Lead will plan, design and implement project plans, as well as develop policies and innovative approaches to address areas of need for IHDCYH’s research community. The Lead will have an advanced degree in a clinical/health-related field (or equivalent combination of relevant training and experience; for example, in research, clinical or grant management, evaluation, and/or performance measurement methodology). Experience developing advanced written materials and presentations summarizing health and/or research-related information is required. This grant-paid position is based at Dalhousie University. We will consider applicants based in Halifax or Toronto.

Apply by September 5, 2022. Learn more HERE.

The KidsCan YPAG (Young Persons’ Advisory Group) recently held consultations with investigators on the involvement of youth in research. The group was consulted in April on how to properly involve youth as co-researchers in health-related research. Members brainstormed potential interview questions to investigate the training youth receive. In May, they held an information and discussion meeting with EnRICH, exploring partnership opportunities to further educate and train young professionals in research. YPAG members will also have the opportunity to join some of EnRICH’s committees as youth representatives.
 
In June the group held their first team-building session, during which members played virtual board games to get to know each other. KidsCan remains a strong, engaged group with members continuing to provide beneficial feedback on all consultations. Institutions or youth interested in this opportunity can find more information HERE.

The second virtual Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting was a huge success this year, in no small part due to the hard work of the organizing committee and contracted management team at Gemstone Events. There were 278 registrants—an excellent turnout for an online meeting, and sponsors were highly supportive of the format. MICYRN now serves as the national hub of the meeting from year to year, supporting the organizing committee, centralizing general operations, finances and communications. In 2023, MICYRN will expand on its support for CNPRM—arguably the most prominent meeting in Canada for perinatal researchers.

It is with excitement that the co-chairs announce CNPRM returns to its in-person format in 2023 at Montebello, Quebec. Be sure to save the dates now—May 22-26th!

CHILD-BRIGHT’s successful application to the SPOR Networks – Knowledge Mobilization and Implementation Science competition will put the organization’s patient-oriented research into action by incorporating evidence-informed interventions supportive of the needs of children, youth, and families.

Grounded in “implementation science and knowledge mobilization that embed the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization and Indigenization,” Phase 2 is committed to an inclusively built knowledge infrastructure supportive of equitable and sustainable health intervention implementation and ongoing patient engagement in research. 

MICYRN is excited to collaborate with the Implementation Science Research Program team to aid in the understanding of how evidence generated during CHILD-BRIGHT Phase 1 can be systematically applied in routine practice to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services. MICYRN will contribute by evaluating the implementation of patient-oriented research to aid in establishing health research infrastructure needs across Canada.

To learn more about CHILD-BRIGHT’s mission and Phase 2, visit their website today.

CommuniKIDS, a freely accessible template, takes its inspiration from Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO)’s Plain Language Results Summary template, and was developed to support researchers convey clinical trial results back to participating youth and their families.
 
The editable CommuniKIDS template comes with instructions as well as a “tip sheet”, which provides additional guidance on how to use the template. The CommunKIDS template and tip sheet, available in both English and French, can be found on the CommuniKIDS webpage here. The webpage also has an example template, additional links to resources and tools for creating plain language summaries, and a video on how CommuniKIDS was developed.
 
The project team, which consisted of a diverse group of researchers, healthcare professionals (e.g., clinician, nurse, dietician), and patient/public engagement members (e.g., patient partners, parent partners), worked in partnership with youth and parents through a series of virtual workshops to adapt the CTO template to meet the needs of sharing pediatric research results to children and their families.
 
The development of CommuniKIDS was funded by a knowledge translation grant from the CHILD-BRIGHT Network to Dr. Nancy Butcher in partnership and supported by Clinical Trials Ontario, the INFORM-RARE Network, and the EnRICH Research Group (The Hospital for Sick Children).