Program – Kids Brain Health Virtual Conference 2020

Join Dr. Brian Goldman and the Hon. Sen. Rosemary Moodie as they recap Day 1, highlight what to expect for Day 2 and extend a welcome to all.

Time: 11:00 AM EST – 11:15 AM EST
Master of Ceremony: Dr. Brian Goldman (ER Medical Doctor & CBC Host, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Speakers: Hon. Sen. Rosemary Moodie (Senator, Senate of Canada)

A framework for advancing navigation will be presented and project leaders from British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon, will describe how navigation has been addressed in their respective jurisdictions. Participants will be invited to engage in case-based learning and to reflect on opportunities in their own regions.

Time: 11:15 AM EST – 12:45 PM EST
Moderator: Dr. Wendy Mitchell (Research Project Manager, University of Calgary)
Speakers:

• Dr. Melissa Dobson (Associate Chair & Instructor, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology)
• Dr. Michèle L. Hébert (Postdoctoral Associate, University of Calgary)
• Dr. Anton Miller (Clinical Associate Professor,BC Children’s Hospital)
• Dulcie Mercado (Autism Support and Resource Specialist, Autism Information Services British Columbia)
• Angela Clancy (Executive Director, Family Support Institute of BC)
• Sandy Litman (Project Lead, KBHN Navigation Alberta, Alberta Health Services)
• Wenda Bradley (Executive Director, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Society of Yukon (FASSY))
• Dr. David Nicholas(Professor, University of Calgary)
• Dr. Lucyna Lach (Associate Professor, McGill University)

Time: 1:00 PM EST – 2:00 PM EST

Pursuing academia-related careers

This session includes two experts, Dr. Melanie Noel and Dr. Ryan Stevenson, who will discuss their experiences with pursuing careers within academia. They will provide an overview of their own career journeys and highlight tips and key learnings regarding pursuing academia-related careers. This will be an informal session comprising a Q&A session to allow table attendees to ask key questions to support their own career journeys and professional development paths.

Presenters:

• • Dr. Melanie Noel (Professor, University of Calgary)
  • Dr. Ryan Stevenson (Assistant Professor, Western University)

This session will provide an overview of skills and other benefits a doctoral degree can provide when pursuing industry-related careers; it will acknowledge some of the reasons for moving away from a traditional career in academia; and it will provide an overview of some of the opportunities in conducting operational research outside an academic setting. Dr. Chaplin will share her experience navigating the academic path with the intent of advancing her career in public health practice. She will share examples of how operational work in public health benefits from evaluation and research. There will be an informal Q&A component to this session. Dr. Shafai will share her experience of leaving academia with the goal of moving into knowledge translation via working with a nationwide network. She will also discuss how the work in agencies is improved when content-matter experts are engaged in the creation of resources.

Presenters:

• • Dr. Andrea Chaplin (Evaluation Specialist at Public Health Ontario in the Research, Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement Support Unit)
  • Dr. Fakhri Shafai (Research and Evaluation Project Coordinator, AIDE Canada)

Have you decided on a specific career path? Are you still considering different options (are you even aware of what those options are)? Whatever success looks like for you, let’s talk about the things you can be doing now to increase your chances of achieving your goals.

Presenter: Dr. James Reynolds (Chief Scientific Officer, Kids Brain Health Network)

Most researchers spend their time focused on developing and testing the effectiveness of new interventions, only to find out too late that implementing their new interventions into practice settings is not an easy or passive task. We will discuss why it is important to consider issues of implementation early on in intervention development, what elements are important, and how to take implementation into account in a way that is practical and structured. Come with questions about implementing change, or simply to learn from the discussion.

Presenter: Dr. Melanie Barwick (Senior Scientist, SickKids’ Research Institute and the Centre for Global Child Health)

Time: 1:00 PM EST – 2:50 PM EST
Moderator: Dr. Douglas Swanson (Research & Trainee Manager, Kids Brain Health Network)

In this panel presentation, family graduates from the KBHN/CanChild/McMaster University Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course will share their experiences in the course and the impact it has had on their involvement as family research partners across the country. They will share their perceptions on how to conduct meaningful family engagement and describe ways in which project partnership impacts both the family and research communities. This session will be co-moderated by Donna Thomson and Connie Putterman (co-developers and co-instructors of the FER course).

Luke’s Legacy Lecture is a memorial tribute to the life of Luke Martens (August 26 2006 – August 9 2020). The son of Rachel and Nick Martens, Luke was a boy who inspired authenticity and excellence in family engagement in research. His tenacity and love of life reminds us of why we seek answers to childhood disability challenges in science, together.

Time: 3:00 PM EST – 4:00 PM EST
Moderators:

• Donna Thomson (Parent Advocate, Author)
• Connie Putterman (Founder, Parent Advocate, The Canada/Israel Autism Research Initiative)

Speakers:

• Rachel Martens (Family Engagement Facilitator, CanCHILD)
• Alison Martens (Administrative Assistant, Alberta Health Services)
• Jaime Lougheed-Winkler (National Coordinator, Cerebral Palsy Canada Network)
• Francine Buchanan (PhD Candidate, University of Toronto)

Lightning talks are concise presentations that highlight key research findings and/or knowledge mobilization activities and how they impact the neurodevelopmental disability community. Presentations were selected from trainee and community member abstracts to illuminate the breadth and exciting work of teams across our research and support communities. During these sessions, trainees and community advocates will take the “stage” to showcase their cutting-edge work and stimulate discussion.

Time: 4:oo PM EST – 4:30 PM EST
Chair: Dr. Jill Zwicker (Associate Professor, University of British Columbia)
Speakers:

• Dércia Materula (Research Associate, University of Calgary)
• Samantha Wong (Research Associate, University of Calgary)
• Flora Roudbarani (Master’s Student, York University)
• Nancy Lockwood (Manager of the Fetal Alcohol Resource Program (FARP), ABLE2)

Time: 4:30 PM EST – 4:40 PM EST
Master of Ceremony: Dr. Brian Goldman (ER Medical Doctor & CBC Host, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

The poster session(s) will take place in a virtual networking environment (hosted on the gather.town platform; Check it out here). Presenters will have prepared a short poster walkthrough video that attendees should view prior to the poster session, piquing viewer interest and preparing for a deeper discussion of their work during the “live” poster sessions. During each virtual poster session, poster presenters will be assigned a time to “stand” by their poster and share research results, community engagement activities, and knowledge mobilization initiatives. Interested attendees are invited to visit the virtual KBHN2020 Networking space and the Virtual Poster Session “room”, where they can interact with presenters (via audio, webcam, and chat), ask questions and explore their posters together with other attendees.

Time: 4:45 PM EST – 6:15 EST