2023 CIMVHR Engagement Sessions

Each year, CIMVHR takes the opportunity to engage with the community where CIMVHR Forum will be hosted. With CIMVHR Forum 2023 taking place in Ottawa-Gatineau, CIMVHR hosted three engagement sessions showcasing military, Veteran, public safety personnel and family health research in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Participants from academia, government, military, philanthropy, and industry were invited to join the event and take the opportunity to learn, connect and engage with members of their community.

The session offered an opportunity to learn more about CIMVHR, the Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health, and abstract submission details before CIMVHR Forum 2023. The event allowed researchers to inform their colleagues and community members of current research within their organizations. Furthermore, these sessions allow the CIMVHR network to strengthen their relationships and discuss ways they can collaborate in the future.

The participation for the 2023 Engagement Sessions increased significantly from our 2019 sessions. Showing the growth in the CIMVHR network and the need to continue the conversation around research that will advance the health and well-being of our military personnel, Veterans and their families.

Engagement Sessions Participation

City Percentage increase from 2019 to 2023
Ottawa 247.62%
Toronto 13.33%
Montreal 30%

Ottawa Researcher Engagement Session

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

This engagement session was held in the nation’s capital and featured presentations from the CIMVHR Forum 2022 Banting Award winner on Musculoskeletal Injury in Female Military Members, resilience in military families, and Social Isolation of Leadership in a Healthcare Crisis, among many others. CIMVHR was thrilled to have their newest funder, The War Amps Canada, in attendance to discuss the importance of our new relationship and the ground breaking research we will collaborate on to improve the quality of life for seriously disabled Veterans.

Toronto Researcher Engagement Session

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

This event featured five researchers from the greater Toronto area who spoke on topics including Blood Transfusion trials, Multimodal Neuroimaging in the Evaluation of Mental Disorders, Families Matter Partnership Study, and Minority Stress Research. Dr. David Pedlar spoke about the importance of abstract submissions for the upcoming CIMVHR Forum, and the JMVFH editor, Lacey Cranston, provided an update on the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health. Namita Joshi from True Patriot Love also spoke about the dynamic partnership between CIMVHR and the True Patriot Love Foundation. The event closed with a lively discussion, bringing insight into the military and Veteran health community's needs and gaps.

Montreal Engagement Session

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Twenty-six participants from academia, government, military, philanthropy, and industry had the opportunity to learn, connect and engage with community members. The session featured a presentation from CIMVHR's longstanding research partner, The Royal Canadian Legion, and Dr. Daniel Gagnon, Université de Montréal, who presented on the "Implications of heat exposure for cardiac health of armed forces personnel" – findings related to research task #58.

With key players in attendance at these sessions, CIMVHR hosted roundtable discussions where participants answered a series of questions that will help CIMVHR improve future events and programming, gaps in research, and community support. Here’s what people had to say:

Question 1: What role should CIMVHR play within the military, Veteran, family and public safety personnel health research sector?

  • Have CIMVHR act as a liaison / lobbyist with the research agencies
  • Expand thinking about Veterans population (i.e., composition)
  • Secure funding for researchers
  • Leadership and mentorship

Question 2: What are the most important gaps that CIMVHR could fill and/or support? (I.e., Programing, research, communication, networks.)

  • Provide greater access to Veterans and act as a matchmaker
  • Promote gender studies / research that focuses on women
  • Reflect the research needs of veterans and encourage them to do research
  • A demand for more knowledge translation (KT)…innovation to impact.
  • Host local events to address one major question to further support the military, Veteran and family community.

Question 3: What can CIMVHR do to support our community?

  • Engage in targeted competitions
  • Bridge the gaps between serving members and academia
  • Connect researchers to their respective populations of study
  • Provide source for KT and research
  • Showcase researchers in the field and connect them

Question 4: What programing would you like to see from CIMVHR in the future?

  • Researchers would like to have clinical sessions at Forum

CIMVHR looks forward to future engagement sessions where we can again connect with local research communities across Canada. The above suggestions will be factored into our future events and Forum. We will host an engagement session on April 3, 2024, for all in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Details will be posted on CIMVHR’s events page in early 2024 – cimvhr.ca/conferences.