Read about our progress from research to impact 2009-2023.
2022/2023 Impact Report
Solutions for a Healthy Future highlights some of the wide-ranging collective efforts made to create meaningful change for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) and their families in fiscal year 2022-23. Thousands of people from many sectors—including families themselves—contributed to KBHN’s initiatives, which spanned scientific innovations, training programs, a global conference, implementation projects and policy recommendations.
As a network, KBHN serves as a nexus for people and organizations across diverse sectors to join forces for a common goal. We thank our many partners for their immense and invaluable contributions to our collective work together, and we welcome the prospect of collaborating with all others who want to help shape the flourishing future that every child deserves.
2021/2022 Impact Report
In 2021-22, we focus on the many ways that our team, network members and partners continued to be as dedicated as ever to advancing evidence-based solutions and supporting their implementation so they can reach and benefit as many kids as possible.
KBHN made innovations for impact, and there is still more work to do. Thank you to all who are contributing to this progress with their skills, expertise, lived experience, funds or efforts. We are pleased to announce that our fully digital-first Impact Report 2021-22 is now available to view!
2020/2021 Impact Report
The year 2020-2021 was unique in many ways. We are showcasing highlights more from an Impact lens.
Despite the uncertainty and chaos during the COVID19 pandemic, we found a way forward. Together with our network of researchers and partners, we demonstrated resilience by adapting programs, learning new paths, and overcoming uncertainty. We are grateful for the effort made by staff, researchers, trainees, partners, communities, and most especially by the children living with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families and caregivers, who have worked so hard during such challenging times. We are proud of our progress, and we look forward to the next three years with renewed commitment and determination.
2019/2020 Annual Report
The 2019–2020 fiscal year marked the 10th anniversary of the Kids Brain Health Network, a significant milestone.
Over the past decade, we have worked with more than 100 Network-funded principal investigators and more than 260 affiliated researchers who have produced 83 research innovation deliverables and contributed to close to 400 NCE-supported publications. Our training program has helped to build the next generation of neurodevelopmental professionals working to improve the lives of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. In 2019-2020, 173 young professionals participated.
We are very proud of these accomplishments. Through this annual report, we would like to acknowledge the people and partnerships that have helped us along the way to develop innovative solutions which are showcased in this report.
2016/2017 Annual Report
This first year under our new banner as Kids Brain Health Network has been one of sweeping change.
Our rebranding has not just been semantic—our new name represents our increasing orientation to families, community partners, and other stakeholders—the beneficiaries and end users of our discoveries and insights.
Engagement is now a cornerstone of Network activity, and a strong influence on our line of sight through the three remaining years of our current mandate, and beyond. We are hitting our stride in building our research results for social and economic impact: impact that will change the lives of Canadian families raising children with neurodisabilities. In these pages, you will read about what’s involved in getting to impact and how we’re achieving it. Our primary emphasis on family engagement and collaboration with partners is showcased in five powerful themes that demonstrate the resonance between our way forward, and what stakeholders, in their own words, have told us they need: access to diagnosis and services; more equity across disorders and geography; support for children and youth in transitions; help building better self-regulation and social skills in children and youth; and changes in education that need to happen so that children with neurodisabilities can succeed…
2015 – 2016 Annual Report
We are proud to present this sixth annual recounting of the activities and increasing impacts of NeuroDevNet. Networks of Centres of Excellence don’t necessarily make it through the arduous process of re-visioning, refocusing, and review entailed in a new funding cycle, yet we are delighted to announce that NeuroDevNet received the accolade of renewal in 2015 for five additional years!
The transformative potential of the work of our investigators, partners and trainees was clearly the key to our progress and success, and remains so today. This is reflected in the themes and stories in this report that depict life-changing research initiated in NeuroDevNet’s first years, as well as programs and projects new to the Network in 2015-16.
In this second five-year cycle the Network will increasingly focus on driving our research toward implementation in practice and policy. Adjustments to our management and governance structures will facilitate this process. For example, renewal of our Research Management Committee with more representation from clinical, family and grass roots perspectives will help ensure that our research meets the needs of the community as well as the highest scientific standards…
2014 – 2015 Annual Report
One in six children lives with a neurodevelopmental disability. NeuroDevNet is pursuing vital work in improving early diagnosis and treatment for three of the most common of these conditions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and cerebral palsy (CP).
This trio of disorders was chosen at the inception of the Network because they reflect a much larger range of neurodevelopmental disabilities, and the complex interactions between genes and the environment in brain development. As a result, they have been the main focus of our high-impact research and training efforts over the past five years.
Exciting results have emerged over this period from each research program within the Network, as well as synergies between our multi-disciplinary teams. Drawing on the combined efforts of 300 personnel from 26 Canadian and 7 international academic health centres, we have already made progress in the early detection of ASD, CP, and FASD which enables evidence-based treatments that achieve significant improvements in quality of life for individual children and their families, as well as reductions in the lifetime social and economic costs of care and support. Central to NeuroDevNet’s undertakings is our capacity to support the research from early discovery through to its impact on communities across the country…
2013 – 2014 Annual Report
Partnership, which is the theme of this year’s report, is crucial to the Network’s success, amplifying the impact of our Canadian investment in neurodevelopmental disorders, and realizing national and international impacts and synergies.
Partnership, which is the theme of this year’s report, is crucial to the Network’s success, amplifying the impact of our Canadian investment in neurodevelopmental disorders, and realizing national and international impacts and synergies.
I note just a few of these contributions, and encourage you to peruse in full the stories that showcase the commitment and potential vested in our collaborations. For example, researcher David Nichols was the backbone of our support for the Sinneave Family Foundation in mounting the tremendously successful Second Annual ASD Vocational Conference in Calgary in June 2013…
2012 – 2013 Annual Report
As Chairman of the NeuroDevNet Board of Directors, I am pleased to share with you this important annual report, capturing NeuroDevNet as this promising initiative hits its stride. In only in its third year of existence, NeuroDevNet has begun to show clear results that validate its significant role in child health and brain development, and reflect the Network’s unique contribution to Canada, and the world.
Funded by the Federal Government’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program, NeuroDevNet is the only North American research network dedicated to helping children overcome neurodevelopmental disorders. The Network’s investigators seek to understand the causes of neurological deficits, how best to diagnosis these disorders at the earliest possible time, and strive to identify evidence-based, ethical interventions to improve the quality of life of affected children and their families.
NeuroDevNet leverages and enhances the talents of new and seasoned researchers in every province across the country, and engages families, clinicians, other stakeholders and partners—both nationally and internationally—to translate its findings into policy and clinical practice. It is the combination of all of these activities that makes NeuroDevNet unique in its vision and scope…
2011 – 2012 Annual Report
With increasing momentum, NeuroDevNet is bringing together researchers, policymakers, parents and children, health professionals and an ever-extending range of partners with a common passion for understanding the developing brain, and helping families and individuals faced with neurodevelopmental challenges.
Our advancement during the second year as a Network encompasses more than the amount and diversity of research we fund in autism, cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). It includes the increasing number trainees and young professionals brought into NeuroDevNet through fellowships, workshops and internships with our researchers and industry partners, and our growing impact through collaborations across Canada and alliances around the world.
That NeuroDevNet is becoming a trusted ally in supporting brain research and brain development initiatives is evident in the expanding range of stakeholders seeking our involvement, and our ability as a Network to leverage our resources by attracting substantial external funding for our endeavours. Partnerships fostered by the network have increased from 18 organizations in year one, to 70 in year two. These include new relationships with government ministries, industry, highly regarded research organizations, and non-profit organizations active in our fields of interest…
2010 – 2011 Annual Report
With over twelve research projects launched to investigate children’s neurodevelopmental disorders, NeuroDevNet is in the process of moving from hope to discovery. We have made early advances to identify genetic variations that may predict risk for autism. Our efforts have established a cerebral palsy registry in Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta, which will expand to encompass Canada. Using eye movement, brain imaging, and psychometric testing, we made rapid gains to establish a neurobehavioural profile for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
These early successes resulted from the launch of three large multidisciplinary research projects that focus on autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. We also initiated three cores in neuroethics, neuroinformatics, and knowledge transfer exploitation and exchange, which support research and outreach throughout the network. We are excited about the passion and commitment of our researchers and staff, whose major accomplishments still lie ahead…
2009 – 2010 Annual Report
The neurodevnet network of Centres of Excellence integrates two research areas: children and neuroscience. NeuroDevNet is the first Canadian national initiative that brings together an outstanding network of researchers to explore the development and function of the brain. Clinicians, patients and their families, industry, and not-for-profit groups have come together to provide support for this important research program. The ultimate goal will be the development of more effective diagnoses of early alterations in brain function and the discovery of new therapies.
We have assembled an outstanding team, from across Canada and internationally, to help realize our vision. Our international Scientific Advisory Board provided critical support for our application, and will continue to provide guidance and their expertise to our researchers. We have also appointed a qualified and passionate Board of Directors to provide their support and guidance. Our administrative team, led by our Executive Director, Nicola Lewis, has extensive experience in the health sector. Join us to share our passion for helping children overcome neurodevelopmental disorders…
