Decolonizing health data with Lucille Duncan How can we decolonize health research and support the health of Indigenous communities? In our latest Public Advisory Council profile, Lucille Duncan, a Binche Keyoh First Nation member and Dakelh Elder, discusses what is needed to work towards reconciliation and advance Indigenous data sovereignty. | | PAC launches health data literacy campaign To mark Health Literacy Month, HDRN Canada's Public Advisory Council has launched a campaign to help people develop health data literacy skills and empower them to make informed decisions about their health. Check out our plain-language health data glossary and follow the conversation on our LinkedIn page. | | DataNB: Fresh look, new name After 10 years as New Brunswick’s data steward, facilitating effective research and evidence-based decision making, DataNB has a fresh look and a new name. Formerly the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training, DataNB’s new moniker signifies a maturation and consolidation of roles within the health data landscape. | | HDRN Canada Office Hours are back! Are you a health researcher writing a grant to do multi-regional research? HDRN Canada's Fall Office Hours provide one-on-one advice and personalized support from our scientific advisors, who answer your questions about methods, analytic services and harmonized data to help you write a successful grant application. Sign up today! | | | | ICES Research Forum
OCTOBER 23 | TORONTO
ICES will host Planning for the Future: Advancing Health through Innovation, its annual research forum that brings together world-leading experts in health innovation, who will share the latest research trends in the health data sector. REGISTER | | | | YSPOR Health Summit 2025
NOVEMBER 4 | WHITEHORSE Registration is now open for the fourth annual Yukon Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research Health Summit, which will feature various speakers and wellness activities focused on the theme of Collaborating in a Good Way. REGISTER | | | | | Pan-Canadian OMOP Event
NOVEMBER 17-18 | TORONTO Are you or your organization transforming your data into OMOP or conducting research with OMOP data? This pan-Canadian event brings together teams using the OMOP common data model to advance research collaboration across Canada and beyond. REGISTER | | | | Social Determinants of Health Data
NOVEMBER 27 | VIRTUAL Don't miss our next Big IDEAs About Health Data webinar with Dr. Andrew Pinto, director of Upstream Lab, discussing his work on the social determinants of health, population health management and using data science to enable proactive care and promote health equity. REGISTER | | | Access to free contraception increases equity A new study in The BMJ, co-authored by Dr. Kim McGrail, examines the impact of British Columbia’s universal, no-cost prescription contraception program. It found that eliminating cost barriers increased contraception use and that access to effective contraception improves reproductive population health and gender equity. | | News from Across the Network | COVID-19 surveillance: Who gets counted, who doesn't A new study that compared six COVID-19 surveillance studies across Canada, including one using CanPath data, found underrepresentation of racialized groups, highlighting the need for better collection of sociodemographic data, particularly race and ethnicity, to help uncover and structural health inequities. | | CHIMA launches new health data literacy course The Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) has launched Your Health, Your Data: Understanding Health Data in Canada, a free virtual course to help people improve their data literacy, understand their health information and better advocate for their health needs. | | Predicting health care use as people age A new CLSA-HDRN Canada approved project links data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to routinely collected health system data from CIHI, an HDRN Canada member, to identify and predict trajectories of decline in cognitive and physical function as people age and better understand health care utilization. | | Access to dementia care & homelessness
A population-based study using linked health care administrative data from ICES found that people in Ontario who experience homelessness have higher use of hospital-based services and elevated mortality, reinforcing the need for integrated care models linking health care, housing and social services. | | MS could start up to 15 years earlier than thought
PopDataBC linked the health records of more than 12,000 British Columbians for a new study that found multiple sclerosis (MS) may start up to 15 years earlier than previously thought, indicating potential to recognize and manage MS earlier, improving outcomes for people living with the disease.
| | Avoidable hospitalizations among racialized groups Statistics Canada has released a new table on annual age-standardized avoidable hospitalization rates among racialized populations in Canada from 2016 to 2024. The data showed that all racialized groups, except for the Black population, had lower avoidable hospitalization rates compared with non-racialized people. | | | | Arthritis linked to malnutrition Does having arthritis increase the risk of malnutrition amongst older Canadians? Watch this recent Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) webinar to learn about new screening tools developed using CLSA data to identify risk factors. WATCH | | | | Centring racial equity in the data life cycle How can prioritizing racial equity in the data life cycle transform communities and improve decision-making? Watch the latest Big IDEAs About Health Data webinar with Dr. Amy Hawn Nelson and Isabel Algrant to learn about effective data strategies to make this possible. WATCH | | | | | | |
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