Research Day 2025

OSSU Research Day 2025

Research-Day

Thank You for Joining Us at Research Day 2025

On behalf of the organizing team, thank you to all delegates, speakers, and panelists who joined us both in person and virtually for Research Day 2025 on April 10. Your presence and engagement helped make the event a meaningful and inspiring day of collaboration and knowledge sharing.

We are pleased to share that recordings of each session are now available for viewing. We invite you to revisit the thought-provoking discussions and powerful testimonials shared throughout the day. Each session is accompanied by a brief abstract to provide context and highlight key themes.

We hope these resources continue to spark ideas and connections within our research and patient communities. Thank you once again for your participation and contributions.

2025 PHOTO GALLERY

Program with video links

Opening Remarks

Listen to opening remarks delivered by Sean Twyford, Assistant Deputy Minister for Strategic Policy, Planning, and French Language Services at the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/NbrstsuX3FY


Fairness is Excellence: How Patient-Oriented Research Can Promote Health Equity

Patient engagement in research can help to make health care and health outcomes more equitable. This panel will share different ongoing efforts to promote health equity through patient-oriented research.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/M8oqH2Fj7z4

Testimonial – Michael Decter, Founding Chair of the OSSU Board of Directors

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/Qwq9_J7vAN4


Designing and Deploying AI Tools to Address the Primary Care Crisis

Access to primary care is poor, with high rates of unattached patients, staff shortages and a large pool of physicians likely to retire in the coming years. Enhancing the productivity of clinicians and empowering patients through digital tools is now plausible with the advent of AI tools to assist with documentation, process automation and decision support. Achieving this potential will require structures that enable the co-design of the tools, the teams that use them and the new routines they will support. Addressing this crisis will require building better tools and rethinking how primary care clinicians and patients and caregivers work together. We will use a series of case examples to explore the ethical and operational aspects of turning the hype into accessible and sustainable services for all.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/eRTLNnAZFhk

Testimonial – Frank Gavin, Patient Partner and OSSU Board Chair

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/azwcH6Msips


Publication Announcements

This session highlights six innovative OSSU-supported tools, each developed to address key needs within the patient-oriented research community. From improving engagement practices to supporting research infrastructure, these tools are designed to enhance collaboration, build capacity, and drive meaningful impact across Ontario.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/x0LF-veJF_g

The following training tools and resources were announced during this session:
– AI and What it Means for You
– Implementation Science Training Resource
– Scan of Patient Engagement Supports in Ontario
– Learning Health Systems (LHS) Cartoon
– Mobilizing Knowledge: A Report on OSSU’s Policy Roundtables
– Building Capacity for Research in Community Hospitals

Testimonial – Alies Maybee, Patient Partner

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/y0YoQk0vSsA


Mental Health – Access and Availability

Individuals struggling with mental health and substance use disorders experience significant challenges accessing services in a timely fashion. The reasons for this are longstanding and complicated. One main issue is that the mental health system has not received the same attention as other areas of the health care system that have been supported to deliver high quality, accessible, and evidence-based care. In this session, the status quo of the mental health system will be described, followed by a comparison of the mental health system with higher performing areas of our health care system.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/aTevQseI3E8

Testimonial – Paula Rochon, Lead for Sex and Gender

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/BCzmajxrB_8


Ten Years Advancing Meaningful Patient Partnership in Ontario

Panelists will discuss the growth and impact of the Patients Advisors Network (PAN), a national community of patient / caregiver partners committed to helping improve Canadian healthcare for all, and the engagement of patients.  We will also explore emerging trends in POR and how it links to the Learning Health Systems in Ontario.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/y5GpCFBEQOw

Testimonial – David Henry, Founding Scientific Co-Chair

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/y3oOlMlckVg


OSSU Research Centres Addressing the State of the Art and Quo Tendimus

The last 10 years has seen OSSU and its distributed network of 14 research centres of excellence across Ontario become a catalyst for empowering and enhancing patient-oriented research. Such research infrastructure and know-how is fundamental for achieving healthcare’s quintuple aim (improved patient experiences, provider experiences, better patient outcomes, lower costs, and overall health equity). Importantly, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as a cross-cutting enabler has been established in all of OSSU’s work and operations as an essential component of how to create and deliver patient-oriented research for a person-centred learning health system. Through OSSU’s Phase II pillars of Data Platforms, Patient Engagement, Capacity Development, and Learning Health Systems, OSSU strives to bridge the gap between evidence and practice in Ontario by aligning its expertise and resources with health care needs and priorities in the Ministry of Health and province. As OSSU works towards a research-informed, patient-centred learning health system, key leaders will reflect on Ontario’s shift in research culture over the past 10 years and illuminate OSSU’s impact and outstanding challenges in the areas of data, patient engagement, and learning health systems. Such reflections and insights will be key to understanding how OSSU builds a sustainable equity-driven, patient-oriented research ecosystem that impacts Ontario’s health policy, health system, and health outcomes.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/LfasxN3KAdI

Testimonial – Douglas Lee, IMPACT Awardee

Watch the full testimonial – https://youtu.be/C23L39-v6Z0


Advancing Research Through Strategic Partnerships

Celebrating 10 years as a catalyst for patient-oriented research, OSSU presents a panel highlighting award-winning projects that have put patient engagement at the forefront. Each presenter will showcase how OSSU’s support has amplified project impact, emphasizing patient collaboration, real-world outcomes, and the journey of integrating patient-oriented research across Ontario—complete with successes, challenges, and insights into knowledge mobilization.

Watch the video = https://youtu.be/pgKxKiWNIYQ

Closing Remarks

Listen to closing remarks from Roger Farley, Chair of OSSU’s Patient Partner Advisory Council.

Watch the video – https://youtu.be/eHAEOuOcgp4

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Research Day Posters

OSSU invited its research centres and initiatives, as well as select presentation panels to submit posters which provide additional information.

OSSU Research Centres and Initiatives

The posters submitted by OSSU Research Centres and Initiatives provide an overview of the expertise and resources available to support researchers conducting patient-oriented research.

Research Centres

Research Initiatives

Research Day Panels

The following posters were submitted by select Research Day panels.

Panel 3: Publication Announcements

Panel 5: Ten Years Advancing Meaningful Patient Partnership in Ontario

Panel 7: Advancing Research Through Strategic Partnerships