What's Up @ HDRN Canada?

Building trust in health data

High-quality care depends on access to reliable health data. But for this to occur, the public must trust in the way health data are collected, protected, shared and used. How is this trust earned and what is required to keep it? Check out this news story on hdrn.ca to learn what transparency, trustworthiness and data literacy have to do with it.

Equity in pragmatic trials: New open access module

How can we embed equity into pragmatic trials? Choosing Outcomes & Endpoints: The Equity Lens is a new open-access learning module developed by HDRN Canada's IDEA Team for the HDRN Canada Pragmatic Trials Training Program, highlighting the limitations of administrative data and how bias affects research priorities.

Celebrating a year of impact: HDRN Canada's PAC

Five years on, HDRN Canada’s Public Advisory Council (PAC) continues to amplify public voices in conversations and decisions about health data. Read the 2024–25 Annual Report to learn how our PAC has helped shape national conversations on AI in health, strengthen public trust and advance equity in health data.

Upcoming Events

Emerging Scholars Webinar
NOVEMBER 19 | Virtual

Every year, the Canadian Research Data Centre Network supports the next generation of highly qualified personnel through the CRDCN Emerging Scholars Award, recognizing outstanding doctoral students at Canadian universities using Research Data Centre data. This webinar will showcase the research of eight Emerging Scholars.

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Social determinants of health in data
NOVEMBER 27 | Virtual

In the next Big IDEAs About Health Data webinar, Upstream Lab's Dr. Andrew Pinto shares lessons learned from the past decade of engaged research on the social determinants of health data, including the development of social data questions and data collection from patients as well as the implementation of governance approaches and the opportunities for AI.

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Red maple leaf line graphic with connected dots. Text reads: Open Data and GovMaker Summit. November 24–26 2025.

Open Data & GovMaker Summit
NOVEMBER 24-26 | Fredericton + Virtual

Governance in the Digital Age: Unlocking Public Value Through Data is the theme for this year's summit, which features Dr. Ted McDonald and Dr. Donna Curtis Maillet, from HDRN Canada member DataNB, discussing New Brunswick's data governance strategy, including its “collect once, use many times” approach.

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No significant visuals. Text reads: Trial link. Webinar: Data Utility Comparison Study (DUCkS).

Using linked admin data for clinical trials DECEMBER 3 | Virtual

Curious about how linked administrative data can add value to clinical trials? Join Population Health Research Network’s upcoming webinar to discover the impact of DUCkS studies, with real-world insights from the ASPREE study (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) and the ASCEND PLUS trial in the UK.

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Accessing Data through DASH
DECEMBER 3 | Virtual

HDRN Canada’s Data Access Support Hub (DASH) offers coordinated services to researchers interested in accessing multi-regional datasets. This webinar explores how the DASH Team helps health researchers navigate the data access process as well as the centralized services and tools available.

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No significant visuals. Text reads: 13th Annual Summit on Data Analytics for Healthcare.

Data Analytics for Healthcare Summit
DECEMBER 9-10 | Toronto

Don’t miss the chance to connect, engage and learn with data analytics leaders from Canadian health organizations, including HDRN Canada members ICES and CIHI. This hybrid conference explores the future of leveraging health care data, including how to build data strategies for a fragmented health landscape.

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New Publications

Lower graduation rates for preterm babies in Manitoba

A new population-based study, co-authored by HDRN Canada Lead Dr. Lisa Lix and published in Early Human Development, found that adolescents born extremely preterm had lower odds of high school graduation, using data from the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.

News from Across the Network

Making a difference: AbSPORU 2024–25 annual report

How has the Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit improved care and outcomes for all Albertans? Read ABSPORU's annual report to find out how it is tackling some of the province’s most complex health challenges and expanding access to administrative data holdings.

No significant visuals. Text reads: Achieving a connected health data system. The current state in Canada.

CIHI leads in leads in pan-Canadian data stewardship

Achieving a Connected Health Data System is a new report assessing the interoperability of data systems and the accessibility of health data in Canada. It found that although interoperability is lower in Canada than other countries, CIHI is demonstrating leadership in building a national model for pan-Canadian data stewardship.

Traumatic brain injury linked to risk of dementia

A study using linked health administrative data from ICES found that about one in three women aged 85 and older may develop dementia after a traumatic brain injury, highlighting the need to prioritize support services for this patient population, especially those living in low-income and low-diversity areas.

Do parenting programs reduce child maltreatment?

A population-based study using administrative health care and social services data from the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository compared child maltreatment indicators before and after implementation of Manitoba's Triple P parenting program, finding that the program may have contributed to reductions in child maltreatment rates.

No significant visuals. Text reads: Inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. Toolkit for researchers and evaluators. Logos for NL SUPPORT and Quality of Care NL are at bottom.

NL SUPPORT releases IDEA Toolkit

Are you designing, conducting or using health and social research or evaluation? NL SUPPORT has released an IDEA Toolkit to help you consider concepts of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility throughout the research process. Download the toolkit to address knowledge gaps and strengthen inclusive research practices.

Effects of day programs on older adults and caregivers

What impacts do day programs have on people living with dementia and caregiver outcomes? Data access has been approved at Population Data BC to join a pan-Canadian research team that will design a population-based retrospective cohort study including Alberta, BC and Manitoba to evaluate program effectiveness.

Obesity research and new figures on Canadian Health

Statistics Canada has released new data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey showing that rates of overweight and abdominal obesity have continued to rise among adults since before the pandemic. Find out what’s driving these trends and what they mean for Canadians’ health.

Demystifying Indigenous health research

Learn how to integrate the voices of Indigenous communities into the research process with two new short videos from Unité de soutien SSA Québec, developed in partnership with the Quebec Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research Tahatikonhsontóntie’ to support more culturally respectful research.