Author: pathwp

Dr. Parveen Bhatti on IARC’s Monographs Programme

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The IARC – International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization’s Monograph program has been reviewing scientific evidence to classify substances and exposures based on their level of cancer risk. It has been instrumental in identifying carcinogenic hazards, providing the scientific foundation for evidence-based policies and regulations that protect populations worldwide. Our colleague, Dr. Parveen Bhatti, Scientific Director of BC Generations speaks about the ways the Monograph program has impacted public health decision-making in Canada. Access his video.

IARC Webinar

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We were pleased to attend a recent presentation by Dr. Elisabete Weiderpass, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), as she discusses IARC’s evolving research and prevention strategies for the global cancer burden. The event was co-hosted by Dr. Fei-Fei Liu, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Cancer Research, and Dr. Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, Dean, Dalla Lana School of Public Health Dr. Weiderpass is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention, with a particular interest in cancer registration, the understanding of cancers and the implementation of effective prevention strategies. She has published more than 1,000 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals. Prior to joining IARC, Dr. Weiderpass served as Head, Department of Research at the Cancer Registry of Norway, and of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Finland. She was Professor of Medical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and Professor of Cancer Epidemiology at the Arctic University of Norway.

Arthritis Awareness Month

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Please join Atlantic PATH in acknowledging Arthritis Awareness Month this September. Arthritis affects joints and other tissues which results in pain and limited mobility. One in five people in Canada live with arthritis and Atlantic Canada has some of the highest rates in the country. We would like to highlight arthritis research using data from Atlantic PATH participants. Dr. Cheryl Kozey and colleagues completed a study on the Current Management and Health Care Quality for Patients with Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis. The team used existing data from Atlantic PATH to examine self-reported characteristics of people living with and without osteoarthritis in all three Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island).  The Atlantic PATH data for Nova Scotians was then linked to administrative data, accessed through Health Data Nova Scotia, in order to identify trends in health care use by Nova Scotians with and without osteoarthritis. The report, Current Management and Health Care Use for People with Osteoarthritis and infographic detail their findings, including that people with osteoarthritis in the Maritimes were older, more likely to be female, and had lower socioeconomic status compared to those without osteoarthritis. Participants with osteoarthritis from Atlantic PATH were invited to participate in an ancillary study. The article “Quality of Non-Surgical and Non-Pharmacological Knee Osteoarthritis Care in the Maritimes” highlights that more than half of individuals with mild-to-moderate knee osteoarthritis did not receive recommended core treatments in the Maritimes, highlighting a need to improve care for this patient group. Dr. Vanessa DeClercq‘s work focused on the relationship between adipokines and adiposity among females with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Using data and biological samples from Atlantic PATH, they found that those with higher levels of adiponectin were more likely to have osteoarthritis, but not rheumatoid arthritis. This study demonstrates differences in measures of adiposity and adipokines in specific types of arthritis.

Webinar: Who gets counted? Examining representativeness in Canadian COVID-19 serosurveillance studies

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Date: September 10, 2025Time: 2-3pmASTLocation:us02web.zoom.us Register for the webinar About the webinar During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers used a range of creative recruitment strategies to carry out serological surveillance, but how representative were these study populations, and what can we learn from them? In this webinar, Dr. W. Alton Russell, Matthew Knight, and Dr. Yuan Yu will present findings from their recent BMC Public Health study comparing the sociodemographic characteristics of six SARS-CoV-2 serosurveillance studies in Canada, including one using CanPath data. They’ll explore how study design influenced representation across age, sex, urban/rural location, material deprivation, and racialized groups, and why understanding these patterns is essential for equity-informed public health research beyond COVID-19. This webinar is ideal for public health researchers, epidemiologists, data scientists, and others interested in study design, health equity, and population-based surveillance. About the presenters W. Alton Russell, PhD, directs the data-driven decision modelling lab, which aims to enable the efficient, effective, and equitable use of finite healthcare resources using data science and decison modelling methods, in the McGill School of Population and Global Health. As Scientific Advisor to the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force until 2024, Dr. Russell led projects to understand and correct for bias in studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity related to representativeness, sample collection method, and assay performance. Matthew Knight, MSc, is the Data Manager of the Canadian Co-infection Cohort study at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, where he works alongside team members to maintain study databases, implement and document data harmonization initiatives, and support investigators with study analyses. He recently completed his Master’s degree in Epidemiology in the data-driven decision modelling lab, where he analyzed the sociodemographic representativeness of six Canadian serosurveillance studies under the supervision of Dr. Russell. Yuan Yu, PhD, is a statistician previously joined Alton’s decision modeling lab at McGill for serosurveillance study collaborating with Canadian Blood Services. With a background in Bayesian statistics and survey sampling, she has a broad interest in Bayesian application fields utilizing healthcare data resources.

Call for Abstracts (Students): Research NB Health Research Symposium

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ResearchNB invites health researchers, clinicians, and academics to submit abstracts for Poster Presentations at the upcoming 2025 Health Research Symposium, taking place November 20–21, 2025 at the Fredericton Convention Centre, in Fredericton, NB. Present on a Provincial StageThis is your opportunity to showcase your research to a province-wide audience of peers, partners, and policy makers. Participating in the Poster Competition is optional. You may chose to only present your poster during conference. As for the competition, only the top six (6) abstracts in each category listed below, as determined by the Committee of Reviewers, will be accepted for the Poster Presentation Competition. Each poster abstract should be under 300 words total, and must meet all other Abstract Requirements. The Poster Competition is ONLY available for current students. 🎤 Please Note:Abstracts that are not selected to enter the Poster Presentation Competition will automatically be given a slot to present their poster. This call is for Poster Presentations only. The submission period for the Oral Competition is now CLOSED. 📅 Submission Deadline:September 19 at 1:00 PM (Atlantic Time)Late submissions will not be accepted. 👉 Learn more and submit your abstract here!

Dr. Raza Abidi appointed Digital Health Canada Representative to IMIA

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Join us in congratulating our colleague, Dr. Raza Abidi on being appointed Digital Health Canada Representative to the International Medical Informatics Association! Please see details below for the announcement. Dr. Abidi works alongside Dr. Jong Sung Kim and Dr. Ellen Sweeney on a longstanding research stream on environmental exposures and cancer using data and biological samples (toenails!) from Atlantic PATH. ***** Digital Health Canada’s Board of Directors is pleased to appoint Dr. Raza Abidi to the position of Digital Health Canada Representative to IMIA (the International Medical Informatics Association). Digital Health Canada has been the Canadian Representative since IMIA’s inception in 1980 and is a Charter member. Dr. Abidi is a tenured Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, and holds a cross-appointment as Professor in the Dalhousie Department of Medicine. He is the founding director and lead scientist at the NICHE (kNowledge Intensive Computing in Healthcare Enterprises) research group that conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of digital health, artificial intelligence (AI) for healthcare, and digital transformation. Dr. Abidi served on the Digital Health Canada Board of Directors for six years and has a sound understanding of the mission and activities of the association. He is keenly aware of the need to bring the Canadian digital health community and its achievements to the world stage by enabling active participation in IMIA conferences, events, and working groups. Dr. Abidi is an internationally recognized healthcare researcher and leader with multiple international and national awards and recognitions. His primary research focus is Artificial Intelligence (AI) for healthcare and digital health, and he has extensive experience of (a) health data analytics using state-of-the-art AI methods to derive data-driven health intelligence, (b) health knowledge management by applying semantics-driven AI methods to derive knowledge-driven health intelligence by computerizing and operationalizing clinical practice guidelines/workflows, and (c) implementing research outputs as digital health solutions. His collaborative research activities have successfully led to (a) development of innovative point-of-care digital health solutions, (b) digital transformation of clinical workflows as decision support systems, (c) strategic planning and conception of new research themes and projects, (d) acquisition of multiple competitive research grants from various agencies and industry sponsors, (e) health data analysis and visualization, (f) health system evaluation and optimization studies, (g) publication of research articles at top-tier venues and invited talks, and (h) mentoring of junior researchers and talent development. I am confident that I can showcase the full potential of Canada in digital health research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and engage the broader Digital Health Canada community in IMIA activities so that Canada is regarded as a hub of digital health innovation and transformation. – Dr. Raza Abidi, Digital Health Canada Representative to the International Medical Informatics Association About IMIA IMIA provides leadership and expertise to the interdisciplinary health informatics community around the world. IMIA aims to enable the transformation of healthcare using information technology and plays a key role in promoting and furthering the application of digital technologies in healthcare. IMIA brings together leading scientists, researchers, vendors, developers, and consultants in a global context. Every two years, IMIA holds the preeminent international health informatics conference—World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics: MedInfo—where researchers and practitioners from around the world present their latest work in digital health. About this role As the new Digital Health Canada IMIA representative, Dr. Abidi will act as a liaison between Digital Health Canada and IMIA and will represent Canada on the world stage, connecting Digital Health Canada with representatives from corresponding national organizations and focusing on advances in digital health from other countries. Dr. Abidi will exercise voting rights on behalf of Digital Health Canada at the annual IMIA General Assembly, and will serve a two-year term on the IMIA Board as the Vice President North America.

About Atlantic PATH

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Welcome To Atlantic PATH The Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health Study, or Atlantic PATH as we usually call ourselves, is part of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath), the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Canada. What we Do Our national study is investigating how genetics, the environment, lifestyle, and behavior contribute to the development of chronic diseases. CanPath is following the health of 330,000 people for 30 years in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and in Atlantic Canada. Here on the East Coast, Atlantic PATH has recruited over 34,000 participants from all four Atlantic Provinces.  The information provided by participants will will help to find new ways of preventing chronic diseases and to diagnose these diseases earlier, when they can be easier to treat. Why our work matters This work is particularly important for Atlantic Canada, which has the highest rates of cancer in the country. Every year, more than 13,400 Atlantic Canadians are diagnosed with cancer and 47% die as a result. The disease truly does touch everyone living in this region, either personally or through family and friends. Our participants Participants 0 + Provinces 0 Toenails Collected 0 + Over 34,000 participants from all four Atlantic Provinces have completed surveys and provided biological samples. The samples and information that participants  have given will help researchers find out why some people develop certain chronic diseases and others don’t Get Involved Whether you’re a researcher, participant, or community partner, there are many ways to engage with Atlantic PATH. Join us in advancing health research across Atlantic Canada.

CanPath Access Office Hours

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Join us for the CanPath Access Office Hours to learn more about how you can leverage CanPath data for your research. Members of the Access Office will be available to answer your questions, including Atlantic PATH Executive Director, Jason Hicks and our CanPath colleagues, Nouar Elkhair and Sheraz Cheema. The “Access Office Hours” virtual series provides researchers with an opportunity every quarter to ask questions they may have about CanPath data and biosamples, the access process or the CanPath Portal.

Hypertension Awareness Month

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It’s Hypertension Awareness Month, and population health research is helping to advance how we predict, manage, and understand high blood pressure ? Recent studies using CARTaGENE and Alberta’s Tomorrow Project data have uncovered insights on: ? Suboptimal antihypertensive prescribing patterns in Quebec ? Why we should discard the first BP reading in clinical practice ❤️‍? How a hidden hormonal condition may drive heart damage ? The (surprising) effectiveness of traditional vs. ML models ? The impact of statins on diet quality in adults with metabolic syndrome CanPath and its regional cohorts offer the depth and scale to explore hypertension from every angle, from meds to models to metabolic risk. ? Explore the data: https://portal.canpath.ca/