$6.7M national research collaborative helps McMaster take “the big picture” approach to child health

A $6.7M investment from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will help 16 pediatric research sites across Canada join forces to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 and lay the foundation to study other conditions in the future.

Led by CHU Saint-Justine, in Montreal, the infrastructure will enable a “big picture” approach to tackling child health issues in Canada through multi-centre recruitment of patients and data-sharing across the 16 sites, including McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH). The unified approach will accelerate the availability of the best and most current information and inform timely care and policy decisions.

The POPCORN (Pediatric Outcome imProvement through COordination of Research Networks) initiative brings together the largest pediatric COVID-19 research teams in Canada. McMaster Pediatrics researchers who treat these patients will lead the work in Hamilton: Drs. Gita Wahi (general pediatrics) and Karen Choong (intensive care) are principal investigators and Drs. Jeff Pernica (infectious disease) April Kam (emergency medicine), and Rahul Chanchlani (nephrology) are co-investigators in the network.

“This new research platform will not only help us to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on young Canadians; it will better position us to respond to future health emergencies.”

–The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health

Read the announcement from the Federal Minister of Health (April 25, 2022)
Read the Backgrounder on POPCORN