Pan-Canadian team receives financing to develop a national pediatric diabetes registry

SOURCE: RI-MUHC. Researchers from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) are part of a pan-Canadian team that has been awarded five years of funding to develop a national pediatric diabetes registry.

Drs. Meranda Nakhla and Julia Von Oettingen of the RI-MUHC’s Child Health and Human Development Program (CHHD) and the Montreal Children’s Hospital jointly lead the project with Drs Shazhan Amed from the University of British Columbia and Ian Zenlea of Trillium Health Partners, University of Toronto.

Titled “Building CAPACity for pediatric diabetes research and quality improvement across Canada”, the project will receive $399k per year for a five year term. This project was funded thanks to a special call issued by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in partnership with Diabetes Canada, Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, JDRF Canada and the Kidney Foundation of Canada to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin.

The research team also includes other RI-MUHC members including Drs. Isabel Fortier and Patricia Li, both members of CHHD as well as Dr. Deborah Da Costa of the Metabolic Disorders and Complications (MeDiC) Program. The national registry will involve more than ten pediatric diabetes centres across Canada.

“We are very excited,” says Dr. Nakhla, who conducts research at the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at the RI-MUHC. “We feel that this is going to be such a valuable platform for future research in pediatric diabetes and to improving care for children with diabetes.”

“This is fantastic news for children and their families living with diabetes, as well as their clinical providers, and researchers in the field,” adds Dr. Von Oettingen. “Together we will build the first pan-Canadian registry and then use it to improve care and answer important research questions.”

December 7, 2021