Join HDRN Canada’s Board of Directors HDRN Canada's Board of Directors is recruiting new members! We’re seeking individuals with expertise in administrative health data, as well as those with Indigenous lived experience and Indigenous health research partnerships. We’re also looking for Francophone representation. Learn more and share. | | New CIHR funding awarded to HDRN Canada members HDRN Canada Executive members Drs. Nathan Nickel and Amanda Fowler-Woods along with Dr. Amy Freier, IDEA Team Lead, have received a CIHR Operating Grant to create data access and use guidelines to ensure that gender, sex and sexual orientation data support safer, more inclusive care, minimize harm and improve health equity. | | OHDSI Canada Symposium Collaborator Showcase How are teams across Canada and internationally implementing the OMOP Common Data Model to advance observational health research? Check out the Collaborator Showcase at OHDSI Canada Symposium 2026 to discover how collaboration is expanding possibilities for health data research. There are only a few tickets left! | | Dr. Lisa Lix named Royal Society of Canada Fellow HDRN Canada Executive member Dr. Lisa Lix has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, recognized for her innovations to address bias, validity and completeness of administrative and electronic health records, transforming chronic disease surveillance, advanced risk prediction and drug-safety studies. | | | | CRDCN-StatCan Open Mic
NOVEMBER 17 | Virtual The Canadian Research Data Centre Network will co-host the November edition of its Open Mic Data Series with Statistics Canada, focusing on the Longitudinal Immigration Statistical Environment (LISE). This informal session highlights Canadian surveys, administrative datasets or data environments, with ample time for an open-mic discussion where researchers can ask questions, troubleshoot data access issues and share insights. REGISTER | | | | From IDEA to Action
NOVEMBER 18 | Virtual How can we shift inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility from aspirational values into practical action in Canada’s health data ecosystem? Join the next HDRN Canada Discussion Session with Dr. Amy Freier, Dr. Kate Kelly and Dr. Laura Bowler to explore three practical tools, developed from HDRN Canada’s IDEA Strategy, which were designed to help data centres, administrators, analysts and researchers put IDEA into practice. REGISTER | | | | | Building equity into AI & data tools
NOVEMBER 26 | Virtual Data and AI can accelerate health impact—but they can also accelerate harm at population scale. Join Heather Krause for our next Big IDEAs About Health Data webinar to learn why equity values need to be explicitly built into data and AI tools, and how the We All Count Data Equity Framework can help translate equity commitments into data and AI practices across the health data life cycle. REGISTER | | | | Information Governance Education Day
DECEMBER 11 | Virtual CHIMA hosts its annual Information Governance Education Day as part of its continuing professional education program. Sessions cover topics such as how health information professionals can support high-quality, secure and compliant health information management in an increasingly digital health care environment as well as the fundamentals for archiving data from core and legacy systems. REGISTER | | | News from Across the Network | Introducing the Alberta Trusted Research Environment AbSPORU is helping lead the next generation of health data research in Alberta with the province’s new Trusted Research Environment. Developed with provincial and university partners, the secure workspace enables researchers to analyze linked administrative and clinical health data while protecting patient privacy. | | What is CIHI’s analytical plan? Looking for a brief summary of CIHI’s analytical products? Explore CIHI’s analytical plan, which describes projects between April 1, 2026, and March 31, 2028, categorized by the priority theme areas defined in its multi-year business plan, including health information priorities, health system performance and regular cycle products. | | DataNB releases new Rubella dataset DataNB has released a new dataset offering insights into rubella testing across New Brunswick. The Rubella Dataset includes laboratory testing data from 2015 to 2025, such as test results, sample collection dates and information on the health zones requesting each test, to help researchers examine rubella testing patterns and results in the province. | | Female physicians linked to better patient outcomes Patients cared for by female physicians in hospital were less likely to die or be readmitted compared with those treated by male physicians, according to a new study from ICES. A possible explanation for this difference is that female physicians may engage in more patient-centred communication and spend more time with patients. | | Tracking elder abuse in Québec Nearly 123,000 people aged 65 and over experienced elder abuse in Québec in 2025, with approximately seven percent of people aged 65 and over living at home experiencing abuse. The most common type of abuse is psychological abuse. It affects around 5.3 percent of people aged 65 and over, up from 4.6 percent in 2019. | | MCHP turns 35! The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy celebrates is 35th anniversary this year, marking more than three decades of research excellence and scholarship in population science. Since 1991, MCHP has generated evidence through the Manitoba Research Data Repository, leading to real world impacts on health and social policy decision making. | | New insights into bone health from StatCan Explore the first findings from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans in Statistics Canada’s Canadian Health Measures Survey. The release, covering 2022-2024, offers new insights into bone mineral density, fat and lean mass across age groups and sexes. Discover what these direct measurements reveal about Canadians’ health. | | | | Supporting healthy aging through data What if data could help identify where older adults are already aging together—and guide better services and supports? In our last HDRN Canada Discussion Session, Tai Huynh and Dr. Shoshana Hahn-Goldberg discussed their research on naturally occurring retirement communities, explaining how Ontario’s NORC Registry informs health system planning and how linking it with health administrative data can support older adults as they age in place. WATCH | | | | How connected care saves lives Did you know 99 percent of Canadian doctors surveyed say disconnected health systems affect their ability to provide care? In the latest episode of Canadian Health Information Podcast, host Avis Favaro speaks with three women who have experienced firsthand the consequences of Canada’s siloed health data and are now helping CIHI develop a common medical language to connect health information across the country. LISTEN | | | | | | |
