Northern Health Research Conference
Save the Date for the 2026 NHRC:June 3, 2026 in Sudbury, ON. In-person and online! |
2025 Hybrid Conference
NOSM University held its 20th annual Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC) from June 16 to 17, 2025. This was our 4th hybrid model based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario, with an online portion for those who could not attend in person.
Over 155 learners, physicians, faculty and researchers were in attendance. With a total of 27 oral presentations and 44 posters, attendees were able to learn about research activities taking place across Northern Ontario, and network with their peers.
Congratulations to our student winners:
Oral Presentation – Undergraduate Division – Félix Lavigne
Oral Presentation – Graduate/Post-Graduate Division – Amanda Keursten
Poster Presentation – Undergraduate Division – Jonathan Hammond
Poster Presentation – Graduate/Post-Graduate Division – Lucas Mrozewski
Poster Presentation – In-Person – Shirley Liu
Roger Strasser NHRC Student Travel Award – Mustafa Alzahran
A thought-provoking keynote address titled “Respecting Lives, Enhancing Care: Addressing the Opioid Crisis with Compassion” was delivered by Dr. Kristen Morin, an Assistant Professor at NOSM University, a Health Sciences North Research Institute affiliated researcher, and an ICES North Fellow.
An informative Lunch and Learn session titled “The Ontario Health Study: A resource for cancer, disease and health research in Ontario and Canada” was delivered by Dr. Victoria Kirsh, the Interim Scientific Director at Ontario Health Study.
Visit the conference website for further information, and check out NOSMtv to view the 2025 posters. Click here to view the 2025 agenda.
2024 Hybrid Conference
NOSM University held it’s 19th annual Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC) from June 10-11, 2024 in Sudbury, Ontario, with an online portion for those who could not attend in person.
The Keynote Panel delivered a 1-hour engaging session titled ‘Advancing Health Equity Research: A Learning Collaborative Network Approach at NOSM University.’ Keynote panelists included Drs. Alex Anawati, Erin Cameron, Joseph LeBlanc, Brianne Wood, and Barb Zelek.
New in 2024 was the addition of a Lunch & Learn workshop by ICES North titled ‘Unlocking the possibilities of administrative data for research‘.
Click here to access recorded oral presentations and click here to access the poster presentations.
2023 Hybrid Conference
NOSM University held it’s 18th annual Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC) from June 1-2, 2023. The 2023 conference was our second hybrid model based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario, with an online portion for those who could not attend in person.
The Keynote Address entitled Thunder Bay’s New Urology Research Era: Moving from Bench to Bedside was delivered by Dr. Hazem Elmansy. Dr. Elmansy is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Minimally Invasive Urologic Surgery Fellowship Program with NOSM University.
Visit the 2023 NHRC website to access recorded oral presentations, and poster presentations that have been posted to NOSM University’s YouTube channel.
2022 Hybrid Conference
NOSM University held it’s 17th annual Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC) on Friday, June 24, 2022. The 2022 conference was our first hybrid model based out of Sudbury, Ontario, with an online portion for those who could not attend in person.
The Keynote Address entitled An Unusual Suspect: The Journey from Clinician to Physician-Researcher was delivered by Dr. Chi Cheng. Dr. Cheng is a Child & Adolescent, Adult Psychiatrist and Physician Researcher. She also holds the role of Program Director – Psychiatry at NOSM University.
CHIACHEN CHENG, MD, FRCP(C), MPH
Dr. Cheng’s primary research interests are early intervention for youth mental health, evidence
based practice as it interfaces with paediatric and youth mental health policy, and models of
care for vulnerable populations in rural or remote settings. Dr. Cheng is recognized provincially
and internationally for her work, including as elected Board member of IEPA Early Intervention
in Mental Health Association, keynote address at the Early Psychosis Intervention Ontario
Network provincial conference, or other invited presentations.
In 2012, Dr. Cheng was awarded a three-year New Investigator Research Grant from the Sick
Kids Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the NorthBEAT Project, with
the goal to identify the mental health service needs of youth in Northern Ontario. In 2017, Dr.
Cheng and the NorthBEAT team received an Ontario Trillium Foundation-Youth Opportunities
Fund grant to support the NorthBEAT Collaborative. This diverse collaborative will improve
coordination of care, build capacity to detect psychosis symptoms early, and enhance access to
appropriate services for youth with psychosis who live in Northwestern Ontario. Dr. Cheng
received the PSI Foundation’s four-year PSI-50 Mid-Career Clinical Research Award in 2019.
This salary award is to continue Dr. Cheng’s work in health services and policy research,
especially involving youth and other vulnerable people.
Dr. Cheng participates in peer review committees including at NOAMA, Sick Kids Foundation,
and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She has been Associated Editor of the Early
Intervention in Psychiatry Journal and at Frontiers in Health Services Journal. Her research has
examined program implementation and development, fidelity to Ontario’s Early Psychosis
Intervention standards, evaluation of training for healthcare workers, evaluation of delivery of
services in rural and remote regions, and pathways to care among vulnerable populations such
as youth, or Indigenous communities.
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Pre-Conference Workshop:
Research at NOSM University: The basics and beyond: Ghislaine Pilot-Attema (Research Coordinator, Research and Graduate Studies Office at NOSM University) lead this 1.5-hour preconference workshop, where participants were introduced to the basic concepts and functions of research administration and the research environment at NOSM University. Ghislaine went through several areas and topics including research funding, NOSM University research processes, opportunities to engage learners in research, and resources available to faculty. In this interactive workshop, participants worked together, and learned from each other in a supportive, and engaging environment. All faculty, residents, students, and staff were encouraged to attend, from novice to expert.
After this session, participants were able to:
- Explain basic concepts and functions of research at NOSM University.
- Discuss processes related to research at NOSM University.
- Advocate for the employment of research uptake in health-care practices.
For further information or a copy of this presentation please email research@nosm.ca
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Student Awards:
The 2022 NHRC held it’s first award competition for the top three best Student Oral and Poster Presentations. Student presentations were ranked by Faculty reviewers based on a number of criteria. Congratulations to the following students:
Oral Presentations
- Lobna Abdel-Dayem (Supervisor Dr. Alex Moise) – Investigating the role of Retinol Saturase in ferroptosis
- Manon Valiquette (Supervisors. Dr. Chris Thome and Dr. Sujeenthar Tharmalingam) – The Immune Modulating Effects of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation and Its Applicability in Cancer Therapy
- Kara Nadeau (Supervisor Dr. Grace Ma) – Perceptions on Prehabilitation in Northern Ontario General Surgery Patients
Poster Presentations
- Mathieu Rheault-Henry (Supervisor Dr. Rony Atoui) – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Versus Sutureless Aortic Valve Replacement: Overview of the Recent Advancements in Cardiac Surgery
- Courtney Ferris (Supervisor Dr. Marina Ulanova) – Neutrophils: necessary networking cells in host defense against Haemophilus influenzae
- Imran Bagha (Supervisor Dr. Samuel Peters) – CPRAT: A Novel Method for Enhancing CPR
Please visit the Conference Website for further details.
2021 Virtual Conference
The 2021 Virtual NHRC took place on Friday, October 15.
This year’s conference Presentations were organized into 6 Themes: Cancer; Medical Education; Environment and Health; Clinical Research; Indigenous Peoples Health; Health Services, and Population and Public Health.
The Keynote Address entitled Cardiovascular research using health services administrative data in Northern Ontario: Impact on quality of care and outcomes was delivered by Dr. Mohammed Shurrab. Dr. Shurrab is a Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Health Sciences North in Sudbury as well as an Assistant Professor at Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
MOHAMMED SHURRAB MD, MSC
Health Sciences North and Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
Dr. Shurrab is a Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Health Sciences North as well as an Assistant Professor at Northern Ontario School of Medicine. He was recently named HSNRI’s Research Lead in Cardiovascular Health. He is working with ICES north integrating academics, research and scholarship to improve the quality of care and outcomes in Northern Ontario and beyond. His research focuses on multiple cardiovascular topics related to irregular heartbeats and stroke, blood thinners and heart attack with a focus on the elderly population.
Dr. Shurrab is a well-published clinical researcher and his research efforts have led to the publication of 50 peer-reviewed papers in reputable journals. Most recently, in May 2018, he was awarded the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship. Also, he was successful in securing multiple grants to support his ongoing research.
Dr. Shurrab is actively involved in clinical teaching with learners from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the University of Toronto. His focus on clinical teaching also encourages learners to welcome research into their training and future clinical careers.
Learning Objectives:
- To highlight the use of health services administrative data in Cardiovascular Research
- To discuss the Impact of health services administrative research on quality of care and outcomes in Northern Ontario
The Agenda, with links to all Abstracts and Poster Presentations, can be found on the NHRC Website.
2020 Virtual Conference
The 15th annual Northern Health Research Conference took place virtually on Friday, October 2, 2020 from 10:00am to 12:00pm.
If you were unable to attend, please follow this NHRC LINK for a recording of the conference including the Keynote Address from Dr. Erin Cameron.
Dr. Erin Cameron is an Assistant Professor in Medical Education and Curriculum Development at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). She currently co-chairs the Northern and Rural Health curriculum course in the MD program at NOSM and is a founding member and the Chair of MERLIN (Medical Education Research Lab in the North), a lab dedicated to advancing research and leaders in health professional education at NOSM.
As an educational scientist Dr. Cameron’s program of research focuses on social justice pedagogies that support transformation in education and health systems. With regional, provincial, and national funding in diverse areas in medical education research, Dr. Cameron’s work has and continues to be multidisciplinary with broad impact.
Prior to joining NOSM in 2017, Dr. Cameron held a faculty appointment at Memorial University of Newfoundland but loves being back in Northern Ontario enjoying vibrant outdoor adventures with her husband and four young children!
Contact email – ercameron@nosm.ca
Please see the interactive NHRC 2020 Agenda for direct links to the Abstract, Presentation and Contact information for all speakers.
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This conference demonstrates NOSM University’s commitment to health care and education to the people of Northern Ontario and beyond. The NHRC continues to explore research activities within Northern Ontario arising from community-based activities. It will highlight projects underway from students, residents, and community-based researchers. The conference provides opportunities for collaboration and community networking.
