Clinical Trials Day: Strengthening Maternal and Pediatric Clinical Research Across Canada
Clinical trials are essential to improving care for children, youth, and pregnant people. They help make sure treatments are safe, effective, and based on evidence that reflects the unique needs of maternal and pediatric populations.
This Clinical Trials Day, MICYRN is recognizing the national partnerships and support systems that help advance maternal and child health research across Canada.
Through its Clinical Trials Consortium, MICYRN helps research teams across Canada work together on clinical trials. The Consortium brings together researchers, institutions, and expertise from across the country to improve collaboration, make trial processes more efficient, and expand access to high-quality pediatric and maternal clinical research.
“For a long time, children and pregnant people were excluded from clinical trials, which meant the care they received was not informed by their needs,” said Dr. Lauren Kelly, Director of the IMPaCT clinical trials training program, Associate Professor, Max Rady College of Medicine, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, at the University of Manitoba, and MICYRN Clinical Trials Consortium Member. “Clinical trials are essential to supporting evidence-based care that reflects the needs of Canadian families and health systems.”
Because pediatric and maternal studies often involve fewer eligible participants and complex approval requirements, national collaboration is critical.
“Clinical trials are essential to supporting evidence-based care that reflects the needs of Canadian families and health systems.” - Dr. Lauren Kelly
“There is no way to do this work in isolation,” Dr. Kelly said. “A multisite consortium allows us to plan studies that can meet recruitment targets and reflect the diverse needs of participants and sites across the country.”
To support clinical trials from planning through implementation, MICYRN provides both Pre-Award Services and Post-Award Services. These services include protocol development, project management, ethics and regulatory support, data coordination, monitoring, and practical guidance for trials taking place at multiple sites.
“Trial project management and data coordination services provided by the consortium have helped me to launch multisite, regulatory quality trials for children with supports that were not available at my institution,” Dr. Kelly said.
“MICYRN exists to make pediatric and maternal clinical trials more connected, efficient, and accessible across Canada” - Aiman Siddiqi
“MICYRN exists to make pediatric and maternal clinical trials more connected, efficient, and accessible across Canada,” said Aiman Siddiqi, Director of Clinical Research at MICYRN. “By bringing together national expertise, operational support, and shared infrastructure, we’re helping researchers navigate complex trial processes while creating more opportunities for Canadian children and families to participate in high-quality clinical research.”
MICYRN is also helping strengthen international collaboration in pediatric clinical trials through partnerships with organizations and networks including the ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network), ERDERA (European Rare Diseases Research Alliance), and Horizon Europe.
Through these collaborations, MICYRN is advancing multinational pediatric clinical trials, strengthening operational and regulatory coordination across jurisdictions, and supporting more efficient and innovative approaches to pediatric trial design and delivery.
Clinical Trials Day is an opportunity to recognize the collaboration, expertise, and support needed to advance maternal and pediatric research in Canada. By connecting teams and strengthening trial capacity across the country, MICYRN is helping create more opportunities for children, youth, and pregnant people to benefit from high-quality clinical research.