Trainee Hub Event: Andrea Chow & Maureen Smith

DATE: April 22, 2025
TIME: 1:00 – 3:00pm (ET) 
METHOD: Virtual 
REGISTRATION: https://forms.office.com/r/YCrTZtyamc

Click to register

SPEAKERS: 

Andrea Chow is a Clinical Research Associate at School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa. Andrea coordinates a study on family-centred care for children with rare diseases.

Maureen Smith’s healthcare journey following a rare disease diagnosis in childhood is what drives her to be a patient partner and advocate. She co-leads patient engagement (families and youth) for the INFORM RARE Research Network, leads patient engagement for the IMPaCT Clinical Trials training platform, and is involved in a few other projects both in Canada and internationally. She is Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School for Public Health, a recognition of the skills she has acquired in patient engagement.

TITLE: Partnering with Youth and Parents on Your Pediatric Research Grants: From Conceptualization to Submission

DESCRIPTION: Alongside increasing recognition of the value of patient engagement in research has come much guidance on how best to engage with patients and families as partners in research. Current recommendations often center on partnerships in research that has already been funded. Researchers, however, often find less advice available about engagement before a grant is secured, from project conceptualization ("I have an idea!") through to submission of a grant application, including the practicalities of fulfilling grant requirements.

In this interactive webinar, led by an experienced patient partner and research coordinator, participants will have an opportunity to consider the challenges of engagement at these early stages and discuss good practices for meaningful engagement, especially with partners from populations under-served in health research. You will be better equipped to engage in a collaborative process with youth and families before you hit that 'submit' button.

OBJECTIVES: 

By the end of this event, participants will: 

• Identify the ways in which youth and families can contribute to developing your project ideas (e.g., identification of outcomes important to patients and families, advice on trial design)
• Define the ways that youth and families can be reflected as members of the research team on a grant application
• Identify the challenges and barriers to youth and families in fulfilling grant application requirements and potential approaches to supporting patient partners
• Describe the considerations specific to developing grant applications for researchers working with youth and family partners from groups who are frequently under-served by, and challenged to participate equitably in, health research