Putting Patients First: BC SUPPORT Unit annual conference

Patient-oriented research is more than just a buzzword. It’s an approach to health research that emphasizes meaningful patient engagement in every part of the research process.

On November 9, a year after the BC SUPPORT Unit was formed, the Unit hosted their first conference, Putting Patients First: Partnerships for Better Health Research.

Formed to support, streamline and increase patient-oriented research throughout BC, Putting Patients First echoed the Unit's goals, bringing together patients, researchers, decision-makers and health care providers working in patient-oriented research across BC.

“Although some researchers have long partnered with patients, Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research is catalyzing a coordinated approach across the research enterprise,” says Dr. Bev Holmes, MSFHR’s interim president & CEO, and advisor to the KT/Implementation Science methods cluster. “The conference was a fantastic opportunity to bring together BC’s growing patient-oriented research community and learn from a wide variety of diverse experiences.”

As a major funding partner and contributor to the BC SUPPORT Unit, MSFHR was delighted to see researchers from across the province attend and present at the conference, including MSFHR-funded researchers such as 2004 Scholar Dr. Erin Michalak‏, who presented on fostering patient engagement using digital methods [video available here], and Iva Cheung, PhD student and 2017 Reach award team member who won the poster award.

Congratulations to all the presenters, participants and organisers for a fantastic day and helping to ensure BC health researchers have the tools they need to incorporate a patient-focus into all research activities.