CanCOVID">CanCOVID is an expert network of Canadian COVID-19 researchers, clinical collaborators, and healthcare stakeholders from across the country. Canada’s Chief Science Officer mandated the creation of CanCOVID to expedite communication and collaboration between the scientific, healthcare and policy communities during the COVID-19 crisis.
The CanCOVID network is designed to promote:
Collaboration
Problem-solving, troubleshooting, sharing, and vetting results
Coordination
Among researchers nationally and internationally
Communication
Between scientists, clinical collaborators, funding agencies, government policy makers, and healthcare practitioners
Who is leading CanCOVID?
Canada’s Departmental Science Advisor Network is working collectively with the sectors represented on its governance committee to facilitate the CanCOVID response. These sectors include federal and provincial governments, funding agencies, industry, academia from across Canada including the U15 Group of Canadian Universities, non-profit, indigenous communities, hospitals and clinics, as well as representation from the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The implementation of the CanCOVID network is led by Canadian government Departmental Science Advisors Dr. Cara Tannenbaum (Health Canada Science Advisor) and Dr. Sarah Gallagher (Canadian Space Agency Science Advisor), with the support of Dr. Mark Daley (Chair of the Board of Directors, Compute Ontario) and Dr. Alex Mihailidis (Associate Vice-President International Partnerships, University of Toronto).
Dr. Cara Tannenbaum
Health Canada Science Advisor
Dr. Sarah Gallagher
Canadian Space Agency Science Advisor
Dr. Mark Daley
Chair of the Board of Directors, Compute Ontario
Dr. Alex Mihailidis
Associate VP International Partnerships, University of Toronto
CanCOVID Governance Committee
- Federal government representative: Tammy Clifford, VPR, CIHR
- Health Canada representative: Supriya Sharma, Chief Medical Advisor, Health Canada
- Health Canada representative: Pamela Aung-Thin, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada
- Public Health Agency of Canada representative: Karen Dodds, Research Scientist Consultant to the Vice President, Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Branch
- Provincial/territorial representative: Remi Quirion, Scientifique en Chef, Québec
- Industry, science and technology representative: Nipun Vats, ADM science and technology, ISED
- Academic representative: Vivek Goel, VPR University of Toronto
- Not-for-profit: Mark Daley, Board Chair, ComputeOntario
- Healthcare organization representative: Jonathan Mitchell, VP research and policy, HealthcareCAN
- Indigenous representative: Jeff Reading, past scientific director, CIHR Institute Indigenous People’s Health
- Indigenous representative: Sharon Edmunds, Senior Research Advisor, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI)
- Ex-officio members include the Chief Science Advisor (Mona Nemer), Deputy Minister of Health Canada (Stephen Lucas), and the Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada (Howard Njoo).
Press Release
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Who can join the CanCOVID network?
The CanCOVID network is by invitation, and is restricted to verified members of the COVID-19 expert research and response community. This includes, for example, researchers with recognized expertise in:
- Diagnostics
- Vaccines & Therapeutics
- Modelling
- Fundamental Science
- Clinical trials
- Cohort studies
- Social & behavioural sciences
- Healthcare
- Policy decision-making
- Indigenous knowledge
- Medical devices
- Patient perspectives
- Community health
Limiting membership in this way will enable COVID-19 researchers to focus on critical research without distraction. It will also enable the platform administrators to focus their efforts on supporting core platform activities.
What technology is being used to support the CanCOVID Network?
CanCOVID is linking up Canada’s COVID-19 research network using Slack, an online messaging and collaboration platform that organizes real-time group discussion into team-specific and topic-specific channels.
Slack is an efficient replacement for email, message boards, and social media, and has integrations for many of the common web tools. Slack can be accessed in any web browser, or by downloading the Slack desktop or mobile app.
Using the Slack, CanCOVID members can collaborate across critical research and development areas, from clinical trials and testing, to diagnostics and treatment. They can also easily connect with others in their regional or local networks, and with clinicians on the frontlines.
Ultimately CanCOVID’s mission is to enable the agile, evidence-based decision-making needed to help steer Canada safely through the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am working on the COVID-19 research response. How can I join the CanCOVID network?
Invitations to join CanCOVID are being sent throughout the Canadian research and health networks.
If you have not yet received an invitation to join CanCOVID, please fill out the CanCOVID Registration Form.
Fill Out form »
Please follow the @cancovid Twitter account for updates.
Will CanCOVID share information and research with the media and the public?
Timely, coordinated communication is critical in a public health crisis such as this, and CanCOVID is committed to ensuring clear and transparent communications and information-sharing processes throughout.
Given the urgency and emergent nature of the COVID-19 situation, CanCOVID’s top priority is to provide practitioners and government decision-makers with the latest vetted, evidence-based advice and information from domain experts. During the initial roll-out of the CanCOVID platform, most public-facing information from and about CanCOVID will come from the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, its sector-specific partnership representatives, and other official communication channels.
As more evidence-based information becomes available, CanCOVID experts will begin to share information within its extended research network and directly with the general public. To facilitate external communication, CanCOVID has established the @cancovid Twitter account. Please follow this account for important CanCOVID updates.
Thank you to our business sponsors
The CanCOVID implementation team gratefully acknowledges the following business and private individuals who have volunteered their valuable time and resources to assist us in deploying as quickly as possible:
Enterprise Slack Platform
Logo Design
Website Development
© COPYRIGHT CanCOVID 2020