Research

Canada is losing the race for clinical trials – and patients are paying the price

Canada has long punched above its weight in clinical trial activity: the rigorous, multi-stage research studies that give Canadians early access to breakthrough treatments. For years, we’ve led the G7 in clinical trials per capita – a point of national pride – but that advantage is slipping away, and fast.

Canada must reclaim its reputation as a leader in diabetes innovation

Despite a history steeped in diabetes-related breakthroughs (the discovery of insulin and a track record of performing more insulin-producing cell transplants than any other country), Canada is at risk of losing ground to global peers who are rapidly advancing clinical trials and commercialization at the national level.

Why aren’t we listening to the people who recover?

If we wanted to understand what it takes to win a Super Bowl, we definitely would be listening to what seven-time winner Tom Brady has to say. We also would listen to teams that lost. Their experiences matter, too. But it would seem strange to study who wins football championships without spending considerable time talking to the people who actually won them. To understand cancer survivorship, we listen not only to oncologists and researchers but also to people who have survived cancer and gone on to live healthy, rewarding and meaningful lives. So why is addiction recovery different?

Patient partnership without pay is not partnership: Rethinking how we value lived experience

Beneath the progressive rhetoric extolling the virtues of patient partnership in health research lies an uncomfortable truth: patient partnership is largely unpaid volunteer work.

Disconnected by design: How fragmented health data is failing Canadian patients

Patients living in Canadian rural and remote communities often move across multiple systems simply to access basic care. Bill S-5 represents an important first step toward addressing a problem.

Summer’s almost here. Are you still upset about changing to daylight saving time?

Spring and summer moves between daylight and standard time represents a compromise. It’s about health across the months, not just in the immediate moment of the change.

Hantavirus outbreak shows we haven’t learned the lesson of SARS-1 or COVID-19

It’s happening again. Not a global pandemic but the minimizing of airborne precautions for an event with human-to-human transmission of a deadly respiratory virus possibly spread by airborne transmission.

People increasingly are turning to AI for health questions but should it be trusted?

The convenience of turning to AI or health information is appealing. But it raises an important question: how reliable are these answers when the topic is our health?

I am a new doctor; Ford is wrong about ‘basketweaving majors’

The Ontario Student Assistance Program is more than just taxpayer money. It is the people’s belief in the immense potential of every student to rise above their station and be of service to the public.

Expanding dementia prevention and care beyond randomized control trials

In dementia care relying only on randomized controlled trials can leave out a large amount of strong research that reflects real-world complexity.

Is industry shaping Canada’s research ethics ecosystem?

Canada’s research governance framework must be strong enough to ensure that research ethics oversight remains independent – and that protecting research participants is its first obligation.

Adherence starts with understanding: Why health literacy is a system responsibility

On World Adherence Day, the message should be simple but transformative: before we ask patients to follow treatment, we must ensure they truly understand it.

From awareness to accountability: The attention is nice but what comes after Heart Month?

Each February, Heart Month brings renewed attention to cardiovascular disease. Awareness matters. But when the campaigns end, an uncomfortable question remains: what changes?

Schooling or suicide: The ethical responsibility of educational institutions

Students are dying silently in the places meant to shape their futures. Schools cannot prevent every tragedy, but they also cannot ignore the role they play.

These parliamentary studies are low-profile but have implications for access to medicines

Two studies by Parliamentary Standing Committees each have potentially serious implications for medical innovation, pandemic preparedness and access to medicines.

Our research ethics boards aren’t the problem – the system wasn’t built to protect participants

The bodies responsible for the ethical review of research and ensuring that it safeguards the individuals in it – operate with no national standards, no oversight and no accreditation at all.

Beyond the default patient: Diversity in virtual simulation-based health-care education

Virtual simulation platforms often fail to meaningfully reflect patient diversity, which may be shaped by underlying biases and have implications for clinical outcomes.

‘A lot of work to do, one conversation at a time’: New Year’s resolutions for 2026

With changes reverberating throughout our health-care system, we wanted to know what health-care experts planned to focus on for themselves in the year ahead.

Why Canada needs a ready-to-run adaptive platform trial before the next pandemic hits

When the next pandemic arrives (and it will!) Canada will once again face urgent questions: Which treatments work? For whom? At what dose? And how quickly should we act?

Fail-first drug rules defy logic, deny timely access for people with rare diseases

Despite the recent approval of targeted biologics that can significantly improve quality of life, Canadians living with Myasthenia Gravis continue to face unjust policy barriers.