Using CanPath to Support Innovative Health Research Join our colleagues, Dr. Parveen Bhatti (Scientific Director, BC Generations) and Sheraz Cheema (Data Manager, CanPath) on Wednesday, October 11th to learn about CanPath, types of questions the data can be used to address, and how the data can be accessed. Registration: https://t.co/m8PU92M881
CanPath has released its Fall 2023 newsletter! You can see updates from CanPath and its regional cohorts: CanPath News September 2023 – Nouvelles CanPath septembre 2023 (mailchi.mp). Updates from Atlantic PATH include: Attending and presenting at the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB) Conference held in Halifax in June 2023. CanPath joining the COVID Global Mental Health Consortium that includes 23 international population health cohorts with more than 2.8 million participants! Researchers will work to address critical knowledge gaps related to the impact of policy, psychological and social factors on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.”This is an excellent opportunity for CanPath to be involved in such a large international mental health collective,” says Dr. Ellen Sweeney, Director of Research at Atlantic PATH. “We’re very fortunate to have engaged and enthusiastic participants from our regional cohorts, and more than 100,000 participants provided questionnaire data during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work of the COVID Global Mental Health Consortium will be impactful, and we’re thrilled to participate and contribute to this important research.” Atlantic PATH will lead and represent CanPath in this consortium, with analyses for CanPath being conducted in-house by Atlantic PATH’s Data Analyst, Yunsong Cui. Regional updates including three new publications Congratulations to Dr. Lonneke van Tuijl, Dr. Joost Dekker and team on their new publication with the first results from the Psychosocial Factors and Cancer Incidence (PSY-CA) consortium. This study includes 18 cohorts with more than 300,000 participants, including Atlantic PATH, the Ontario Health Study and CARTaGENE. Congratulations to Dr. Ivan Litvinov, Dr. François Lagacé and the team at McGill University on their new publication from the SunFit project. This study included Atlantic PATH participants and considered why Atlantic Canadians are at higher risk for developing melanoma. Congratulations to Kalli Hood and the team at Dalhousie University on their new publication. Kalli’s Master’s research found an association between a history of cancer and arsenic speciation/metallome exposure in the Atlantic PATH cohort. This work is part of its larger focus on environmental exposure and cancer risk and the use of toenails as an important biomarker.
CanPath and its regional cohorts, including Atlantic PATH, are proud to be part of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) Databank with our COVID-19 serology study that includes participants across the country. The CITF Databank data holdings include data from 21 studies, including six multi-province studies “representing a wide range of population and community data from various regions of Canada. Access is free and open to researchers everywhere.” Details: https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/citf-databank/
Join CanPath for an upcoming webinar from CanPath’s incoming Executive Director, Dr. Jennifer Brooks entitled, “Empowering Breast Health: Personalized Approaches to Canadian Breast Cancer Screening” on Thursday, October 19th from 12-1pmEST/1-2pmAST. Details and registration info: https://canpath.ca/2023/09/webinar-breast-cancer-screening-brooks/
Join the CanPath team as the new Research Operations Manager at the University of Toronto. Deadline: September 22, 2023. “CanPath is Canada’s largest population health cohort and a national platform for population-level health research. CanPath is studying the biology, behaviours and environments of Canadians to learn more about the causes of chronic disease and cancer for the good of our country and people around the world. As the CanPath Research Operations Manager, you will be integral to maximizing research funding, which includes conducting detailed analysis and applying and interpreting relevant policies. You will be responsible for directing the activities of a group of staff and therefore will be working together to drive CanPath’s objectives. Using your analytical, communication and problem-solving skills, you will support and collaborate with a diverse set of stakeholders and partners in applying and interpreting policies and procedures, policy issues, and drafting contracts and agreements.” Details: https://jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-CanPath-Research-Operations-Manager-ON/573838317/
Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) is “considered the preeminent genome science and technology conference where top global researchers, leaders and innovators meet to announce new discoveries, cutting edge breakthroughs and to collaborate.” CanPath Scientific Director, Dr. Philip Awadalla attended the AGBT Precision Health meeting in San Diego, California from September 7-9, 2023. Dr. Awadalla was a panelist speaking about The Great Debate, Genetics, Environment, and Health, alongside Dr. Gary Miller (Columbia University) and Dr. Alison Motsinger-Reif (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences).
We are pleased to share that the first results from the Psychosocial Factors and Cancer Incidence (PSY-CA) consortium have been published in Cancer. Led from the Netherlands by Dr. Lonneke van Tuijl and Dr. Joost Dekker, this study includes 18 cohorts with more than 300,000 participants including Atlantic PATH, the Ontario Health Study and CARTaGENE from CanPath. Our local team members include Mr. Yunsong Cui (Atlantic PATH) who completed all local analyses, Dr. Ellen Sweeney (Atlantic PATH) and Dr. Melanie Keats (Dalhousie University). Depression and anxiety have long been hypothesized to be related to an increased cancer risk, but, to date, findings are inconclusive. Individual participant data meta-analyses were performed within the PSY-CA consortium to assess the associations between depression, anxiety, and the incidence of various cancer types (overall, breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, alcohol-related, and smoking-related cancers). Findings from the study indicate that depression and anxiety are not related to increased risk for most cancer outcomes, except for lung and smoking-related cancers. This study shows that key covariates are likely to explain the relationship between depression, anxiety, and lung and smoking-related cancers. Link to publication: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.34853 Link to Neuroscience News article: https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-anxiety-cancer-23769/
We’re excited to share that the collaborative project, “International Evaluation of Modifiable Social Determinants of Health on COVID-related Mental Health Outcomes” has been approved for funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (Mental Health Research Grant, award number 1RF1MH134638-01). Led by Dr. Jordan Smoller (Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital), Dr. Sarah Bauermeister (University of Oxford), and Dr. André Russowsky Brunoni (University of Sao Paulo), the COVID Global Mental Health Consortium (CGMHC) will produce a global evaluation of pandemic-related mental health outcomes using individual-level harmonized longitudinal data. The CGHMC is comprised of 23 global cohorts representing 2.8 million participants.1 This work will address critical knowledge gaps related to the impact of policy, psychological and social factors on mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic. 2 We look forward to participating in the CGHMC and contributing to this important research. 1 CGMHC cohorts include CanPath, Health and Retirement Study, Brains for Dementia Research, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, National Study of Health and Development, Oxwell, Generation Scotland, UK Biobank, Igana Mayuge Health and Demographic Surveillance Site, Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, All of Us, Einstein Study, Mass Gen Brigham Biobank, Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service Members Longitudinal Study, COVID-19 Mental Health Survey, FinnGen, Taiwan Biobank, University of College London COVID Study, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, COVIDMENT, Qatar Biobank, Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study, and the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA). 2 CanPath was represented on this application by Dr. Ellen Sweeney, Dr. Philip Awadalla, Dr. Robin Urquhart, and Mr. Yunsong Cui. Atlantic PATH is pleased to lead this work on behalf of CanPath.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) have launched the Pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy that will guide efforts to enhance the collection, integration and use of cancer data. “CPAC and CCS have worked with various partners, including provincial and territorial cancer agencies and programs, healthcare organizations, First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners, researchers, policymakers and people with lived cancer experience to create a cancer-specific data strategy that includes: a framework to guide the mission, vision, values and success factors for improvements in cancer data three priorities for action and investment including: improving the efficiency, timeliness and quality of data capture and access enhancing linkages to current data filling gaps in current data collection and availability a section on the importance of First Nations, Inuit and Métis data sovereignty, with examples of First Nations, Inuit and Métis-led efforts to improve data and data governance.” CanPath, and its seven regional cohorts including Atlantic PATH, are proud to be represented in the new Pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy. We’re committed to filling gaps in data on risk factors to guide cancer prevention efforts. CPAC Press Release: https://www.partnershipagainstcancer.ca/about-us/corporate-resources-publications/pan-canadian-cancer-data-strategy/
The CanPath team was well represented at the Canadian Society for Epidemiology & Biostatistics (CSEB) Conference in Halifax on June 26-28, 2023. We had representatives from the CanPath National Coordinating Centre, Atlantic PATH, CARTaGENE, the Manitoba Tomorrow Project, and the Ontario Health Study that showcased the groundbreaking research and resources available related to epidemiology and biostatistics within CanPath and the regional cohorts. Throughout the conference, CanPath and the regional cohorts were well-represented in various sessions and discussions, particularly regarding data linkage. Some notable presentations included: ? Dr. Robin Urquhart, Scientific Director of Atlantic PATH, co-presented a workshop on data repositories in Canada ? Dr. Ellen Sweeney, Research Director of Atlantic PATH, presented at a concurrent session about research at Atlantic PATH exploring environmental exposure to arsenic and cancer risk using toxicological and machine-learning methods ? Dr. Vikki Ho, co-Scientific Director of CARTaGENE, co-presented a workshop on mentorship for junior faculty and funding opportunities ? Nicholas Cheng, PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, presented at a concurrent session about his research on leveraging population health cohorts to identify cancer biomarkers in blood up to seven years before diagnosis ? Poster sessions featured CanPath, the Manitoba Tomorrow Project, the Ontario Health Study, CARTaGENE, and more, showcasing the exceptional research happening at the regional level and how they can support epidemiological and biostatistical projects. Please connect with us to learn more about these projects. We are proud to contribute to advancing this critical field and look forward to continuing our efforts to drive positive health outcomes for all. #CSEBConference2023 #Epidemiology #Biostatistics #EveryoneCounts #HealthResearch #Cohort #PopulationHealth