On November 14-15, 2019, the leaders of Canada’s three women’s health research institutes (Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver; Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Edmonton; and Women’s College Research Institute, Toronto) came together for the first time to discuss the present and future of research that strives to close the health gaps for women. Research leads (Dr. Lori Brotto, Dr. Sandy Davidge, and Dr. Paula Rochon) led a panel discussion facilitated by CTV News Anchor, Marcia MacMillan, focused on the current challenges we face in women’s health, and discussing how a collaboration among our three research institutes may address these challenges. The three Foundation CEOs (BC Women’s Health Foundation, Genesa Greening; Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, Sharlene Rutherford; and Women’s College Hospital Foundation, Jennifer Bernard) also participated in the panel and discussed opportunities for partnership amongst the Foundations in a manner that would raise the profile of women’s health and research across Canada. The attendees included past donors, the Ontario Strategy for Patient Oriented Research, various women corporate leaders, the federal Ministry of Health, and staff from our Communications teams.
A full day facilitated strategy session on November 15 then built on the excitement from the evening before and was focused on the opportunities for collaboration, the potential structure of our partnership, and what processes would need to be in place to facilitate our success. The day ended with a commitment and an excitement for moving our foundational discussions about partnership to the next stage. This will involve identifying some specific short term goals and needed infrastructure to move our collaboration forward.
Thank you to Senior Research Manager, Dr. Kathryn Dewar, and Scientific Advisor to the WHRI, Dr. Liisa Galea, for participating as well. Stay tuned for updates about this exciting partnership in the months ahead!