CANTRAIN LAUNCHES 2025 CLINICAL TRIALS TRAINING SUMMIT | VANCOUVER, BC, FEBRUARY 24-26, 2025
The Clinical Trials Training Ecosystem Unites to Focus on the Future
Four clinical trials training programs – CANTRAIN (CANadian Consortium of Clinical Trial TRAINing), CAN-TAP-TALENT (Canadian Training Platform for Trials Leveraging Existing Networks), StrokeCog (CanStroke Recovery Trials) and CBITN (Canadian Behavioural Interventions and Trials Network) – come together in February in Vancouver, BC for the 2025 Clinical Trials Training Summit. Their mission: to make the clinical trials field more collaborative, effective, and inclusive – so we are all better prepared in future.
“I think of this Summit as being about the future of clinical trials,” explains CANTRAIN Chief Operating Officer Dr. Lisa Goos, who believes that collaboration is of vital importance for raising standards in Canadian clinical trials training. “How do you properly engage with patients in clinical trials? How do you properly engage with Indigenous peoples and marginalized rural populations? How do we bring the potential of trials to more people? We need to collaborate to do that.”
“I hope this summit will stimulate the interests of those who are new to clinical trials and energize our seasoned investigators to make improvements for cost-efficient conduct of clinical trials in Canada,” says CAN-TAP-TALENT Scientific Director and Nominated Principal Investigator, Dr. Angela Cheung.
“Strengthening clinical trials training is key to advancing research, accelerating treatment innovations, and equipping professionals to improve patient care and outcomes,” states StrokeCog Platform Director Farrell Leibovitch. “I’m eager to engage in discussions on next steps and potential collaborations to ensure the long-term sustainability of our work.”
“Given the fact that behaviours are so critical to health as well as how we do our research, being able to partner with our sister CTTPs will allow greater discussions and collaborations to improve all aspects of the Canadian clinical trials landscape,” explains CBITN Lead, Dr. Simon Bacon. “In the long-term this will clearly benefit all Canadians.”
This second national Clinical Trials Training Summit (following the first 2024 Summit in Montreal), will focus on the next generation of clinical trials, patient engagement, and new forms of partnership. Front and centre will be the theme of inclusivity, and how clinical trials can better serve our population, including Indigenous and marginalized communities. The Summit’s high-profile speakers include a representative from the World Health Organization, presenting the WHO Guidance for Best Practices for Clinical Trials, which is of great help in addressing Canada’s own marginalized populations, including Indigenous communities. “Canada may be a high economy country, but it’s important when we’re doing a trial, that we are more representative of the entire population,” states CANTRAIN Principal Investigator Dr. Jean Bourbeau.
Better Prepared. Better Care. Together.
Key to making clinical trials more equitable is re-thinking the role of patients as active partners. “Patients used to be called subjects in clinical trials. We don’t use that word anymore,” explains Linda Hunter, CANTRAIN National Stream Lead, Community Partners & Patients Stream. “Patients can be partners, they can be advocates, or they can be leaders in clinical trials.” The Summit session “Patient Partners as Co-Leaders in Clinical Trials,” organized by Ms. Hunter and Dr. Caroline Jose, will include a participatory exercise envisioning a brighter, better future of clinical trials.
Ultimately, the future of clinical trials lies with the next generation of trialists, researchers and industry stakeholders. The Summit will showcase and celebrate the work of CANTRAIN’s master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral Awardees. These include Lauren Lindsey (University of Alberta), whose doctoral research is focused on trials for optimizing treatment to eliminate Helicobacter pylori infection in northern Canadian Indigenous communities. “This award is a significant step forward in my journey toward advancing health equity and inspiring other underrepresented researchers to break barriers in clinical research,” remarks Ms. Lindsey.
“All of this, it’s building for the future: the young people who will make a difference when we’re not here anymore,” concludes Dr. Bourbeau. “This Summit is about being prepared. It’s about partnership, because we cannot do it all, and it’s about building on the foundation of what we have done so far. We’re looking into the future in order to continue our work beyond the three-year grant that we have right now.”
The 2025 Clinical Trials Training Summit takes place on February 24-26 at the Fairmont Hotel, Vancouver, BC, and online. Please check out our Summit Website for updates and more details.