Spring 2023 Meeting

After more than two years of existence, CoVaRR-Net held its first in-person meeting from May 16-18, 2023, in Ottawa.

It united about 120 participants, most of them internal to CoVaRR-Net, but also a few invited guests. The goals of the meeting were to provide an overview of past achievements and lessons learned, but mostly to look towards the future.

As an established pan-Canadian network of researchers from numerous areas of expertise, CoVaRR-Net is uniquely positioned to pivot and become an academic network for pandemic preparedness and prevention. The meeting therefore also sought to exchange on what an optimal pandemic preparedness network would look like, what government and other organizations would find useful, and explore what options we would have to make a successful pivot.

Panel discussions and speeches from key leadership figures provided critical feedback and information to our network members on issues related to public health and research, as well as government plans for pandemic preparedness in Canada.

During the morning of Day 2, which was dedicated to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Indigeneity (EDI&I) sessions, it became clear that the research community continues to have a lot to learn, that CoVaRR-Net is a leader in this respect, and that we can do more to promote EDI&I in research across Canada and around the world.

Finally, the meeting was a great networking opportunity, as many experts and trainees were meeting in person for the first time. It enabled our members to expand their collaborations and solidify new scientific relationships, all while creating the blueprint for Canada’s first academic network for pandemic preparedness and prevention.

Event Videos

Algonquin Territorial Welcome, Opening Talk, and Lightning Talks

CoVaRR-Net’s Spring 2023 Meeting was officially opened with Ms. Wendy Jocko, elected chief of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation through the pandemic, offering an Algonquin Indigenous Welcome.

CoVaRR-Net Executive Director Dr. Marc-Andre Langlois then gave his Opening Talk. He told the story of how CoVaRR-Net was created in early 2021. The vision of three scientists, aided by an expert in writing funding proposals, presented the CIHR a vision of a small, nimble governance structure for a multidisciplinary rapid response research network of Canadian scientists. They would recruit Pillar Leads and Deputies who were undisputed leaders in their fields. It was an extreme rush submission, but they won the competition and CoVaRR-Net came to be.

The network now counts 125 researchers and 225 trainees across 28 Canadian institutions, who focus on projects to address critical research gaps. CoVaRR-Net also created structures and tools to facilitate and accelerate research, such as the Biobank, Data Platform, the Universal Data and Biologics Material Transfer Agreement, CAMEO, CIEDAR, CCABL3, and WWSRG. Dr. Langlois added that all network leadership would incorporate principles of ownership, control, access, and possession, also known as OCAP, into their own research programs involving Indigenous samples and communities.

In the Lightning Talks, each of CoVaRR-Net’s 10 Pillar and Major Initiative teams summarized more than two years of their work and research in less than four minutes. They also expressed their vision of a national network for pandemic preparedness.

Panel Discussion: Lessons learned/looking forward/what is expected from academics?

Moderator: Kelly Grant (national health reporter, Globe & Mail)

Panel Members: Heather Jeffrey (President, Public Health Agency of Canada), Dr. Stephen Lucas (Deputy Minister, Health Canada), Dr. Timothy Evans (Executive Director, COVID-19 Immunity Task Force), and Koko Bate Agborsangaya (Director, Strategic Programs, Genome Canada)

The Globe and Mail national health reporter, Kelly Grant, moderated a discussion with these key decisionmakers about how the Canadian research enterprise fared during the pandemic. They were asked about what worked well, what did not, what comes next, and how conference participants could help the country prepare for the next dangerous pathogen.

Stephen Lucas spoke about how the rapid mobilization of researchers helped drive a nimble, agile response, but acknowledged that connecting data sets from across the country continues to be a challenge. Koko Bate Agborsangaya spoke about Genome Canada’s success in bringing together researchers to do viral and host sequencing as SARS-CoV-2 evolved and sharing this information to help support public health decisions about protective measures and vaccine rollouts. Heather Jeffrey spoke about the unique opportunity for Canada in the next year to use our collective research experience and expertise to mobilize knowledge and bridge the sciences. This, during a time in which governments will need to make decisions about how resources will be invested going forward. Tim Evans explained that the CITF was created due to the lack of capacity, at the time, to monitor immunity throughout Canada. He named two other big challenges: our reliance on archaic 20th century tools to manage public health information and the lack of an institutional culture of emergency when it comes to research.

Introduction to Positionality and Health Equity 101

Speakers: Dr. Kimberly Huyser (Pillar7/CIEDAR Lead), Dr. Claire Betker (CoVaRR-Net’s Associate Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDI&I))

Kimberly Huyser introduced attendees to the concept of positionality: what are the life experiences we have had that have shaped who we are. She pointed to the importance of dialogue and stories within Indigenous communities. She led conference participants in an exercise called “Drawing your River of Life”.

Claire Betker spoke about health equity being much more than equitable access to health services and care. She explained an aspirational definition of health equity: all people would have fair access to, and could act on, opportunities to reach their full health potential, without being disadvantaged by social, economic, or environmental factors. She explained the differences between inequality, equality, equity, and justice and how the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health gets the evidence into the hands of people who work in public health.

The Basics of OCAP Principles

Speakers: Dr. Ninan Abraham (CoVaRR-Net’s Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDI&I))

Ninan Abraham explained the basics of OCAP (ownership, control, access, and possession) and EDI&I (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity) principles. He explained how these principles should be included in everything that involves researchers, trainees, and patients in light of the colonial and harmful approaches of the past. He explained that CoVaRR-Net’s initial CIHR grant application stated that OCAP-like principles would be in place to shape how health researchers engage with underrepresented communities, including Indigenous and Black communities. These principles were also written into the network’s Universal Data and Biological Materials Transfer Agreement (UDBMTA).

Simulated Community Health Review Board activity

Speakers: Dr. Kimberly Huyser (Pillar7/CIEDAR Lead), Dr. Claire Betker (CoVaRR-Net’s Associate Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDI&I))

Led by Dr. Kimberly Huyser (Pillar 7/CIEDAR Lead)

One of the most popular segments of the Spring 2023 Meeting was a skit simulating an interaction between a non-Indigenous research team and an Indigenous community review board. EDI&I Associate Director Claire Betker, CIEDAR’s Graduate Academic Assistant Traci Christianson, and EDI&I Director Ninan Abraham, played the role of scientists wanting to conduct research in the Indigenous community in question. Kimberly Huyser, Maria Santos, Senior Manager, Public Health Data Initiatives & First Nations Data Centre at the First Nations Information Governance Centre, and Michelle Zinck, CoVaRR-Net’s EDI&I Manager, were playing review board members in the Indigenous community.

This entertaining, educational skit showed common mistakes health researchers make in presenting research applications to Indigenous communities. It provided context as to why researchers must build relationships with individual communities prior to starting a project and allow time to establish effective research collaborations. The simulation also offered pointers about how best to establish successful research collaborations with Indigenous communities.

Breakout Session #1- Question: “Data and Reagent Sharing

Moderators: Dr. Kimberly Huyser (Pillar 7/CIEDAR Lead), Nikita Rayne (Biobank Manager), and Dr. Erin Gill (CAMEO Coordinator)

Panel Members: Dr. Angela Crawley (Biobank Director), Dr. Amy Hsu (Data Platform Director), Dr. Ninan Abraham (EDI&I Director), Carol Bennett (Wastewater Surveillance Research Group Coordinator), Dr. Sarah (Sally) Otto (CAMEO Co-Lead)

Angela Crawley presented CoVaRR-Net Biobank’s achievements in breaking down barriers to the timely exchange of materials and data within CoVaRR-Net and beyond, and discussed key challenges that the Biobank is well-positioned to address. Amy Hsu talked about the role of the CoVaRR-Net Data Platform and the federated model of the CoVaRR-Net COVID-19 Canadian Biobank Data Alliance Catalogue. Kimberly Huyser spoke about Indigenous data sovereignty and data sharing, and how to work with Indigenous Peoples and biodata. Carol Bennett presented the development and advantages of CoVaRR-Net’s Public Health and Environmental Surveillance and Open Data Model, which has been expanded to include surface and air testing, in addition to wastewater data. Sally Otto talked about Canada’s accomplishments in rolling out huge data platforms that have given us an unprecedented level of detail about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 across Canada. She highlighted the important role that CoVaRR-Net can play in linking siloed data sets, allowing it to be used for the best possible health purposes.

Keynote Presentation:
COVID-19 Where are we? How did we do? What can we do better?

Speaker: Dr. Allison McGeer (Infectious disease physician Sinai Health System, University of Toronto)

Allison McGeer spoke about pandemic management successes such as wastewater surveillance, vaccine rollout, vaccine registries, vaccine safety surveillance, and seroprevalence data. However, she stated that Canada did poorly when it came to school closures and in protecting lower-income, marginalized populations and long-term care residents from death and hospitalization. She added that COVID-19 highlighted the health inequalities in this country, adding Canadian health researchers need to figure out solutions to move toward greater health equity.

COVID-19 and science as first responder: Where do we go from here?

Speaker: Dr. Sarah Viehbeck (Chief Science Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada)

Sarah Viehbeck talked about the linkage of intra- and extra-mural science, how the Public Health Agency of Canada grew to become more innovative, what that means for the future in terms of government collaboration with extramural scientists, and how the pandemic accelerated shifts in how science is done.

She spoke about how science is not only a first responder but also key to any credible, evidence-based emergency health system, from prevention to preparedness, through response to recovery. She explained that over the course of the pandemic, there was a gradual shift from a focus on biomedical capacity to an expanded focus on the social and behavioural sciences, making more significant contributions in relation to social and mental health impacts, economic impacts, and the implementation of science.

Panel Discussion 2: Public Health

Moderator: Dr. Allison McGeer (Sinai Health System/University of Toronto)

Panel members: Dr. Marisa Creatore (Executive Director of the Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies, CIHR), Dr. Vera Etches (Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public Health), Dr. Guillaume Poliquin (Vice President of the National Microbiology Laboratory Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada), and Dr. Susan Tamblyn (Public Health Consultant, former Medical Officer of Health for the Perth District Health Unit and Clinical Professor Western University)

Allison McGeer moderated this discussion among four leading Canadian public health experts who spoke about their organizations’ roles and lessons learned. They discussed their experiences in regard to effective pandemic planning, preparedness, response and recovery, and the interplay between public health and science, including frontline support for populations in communities.

Susan Tamblyn pointed to the continued lack of timely scientific evidence to enable public health officials to make decisions based on science. She added the ideal in the next pandemic would be to have solid scientific evidence in time to guide the public health response. Marisa Creatore spoke about how the CIHR’s new Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies will be earmarking funds to help support an emergency-ready research ecosystem through targeted infrastructure investments. Guillaume Poliquin spoke about pandemic preparedness as a social contract: we ask citizens to allot resources that governments and researchers use to prepare for something that may never come. The value proposition is, therefore, challenging, he said. Vera Etches talked about her experiences on the front lines, leading a public health organization. She spoke about the challenges in the cycle of preparedness, response, and recovery, with evaluation and communication needed all throughout the process.

Event Gallery

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Kimberly R. Huyser, CoVaRR-Net’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research (CIEDAR) Pillar Lead, informs attendees about all the successes CIEDAR has achieved over the past two years during the meeting's Lightning Talks.

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Jen Gommerman, Co-Lead of Pillar 1 - Immunology & Vaccine Protection - gives an overview of Pillar 1's accomplishments during the Lightning Talks. Each Pillar had 5 minutes to give a rundown of its successes.

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Anne-Claude Gingras, Lead of Pillar 4 - Functional Genomics & Structure-Function of VOCs - gives highlights from Pillar 4 over the past two years.

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Jason Kindrachuk, Co-Lead of Pillar 2 - Host-Pathogen Interactions - offers insight into outcomes from Pillar 2 during Lightning Talks.

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Stephen Barr, Deputy from Pillar 3 - Virology - runs through Pillar 3's successes during Lightning Talks.

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Louis Flamand, Interim Chair of The Canadian Consortium of Academic Biosafety Level 3 (CCABL3) Laboratories, talks about the importance of this network of BSL3 laboratories for generations to come.C14C15+C14+C15+C14+C15

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Ioannis Ragoussis, Lead of Pillar 5 - Viral Genomics & Sequencing - relays the successes of Pillar 5 since CoVaRR-Net's inception.

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Doug Manuel, former Director (now member) of CoVaRR-Net's Wastewater Surveillance Research Group, spotlights the successes from both the WWSRG and CUBE (surface swabbing), both surveillance methods that hold significant promise.

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Pillar 6 Co-Lead Jesse Shapiro presents what his pillar, aka CAMEO (Computational Analysis, Modelling and Evolutionary Outcomes) has accomplished and the modelling and analysis that it has been able to generate for public health authorities and researchers alike.

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Cory Neudorf, Co-Lead of Pillar 8 - Public Health, Health Systems and Social Policy Impacts - reports on results and reports Pillar 8 has generated over the past two years.

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Pillar 9 Co-Lead Melissa Brouwers speaks about what Pillar 9, aka KITT (Knowledge, Implementation and Training Team), has accomplished over the past two years.

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CoVaRR-Net Executive Director Marc-André Langlois takes in his colleagues' long list of accomplishments during the Lightning Talks.C15

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The Lead of Pillar 10, Antiviral Strategies and Antiviral Therapeutics, François Jean, enumerates the long list of discoveries Pillar 10 has made over the past two years, leading to breakthroughs in the search for successful therapeutics to treat COVID-19.

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Kelly Grant, The Globe and Mail’s national health reporter since 2014, moderated the first panel discussion of the meeting, entitled "Lessons learned / looking forward/ What is expected from academics?". Deputy Mnister of Health Canada Stephen Lucas (right) was among the panelists.

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The team behind the highly interesting and informative first panel, entitled "Lessons learned / looking forward/ What is expected from academics?". From left to right: Marc-André Langlois, CoVaRR-Net Executive Director; Kelly Grant, moderator and Globe & Mail health reporter; Stephen Lucas, Deputy Minister of Health Canada; Koko Bate Agborsangaya, Director, Strategic Programs, Genome Canada; Heather Jeffrey, President of the Public Health Agency of Canada; Tim Evans, Executive Director of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF).

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CoVaRR-Net's Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI), and Indigeneity, Ninan Abraham, co-led a discussion on the Basics of OCAP Principles. Their overview of OCAP Principles (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) was thorough and highly informative. Although Pillar leads at CoVaRR-Net have already taken OCAP training, this session incited many others in attendance to want to register.

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CIEDAR's Kimberly Huyser led presentations and discussions for the entire morning of Day 2. She began by co-leading "Introduction to Positionality and Health Equity 101", continued with "The Basics of OCAP principles", and particpated in a simulated community review board acitivity.

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CoVaRR-Net members and trainees, as well as invited guests, were thoroughly engaged in the EDI&I-focussed activities in Day 2.

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CoVaRR-Net EDI&I Associate Director Claire Betker co-led "Introduction to Positionality and Health Equity 101", which included a fun activity often done when engaging with Indigenous communities, which had attendees draw their River of Life: drawing everything most important to them in their lives and sharing their stories with colleagues.

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One of the most popular segments of the Spring 2023 Meeting was a skit simulating an interaction between a non-Indigenous research team and an Indigenous community review board. From left to right: EDI&I Associate Director Claire Betker, CIEDAR's Graduate Academic Assistant Traci Christianson, and EDI&I Director Ninan Abraham - were playing the roles of scientists wanting to conduct research in the Indigenous community in question.

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In the skit performed on Day 2, Maria Santos, Senior Manager, Public Health Data Initiatives & First Nations Data Centre at the First Nations Information Governance Centre and Michelle Zinck, CoVaRR-Net's EDI&I Manager, were among those playing the roles of the review board members in the Indigenous community. They were interested to hear about why it was in the interest of their community members to participate in this research project. The researchers in the skit were unable to answer appropriately, showing the need for researchers to put more thought into such engagements and partnerships.

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CIEDAR Pillar Lead Kimberly Huyser, Maria Santos, Senior Manager, Public Health Data Initiatives & First Nations Data Centre at the First Nations Information Governance Centre, and Michelle Zinck, CoVaRR-Net's EDI&I Manager, made up the complete Indigenous community review board panel. The skit clearly demonstrated that the researchers were not prepared to ask the Indigenous community for participation and had little comprehension of realistic timelines. The simulation showed how much the research community must learn about partnering in research endeavours with Indigenous communities.

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CoVaRR-Net Biobank Manager Nikita Rayne helped moderate breakout session #1 "Data and Reagent Sharing".

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CoVaRR-Net Biobank Director Angela Crawley was among the panelists in breakout session #1 "Data and Reagent Sharing". She spoke about the enormous progress made with the help of CoVaRR-Net, such as the creation of a national biobank and the Universal Data and Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UDBMTA) she spearheaded, but she also pointed to the work still remaining to facilitate data and reagent sharing across Canada.

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From left to right, the panel members for breakout session #1 "Data and Reagent Sharing": Data Platform Director Amy Hsu; CoVaRR-Net’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research Pillar 7 (CIEDAR) Lead Kimberly Huyser; Wastewater Surveillance Research Group (WWSRG) Coordinator Carol Bennett; and Computational Analysis, Modelling and Evolutionary Outcomes (CAMEO) Co-Lead Sally Otto.

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Breakout session #2 asked "What is needed to build a successful network for pandemic preparedness?". To find the answer, meeting partcipants undertook a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, oppotunities and threats) analysis of CoVaRR-Net. In this picture, one team deep in discussion. From left to right: CAMEO member Fiona Brinkman, P4 HQP Samuel King, Biobank Coordinator Aliisa Heiskanen, CCABL3 Interim Chair and Pillar 3 Lead Louis Flamand, and Biobank Director Angela Crawley.

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Pillar 4 Lead Anne-Claude Gingras and her group during the SWOT analysis.

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EDI&I Associate Director Claire Betker (shown) led the SWOT analysis with Pillar 9 (KITT) Co-Lead Melissa Brouwers and Pillar 8 member Cheryl Camillo. The analysis offered many informative insights as CoVaRR-Net looks to pivot to a pandemic preparedness network.

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Pillar 8 Deputy Cheryl Camillo starting work on collating all answers from the SWOT analysis.

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CoVaRR-Net Executive Director Marc-André Langlois, Network Operating Officer Cecilia Jenkins (who spearheaded the conference organization), and Caroline Phaneuf, who leads CoVaRR-Net communications.

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Pillar 1 (Immunology & Vaccine Protection) Co-Lead Ciriaco Piccirillo speaks at CoVaRR-Net's Spring 2023 Meeting.

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Pillar 4 Lead Anne-Claude Gingras co-led a trainee workshop with Pillar 10 Lead François Jean. They took questions from and helped give advice to trainees in the audience.

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Sebastian Grocott, an undergraduate research honours intern in Ciro Piccirillo's lab, explains his poster, called "Multi-dimensional analysis of SARS-CoV-2-Spike-specific CD4+ T cell response reveals heterogeneity within effector and regulatory subsets at the level of the individual" to Wendy Jocko, who offered an Algonquin Territorial Welcome and Farewell at the meeting.

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Nada Hegazy, PhD Candidate in Robert Delatolla's lab, explains her poster, "SARS-CoV-2 WWS Data Quality – Ontario Wasterwater Surveillance Initiative".

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Salma Sheikh-Mohamed, Ph.D. Candidate in Jen Gommerman's lab, next to her poster entitled "Systemic and mucosal immune responses are variably induced in response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in a healthy pediatric cohort".

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The CoVaRR-Net Spring 2023 Meeting included a dinner to which some special guests were invited. The meeting and the dinner were held at the University of Ottawa, and we were pleased to have Guy Levesque, Associate Vice-President, Innovation, Partnerships and Entrepreneurship, University of Ottawa, join and give a speech. From L-to-R, in the back: Guy Levesque; Marc-André Langlois, CoVaRR-Net Executive Director; Jesse Shapiro, CAMEO Co-Lead; in the front: Jen Gommerman, Pillar 1 Co-Lead; Guillaume Poliquin, Vice President of the National Microbiology Laboratory Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada; Heather Jeffrey, President of the Public Health Agency of Canada; Louis Flamand, Interim Chair of CCABL3 and Pillar 3 Lead; and Stephen Lucas, Deputy Minister of Health Canada.

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Pillar 8 (Public Health, Health Systems and Social Policy Impacts) Co-Lead Nazeem Muhajarine addresses the audience during the Spring 2023 Meeting.

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Dr. Allison McGeer, Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, an infectious disease physician at Sinai Health System, and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, gave the keynote presentation on Day 3 of the Spring 2023 Meeting. Her talk was entitled "COVID-19 Where are we? How did we do? What can we do better?".

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About 120 people attended CoVaRR-Net's Spring 2023 Meeting.

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Sarah Viehbeck, Chief Science Officer for the Public Health Agency of Canada, gave a speech entitled "COVID-19 and science as first responder: Where do we go from here?" offering CoVaRR-Net members a better understanding of how PHAC has been functioning and what it needs in terms of data and research findings during a pandemic.

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CoVaRR-Net's Pillar leads and directors of shared resources. From L-to-R, top row: Ioannis Ragoussis, François Jean, Kimberly Huyser, Louis Flamand, Anne-Claude Gingras, Cory Neudorf, Jason Kindrachuk, Ciro Piccirillo, Amy Hsu, Melissa Brouwers, Doug Manuel; L-to-R, front row: Jesse Shapiro, Ninan Abraham, Jen Gommerman, Sally Otto, Angela Crawley, Ray Saginur, Nazeem Muhajarine.

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The wealth of expertise on panel discussion #2, "Public Health", was exceptional. From L-to-R: Vera Etches, Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Ottawa Public Health (OPH); Guillaume Poliquin, Vice President of the National Microbiology Laboratory Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada; Marisa Creatore, CIHR’s Executive Director of the Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies (CRPPHE); Susan Tamblyn, former Medical Officer of Health for the Perth District Health Unit and Associate Clinical Professor at Western University; and Allison McGeer, Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, an infectious disease physician at Sinai Health System, and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute.

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CoVaRR-Net Network Coordinator Nidhi Chaudhary was in charge of organizing the poster presentations and the committee deciding the winners of the poster awards.

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The winners of the CoVaRR-Net Spring 2023 Meeting poster competition! From left to right: Nidhi Chaudhary, Network Research Coordinator who organized the poster competition; 1st place winner Asif Areeba, an undergraduate academic assistant with CIEDAR (Pillar7), who won for her poster "Building Indigenous Community in Contemporary Spheres"; 2nd place winner Élisabeth Mercier, a Ph.D. student in Rob Delatolla's lab (WWSRG) for her poster "Application of Wastewater Surveillance to inform the start of the Pediatric RSV season: A tale of Two Cities in Ontario, Canada+H5"; 3rd place winner Samuel King, a staff scientist in Nozomu Yachie's lab (Pillar 4), for his poster "Multiplexable production of monoclonal pseudovirus variants for high-throughput viral infectivity and neutralization assays"; CoVaRR-Net Executive Director Marc-André Langlois; and in 4th place Zohaib Anwar, PDF in William Hsiao's lab (CAMEO-Pillar 6), for his poster "COVID-MVP: An Interactive and portable genomics-based framework to monitor SARS-COV-2 mutations and their functional impact".

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Wendy Jocko of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation, offered an Algonquin Territorial Farewell, officially closing the CoVaRR-Net Spring 2023 Meeting.

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Wendy Jocko, Chief of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation from March 2020 to March 2023, began and ended the CoVaRR-Net Spring 2023 Meeting with an Algonquin Welcome and Farewell.