BC COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Healthcare Delivery & Policy

In support of the coordinated BC health research response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) is serving as the secretariat for the newly-formed BC COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee.

The BC COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee reports to the provincial response Planning Section Chief, Health Emergency Coordination Centre, and provides information and advice that helps create a fuller picture as to what’s being researched in BC related to COVID-19 and what is needed. 

More information and updates

Committee mandate

The BC COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee will:

• Advise the Province on what research needs to be done to support the Province’s response to the pandemic
• Develop a research framework that will inform the Province on what research needs to be done, and that will be available for other stakeholders to use to inform their activities 

Committee activities include:

• Monitoring global COVID-19 research activity
• Mapping BC COVID-19 research activities
• Understanding and documenting provincial COVID-19 research needs (including those across the health-care system) as they are being defined

To deliver on its mandate, the committee will be meeting to develop how to gather input from the wider health and research community. In addition, the work of the committee will help inform MSFHR’s COVID-19 research response. The committee’s work is also intended to help inform other organizations’ research efforts and activities.

Committee members are appointed by the Planning Section Chief, Health Emergency Coordination Centre and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

• David Patrick (Chair): Director of Research and Medical Epidemiology Lead for Antimicrobial Resistance; BC Centre on Substance Use; Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
• Lorne Babiuk: Former Vice-President, Research, University of Alberta and the former Director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan
• Tania Bubela: Professor and Dean - Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• Brett Finlay: Professor; Michael Smith Laboratories, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia
• Perry Kendall: Co-Interim Executive Director, BC Centre on Substance Use; former Provincial Health Officer, BC
• Adeera Levin: Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Head, Division of Nephrology, University of British Columbia; Executive Director, BC Renal; Consulting Nephrologist - St Paul's Hospital
• David Snadden: Professor, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Rural Doctors’ University of British Columbia Chair in Rural Health
• Kelli Stajduhar: Professor, School of Nursing, University of Victoria
• Martin Schechter (ex-officio): Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia; Chief Scientific Officer, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research 
• Victoria Schuckel (ex-officio): Executive Director, Research and Technology, Ministry of Health
• Kelly Barnard (Secretariat): Project Consultant; former Senior Public Health Medical Consultant BC Government

For questions or information contact Gayle Scarrow (gscarrow@msfhr.org).