Full Program

Vancouver
Kelowna

Vancouver
Kelowna

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual

This panel provides a space for candid conversations between funders and other interest holders aiming to improve health systems in BC. Whether designing community-based interventions, scaling innovations in care, or translating research into real-world change, funding partners play a critical role in enabling innovation. Panelists will share insights into how they approach funding decisions, what makes a proposal compelling, and how they’re working to support more inclusive, equity-driven innovation. This session will highlight emerging priorities and guide those developing or leading projects that aim to bridge research and action in meaningful ways.

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Plenary Session

Breaks

UBC Okanagan has exemplary, long-lasting academic-health research partnerships as well as exemplary commercial research-initiated innovations. UBC Okanagan health researchers and partners will share key innovative advancements they have made, opportunities for innovation, and where they are wanting to go. Looking for engaging discussions and conversations around advancing key partnerships and opportunities for health innovations in the Okanagan

Kelowna
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community

Vancouver
Virtual
Grounded in Community
Advancing Equity
Shaping Health Policy

Beyond training the future health workforce and conducting health-related research, universities play an advocacy role in society. Faculty members in health faculties, departments, and schools are often individuals working in the health sector who see pressing challenges and join the university as a means to conduct the research needed to address them. They then leverage this research and their educational activities to advocate for improved access to services provided by the health professionals they have the mandate to train; innovations in service delivery to improve health outcomes; and policy changes to enhance equity and social justice. For example, health faculty at UBC are: Advocating for expanded scopes of practice and provincial funding for additional seats, with the distribution of those seats to sites across the province. Developing and testing innovative models of care delivery and advocating for the integration of new disciplines into primary care. Providing evidence to inform policy changes that will mitigate health disparities for marginalized populations. During this fireside chat, Dr. Victoria Wood, whose research focuses on the role of universities in society beyond education and research, will talk with researchers who are actively working to advocate for these types of access, innovation, and policy change. They will discuss their research, the ways they are collaborating with health sector partners, and how they apply their research to advocate for changes to help transform the system.

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Shaping Health Policy

Immigrant and racialized populations are growing rapidly across Canada. Despite growing morbidity and mortality related to mental health and substance use in racialized and immigrant folks of South Asian ancestry in BC (a significant proportion being of Panjabi ancestry), there is a paucity of evidence and a lack of implementation of effective treatments/services for this population and other racialized folks. This panel aims to describe the landscape of formal and informal research that lies at the intersection of substance use and race/ethnicity. Come prepared to discuss mental health and substance use in racialized and immigrant folks of South Asian ancestry in British Columbia (with some particular focus on those of Panjabi ancestry, given the high numbers of those living in the Lower Mainland) This session is for healthcare providers, health administrators, health researchers, policymakers, patient and community partners who are interested in community-based research, grassroots interventions to support the community, substance use-related policy, and mental health and substance use-related health systems delivery. Together we will summarize findings from research and lived experience in order to better understand how to design and implement radical changes in the health system to support racialized people who use substances. This summary can act as a tool for research agenda setting, policy direction, and clinical service and health systems evolution.

Virtual
Grounded in Community
Advancing Equity
Mental Health and Substance Use

Primary care in Canada is in crisis, with nearly 1 in 5 British Columbians without a family doctor. There is a need for rapid evidence generation to inform key primary care policy decisions at the provincial level. At the Innovation Support Unit (ISU), we developed the Learning Cycle (LC) method to help health system planners and policymakers move key implementation domains forward. Come prepared for an interactive workshop where together we will: 1. Learn about Learning Cycles, a unique and rapid approach to moving research from ‘findings’ to ready-to-implement actions through collaborative engagement, and how our team uses them in our work. 2. Learn how to facilitate workshops with key partners as part of the Learning Cycle to move them from evidence to action. 3. Discuss how this method could be used in your work and practice planning out a Learning Cycle in small groups!

Vancouver
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community
Team-Based Care
Shaping Health Policy

The emergence of patient-oriented research in health care has been welcomed by patients, clinicians and policy makers. Its impact has been evidenced in many areas of research and care; however, there are notable shortcomings in: 1) the accessibility of evidence-based information on neurodevelopmental disorders for families, 2) the availability of patient knowledge repositories, and 3) the inclusion of patient voice. Bridging these gaps was the catalyst for developing the Library of Lived Experience: Neurodevelopmental Conditions in Children and Youth. Come prepared to learn about and discuss: 1. Introduction to Library of Lived Experience: libraries of lived experience as innovative tools for supporting health policy and research; 2. Bringing the Library to Life with Tapestry 3. Identification of Themes for Consultations: highlighting lived and living experiences as evidence to help address health system challenges; 4. Impact of Knowledge to Action: the impact of community-engaged research on knowledge mobilization. This session will facilitate a discussion about prioritizing the voice of people with lived experience, what systems will actively engage under-represented communities and ultimately, how the Library can be used as a tool for timely impact on policy and health systems.

Vancouver
Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community
Advancing Equity
Shaping Health Policy

The goal of this session is to share different perspectives from health authority and academic leaders and engage in an active discussion sharing learnings around opportunities to better integrate research evidence into clinical practice and clinical education.

Kelowna
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community
Team-Based Care

Breaks

Learning Health Systems (LHS) facilitate healthcare excellence by considering social experiences, identities, and the health system actors and structures that may create barriers to accessing and delivering equity-focused care. Integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) engages knowledge users (KUs), including public, care providers, decision-makers, and researchers, in co-producing research priorities, processes, and mobilization. At the Women’s Health Research Institute and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre (BCWH), we will actualize an LHS through a provincial menopause research agenda using an iKT approach. Rooted in iKT, the menopause research agenda responds to findings from the 2024 Health and Economics Research on Midlife Women in BC (HER-BC) study to operationalize an LHS at the new Complex Menopause Clinic at BCWH. HER-BC, a province-wide study, solicited 1567 survey responses and 20 in-depth interviews. The results demonstrate the impacts of menopause symptoms on daily living, quality of life, work productivity, caregiving, and barriers to health care. The HER-BC team includes clinician-researchers from nursing, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, and psychology, alongside a health economist, methods experts, and people with lived menopause experience and advocacy. Through a partnership and strategies identified by the HER-BC team and a pan-provincial membership of clinicians, researchers, and public partners, the menopause research agenda will identify and prioritize knowledge gaps meaningful to these KUs. Panelists will discuss how this agenda and LHS will respond to three HER-BC recommendations: 1) raise public awareness of menopause symptoms, 2) encourage multidisciplinary collaboration of and education for healthcare providers, and 3)understand and address menopause knowledge gaps.

Vancouver
From Knowledge to Action
Advancing Equity
Team-Based Care
Aging Well

Kelowna
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community
Advancing Equity
Mental Health and Substance Use

Learning from colleagues across campus on what they see to be health research priorities, challenges and opportunities for UBC Okanagan and the region. Engaging audeince with the following questions: 1) What do you see to be the priorities for health-related research within your Faculty/area? 2) As a campus/region, what do you see as the priority for health-related research? 3) What impediments currently exist in relation to health-related research at UBC Okanagan and across the Okanagan? 4) Anything else that colleagues want to share related to advancing health-related research at UBC Okanagan?

Kelowna
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community

How can patient and community involvement drive equitable, inclusive, and sustainable learning health systems? Embedding meaningful patient and community engagement is essential to building equitable learning health systems (LHS). This session will explore real-world examples of how diverse voices can be authentically integrated into LHS initiatives. Panellists will share insights into co-design, engagement strategies, and capacity-building approaches that center lived experience in health system learning. Through a panel discussion and audience-engaged dialogue, participants will: - Examine strategies for integrating patient and community expertise into LHS work at the outset- Identify barriers and facilitators to equitable engagement- Learn from real-world examples of patient-led and patient-engaged LHS initiatives- Discuss opportunities for scaling and sustaining meaningful engagement practices Organized in collaboration with Michael Smith Health Research BC and Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Grounded in Community

Collecting sociodemographic data in Population and Public Health (PPH) programs can provide the evidence necessary to identify and address health inequities experienced by population groups across the Fraser Health (FH) region. As such, FH began the systematic collection of race data in COVID-19 case assessments in 2021. This data was used to identify racialized groups disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and tailor FH's COVID-19 response accordingly, to help those that needed it the most. Race-based data collection has since expanded to PPH’s Maternal Child Health programs with planning underway for collection in all client-facing PPH programs, as well as collection of additional sociodemographic data. This workshop will walk participants through how race-based data collection was translated into action to improve health outcomes of FH’s clients. It will also explore strategies on how race-based data can be used to improve maternal and child health outcomes to inform future action. Workshop participants will be encouraged to share their experiences with collecting or using sociodemographic data to inform their practice, particularly when supporting equity-deserving groups. Participants will also be engaged in dialogue around how race-based data can be further mobilized to support transformative change to improve population health and health equity across the health care system.

Vancouver
From Knowledge to Action
Advancing Equity

Over the past several years, this group engaged in a variety of independent research studies on gestational diabetes using local British Columbia data. This new research and a working group meeting in 2022 contributed to updating the BC guidelines (PSBC, 2024) and Perinatal Hub (upcoming) for gestational diabetes. We propose a roundtable discussion format with lightening talks by each of the research leaders to highlight recent projects (gestational diabetes screening and diagnoses changes (EN), laboratory screening data and perinatal outcomes (VB), non-adherence to screening (EN/TBD), postpartum screening (EN)) followed by an overview of the process of developing new guidelines (JL/EG/JMcF). We will engage additional clinicians (primary care, midwifery, obstetrics) or researchers to discuss the screening change and the process of translating research to changing clinical guidelines. This workshop highlights a research-health system partnership that led to evidence-based updates to clinical practice.

Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Shaping Health Policy

Health professional educational reform is necessary to prepare future clinicians to understand and lead in high-functioning and complex healthcare systems. The transition to quality-based care depends on multiple interwoven factors, key among them being authentic interprofessional collaboration. A central barrier to training health professionals for this future lies in their limited exposure to and engagement with functioning models of interprofessional education (IPE) in real-world primary care settings. Current educational structures are often siloed or misaligned with the needs of collaborative practice. The educational redesign must embrace a cross-disciplinary vision that equips all health professions learners with the skills, mindset, and practical experiences needed to catalyze meaningful system change. This interactive workshop is grounded in the findings of a recent scoping review that mapped and synthesized the literature on interprofessional education initiatives within primary care. Participants will engage with key insights from the review, identifying trends, gaps, and exemplars of successful IPE models. Using the World Café method, attendees will rotate through facilitated small-group discussions focused on translating this evidence into locally relevant strategies. Open to all health professions educators, learners, and system leaders; this workshop offers a rare opportunity to collectively imagine and design tangible approaches to transformative teaching in primary care settings. By leveraging the scoping review as a foundation, participants will leave with actionable ideas and a stronger network for ongoing innovation.

Vancouver
From Knowledge to Action
Team-Based Care

Vancouver
Kelowna

As the closing plenary of the Bridging Research and Action event, this session will provide a capstone reflection on how research can meaningfully inform system-wide change. Over 16 months, OurCare heard from nearly 10,000 people across Canada about their experiences and preferences for primary care in Canada. Dr. Kiran will provide an overview of how OurCare engaged the public and what they heard. The audience will be engage in a discussion about the OurCare Standard — what every person in Canada should expect from the primary care system — and how we can turn around the current system to meet the public’s vision for better care.

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual
From Knowledge to Action
Advancing Equity
Team-Based Care
Plenary Session

Vancouver
Kelowna
Virtual