EVENTS
We offer our mentees and mentors opportunities to network regionally and nationally.
These events are also designed to welcome our institutional and network partners as well as stakeholders. The goal of these events are:
To bring together current and future leaders from the field of behavioural medicine in order to build capacity for our network, for individuals, and the field at large.
To bring the field into the spotlight and showcase its pivotal role in supporting healthcare and population health.
To create ties with other healthcare and clinical trial fields as well as federal and provincial governments, policymakers, and organizations working with individuals, communities and populations locally, regionally, and nationally.
Our mission includes a focus on networking.
National Event 2024
Montreal, Québec
May 16 - UQAM’s downtown campus
CBITN’s 2024 National Event was designed to create valuable networking opportunities for Cohort 1 mentees by offering them opportunities for dialogue with academic and non-academic professionals from various fields.
After a lunchtime opening session, a three-hour speed networking activity was held with professionals from healthcare, academia, industry, and policy.
Participants rotated from one group to the next and discussions were guided by a set of thought-provoking questions designed to stir dialogue and exchanges.
Participants reported finding great value in having access to professionals from academia, obtaining perspectives from professionals outside academia, and receiving advice from clinical professors.
Regional Events 2024
WESTERN CANADA
February 5 - Virtual
Western Canada hosted a virtual networking event, bringing together nearly 50 participants, including mentees, mentors, collaborators, and patient partners. This three-hour event featured a variety of discussion-based networking activities. It also aimed to brainstorm ideas for the in-person even planned for later in the year.
The event included four rounds of networking in small groups including discussions on challenges and emerging topics in physical activity, nutrition, mind-body therapies, and patient advocacy.
May 3 - University of Calgary
This in-person event featured networking, team-building, and professional development and welcomed approximately 31 participants, including mentees, academic and non-academics mentors, and collaborators from British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
The event featured insightful keynotes on “Behavioral Medicine Leadership and the Roles of Behavioural Medicine in the Canadian System” and on “Real-World Implementation, Patient Engagement and Community-Based Research” followed by a talk on “Professional Pathways to Psychedelics: People, Product & Purpose” and a Q&A panel about career development and personal motivation, and more.
The event also included breakout sessions on public speaking, science communication, job searching, interviewing strategies, EDIA, knowledge translation, and patient engagement.
The event was followed by a group dinner with a bowling activity.
Participants from Western Canada’s in-person event at the University of Calgary, including keynote speakers Simon Bacon, PhD and Nicole Culos-Reed, PhD, and non-academic mentor from CBITN’s Year-1 Cohort Heesoo Cho.
Regional Events 2024
EASTERN CANADA
April 5-6 - Memorial University of Newfoundland
The Eastern Canada regional event was held in conjunction with the Memorial University Faculty of Science annual Scientific Endeavours in Academia (SEA) conference. The CBITN event featured a symposium and an evening networking event and welcomed 24 attendees, including CBITN mentees, other trainees, CBITN academic and non-academic mentors, a CBITN internship supervisor, industry and not-for-profit partners, an individual with lived experience, and a SPOR network representative.
Regional Events 2024
ONTARIO
March 2 - Brock University
The Ontario region’s first in-person event welcomed 26 attendees, including students, a postdoc, university faculty members, industry and non-profit network partners, and a patient partner.
The event featured networking and professional development sessions for mentees on topics like job and media interview training, implicit bias recognition, and patient engagement strategies.
The event also included two keynote talks by Dr. Simon Bacon and Dr. Kim Gammage and discussions about patents, behavioural trials, industry and public sector jobs, and EDI best practices in research. The event concluded with a group dinner.
This event was supported by matching funds from Brock University.
Participants from the Ontario region’s Canada’s in-person event at Brock University.
Regional Events 2024
QUEBEC
February 15 - Montreal - UQAM’s downtown campus
This event was the Quebec region's first in-person gathering and was featured as part of a joint conference program led by other CIHR-funding Clinical Trial Training Platforms CANTRAIN, CAN-TAP-Talent, and StrokeCog. This larger event aimed to bring together Canadian professionals and researchers in various clinical trials fields.
The CBITN event began with a hybrid session featuring engaging presentations on behavioral interventions and implementation science by Kim Lavoie, PhD, Ariane Bélanger-Gravel, PhD, Isabelle Lussier, PhD, and Geneviève Rouleau, PhD. The presentations were followed by a networking session for investigators and trainees from diverse fields to exchange and share insights.
The afternoon session was presented in collaboration with CANTRAIN and featured talks from leading behavioural medicine experts, Simon Bacon, PhD, Geneviève Rouleau, PhD, and Michael Vallis, PhD.
Videos of certain presentations will be shared in fall 2024.
The four experts speakers featured during the CBITN’s morning session, held in English and French.