Experts assemble in Calgary to share the latest research advances in stroke, and get a glimpse of the future at the 2024 Canadian Stroke Congress

More than 500 leaders in stroke prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation gathered in Calgary November 28-29 to explore innovative new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat a disease that affects at least 109,000 Canadians a year, and their families. As part of a strategy to facilitate Patient Engagement, People with Lived Experience of stroke were also invited to the Congress as both speakers and attendees. Their involvement rooted sessions in the perspectives of those who are set to benefit from the research. 

“The Canadian Stroke Congress brings together speakers across the clinical spectrum of stroke — from stroke prevention to acute treatment to rehabilitation and from preclinical and clinical research,” says co-chair Dr. Sean Dukelow, Medical Director of Stroke Rehabilitation for the Calgary Stroke Program, a partnership between the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services.

“This Congress highlighted the amazing work that many Canadians and international colleagues are doing to bring innovative technologies to the forefront of stroke research to advance stroke care in Canada and globally,” says co-chair Dr. Jodi Edwards, Director of the Brain and Heart Nexus Research Program at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.  

Established in 2010, the Canadian Stroke Congress is Canada’s go-to meeting in the area of stroke research and innovation. This is the third time the meeting has been in Calgary, an internationally recognized stroke research hub, and was held at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre in the heart of the city. This year marks the return of the Congress as it was last hosted in 2019 by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Stroke Consortium, and the Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery. This year’s event was co-hosted by CanStroke Recovery Trials Platform, funded by Brain Canada, and the StrokeCog Clinical Trials Training Platform, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Highlights included the inaugural Dale Corbett Translational Lectureship, delivered by Dr. Dale Corbett in recognition of his 35 years of transformative contributions to the stroke recovery community, pioneering novel forms of stroke rehabilitation, including identifying the optimal dose of exercise and other therapeutics to promote neuroplasticity. The Congress also continued the legacy of the prestigious Ramon J. Hnatyshyn and Louise and Frank Nieboer Stroke Lecture Awards. Dr. Moira K. Kapral presented the prestigious Hnatyshyn Lecture, recognizing her remarkable career as a leading stroke health services researcher and her influential contributions to advancing stroke systems of care across Canada. Sandie and Larry Varcoe delivered the Nieboer Lecture, sharing their deeply personal experiences with stroke and their tireless dedication to supporting others on similar journeys. 

Advancing Canada’s capacity for stroke clinical trials internationally is the Accelerating Clinical Trials Consortium, working to create a single national distributive research ethics board and promote the collaboration of Canadian biotech and academic researchers. Global stroke trials were also on full display at the Congress including the ACT GLOBAL (A multi-faCtorial, mulTi-arm, multi-staGe, randomised, gLOBal Adaptive pLatform trial for stroke) platform trial jointly led by the Calgary Stroke Program and The George Institute for Global Health (Australia).

“The Congress provided excellent networking opportunities for researchers, healthcare professionals, People with Lived Experience and trainees to discuss novel ideas, develop new collaborations, and obtain valuable feedback”, says Farrell Leibovitch, Platform Director for CanStroke and StrokeCog Platforms.

“It was the most fantastic experience of my research journey to learn and share. I felt that I am more engaged in our research community,” says a graduate trainee. With designated time for networking opportunities, including poster sessions, oral presentations, Brag & Steal pitches and hands-on virtual reality demos, attendees undoubtedly left the meeting energized about the future of stroke care and research. The event’s success was reflected in its high attendance, with over 500 participants after being announced only seven months prior, and the enthusiastic response to the meeting’s return underscored the strong desire for a Canadian Stroke Congress. 

The post Smart tech, Artificial Intelligence, Brain Stimulation among exciting new approaches to improve stroke care and recovery appeared first on CanStroke Recovery Trials.

Application portal opens April 2nd and deadline to apply is May 31st, with a start date in September 2024.

Please visit the CANTRAIN website for more information and to apply to the StrokeCog PDF award.

CANTRAIN Website

StrokeCog PostDoctoral Fellowship Award Application Guidelines 

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Of the awards, 3 of them were provided with matched funding – matched funding for the 1 UBC award of $21,500 from Michael Smith Health Research BC, and matched funding for each of the two awards from Alberta Innovates for the awards from the University of Calgary. The fellowship competition was done in collaboration with CANTRAIN, a national clinical trials consortium.

The purpose of this award is to support PDFs working in the area of clinical trials in stroke and/or vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Additionally, it includes equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) training for awardees and promotes patient engagement. Applications for the upcoming competition will be through the CANTRAIN portal coming soon. 

Congratulations to Drs. Bogna Anna Drozdowska, Matthew Chilvers, Narlon Cassio Boa Sorte Silva, Reeman Marzouqah, and Urvashy (Sandhya) Gopaul!

Learn more about the winners:

Dr. Bogna Anna Drozdowska

Dr. Matthew Chilvers

Dr. Narlon Cassio Boa Sorte Silva

Dr. Reeman Marzouqah

Dr. Urvashy (Sandhya) Gopaul

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StrokeCog was proud to have around 60 members in attendance including an equal combination of principal investigators, clinical research coordinators and trainees. In addition to participation in the larger joint sessions with CANTRAIN and the other CTTPs, StrokeCog attendees were treated to a series of 10 StrokeCog-themed talks or workshops including a panel discussion about how to meaningfully engage persons with lived/living experience (PWLE) in clinical strokes trials. The StrokeCog themes included a strong focus on the importance of diversity in clinicals trials including a talk on engaging Indigenous communities. Other themed topics included FAIR data management, patient oriented outcomes, and non-conventional clinical trial design in stroke. Dr. Edwards also gave an overview of progress with StrokeCog to-date as well as future plans. All talks were recorded and available to view via the CANTRAIN website for a limited time.

As part of the conference, there was a Poster Competition – and posters were judged by scientific experts and awarded prizes for the top three poster presentations for each trainee category (1st: $500, 2nd: $250, 3rd: $100) – Masters, PhD, PDFs. We would like to highlight that our StrokeCog awardee, Dr. Narlon Cassion Boa Sorte Silva, won first prize in the PDF competition.  

Read more about the Poster Competition HERE.

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“What began as a regular day of running errands for Don Snider ended with him in the hospital with a loss of feeling in the right side of his body from the neck down. He compares his experience to what he imagines being swallowed up by quicksand feels like — gradual, but relentless — like an invisible force pulling you down, making you vulnerable and unable to move. Every year, there are 15 million strokes experienced around the world and both stroke and rehabilitation look different for each person. Dr. Sean Dukelow, MD, PhD, a professor in UCalgary’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience, is leading the CanStroke Recovery Trials, where the research being done across Canada is improving rehabilitation for people like Snider.”

Watch the video to learn more: https://youtu.be/xCWby-kjQZI

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Watch the Story here: https://storyhouse.substack.com/p/step-number-and-aerobic-minute-exercise

Read the original paper here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15459683211062894

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Check out the results that show this approach is feasible and appears to have positive influences on mobility, lower extremity impairment, strength, and goal attainment.

Community-based telerehabilitation programs, such as TRAIL, could extend the continuum of care during the transition back to community post-discharge, or during global disruptions, such as COVID-19. 

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38051660/

Authors: Sarah Park, Ada Tang, Ruth Barclay, Mark Bayley, Janice J Eng, Marilyn Mackay-Lyons, Courtney Pollock, Sepideh Pooyania, Robert Teasell, Jennifer Yao, Brodie M Sakakibara.

Pictured at left: project leaders Brodie Sakakibara and Ada Tang.

The post Just published! TRAIL, a lower extremity stroke rehabilitation program using video-conferencing technology, shows promising results appeared first on CanStroke Recovery Trials.

The Global TV story includes interviews with Dr. Eng and a study participant, who described improvement in his arm after taking part in ABC. The study is expected to be published in early 2024. Dr. Eng says a huge benefit of working on the CanStroke platform is that it enabled participation of Canadians in large cities, as well as rural and remote communities.

Watch the story here: https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/ad25a10e-938b-11ee-b3ea-0242ac110005/?jwsource=cl

The post Global TV features CanStroke’s Arm Boot Camp trial appeared first on CanStroke Recovery Trials.

Read the full story here: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/can-non-invasive-brain-stimulation-improve-stroke-recovery-ottawa-researchers-think-so

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Canadian trials network is a launch pad to test new research and improved therapies for stroke recovery

The post We’re making headlines! Check out this feature story on CanStroke in The Montrealer appeared first on CanStroke Recovery Trials.