Alison Allan

Visionary Dr. Henry Friesen reinvented Canada’s premier health research funding agency Dr. Friesen did groundbreaking work isolating and purifying the hormone prolactin, and went on to distinguish himself as a leader, establishing the influential Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Obituary: Visionary Dr. Henry Friesen re-invented Canada’s premier health research funding agency. He also did groundbreaking work isolating and purifying the hormone prolactin, by @picardonhealth.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com

Opinion: The key to winning the trade war is doubling down on research Canada’s productivity has been on a downward slide for decades. Donald Trump’s trade war has brought a renewed urgency to tackling the issue

The key to winning the trade war is doubling down on research, by @richardgold.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com... via @theglobeandmail.com

NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024.

That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved.

Show me a better investment than that.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

A French University is funding a Safe Place For Science program meant to recruit scientists who cannot continue their work in the US. www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/a...

Opinion | Covid’s Deadliest Effect Took Five Years to Appear What once belonged to all of us now belongs to corporations.

#COVID19's Deadliest Effect Took Five Years to Appear. Covid didn’t just change billions of individual lives. It changed our basic approach to public health, in fundamental ways, by Siddhartha Mukherjee www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/o... via @nytopinion.nytimes.com

Long road ahead to draw more women into STEM careers This week, MP Kirsty Duncan, a scientist-turned-politician, shared her own experiences with those obstacles in a seminar hosted by Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Depart...

MP Kirsty Duncan has served in Parliament since 2008, but before that she was a scientist. Ahead of International Women's Day, she shared her experience as a woman in research and the challenges of encouraging more women to choose a STEM career. #IWD
@schulichmeddent.bsky.social

So inspiring!!

An incredible sight seeing research collaborations being built in the moment #RECAPMixer #researchpartnerships #cocreation @westernuspace.bsky.social @westernuresearch.bsky.social

FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots The meeting was canceled just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.

FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots

The meeting was canceled just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.

This makes “when the USA sneezes, Canada catches a cold” slightly too literal for my taste

‘It’s tectonic:’ U.S. foreign aid freeze deals a blow to research around the globe Dismantling of USAID could disrupt clinical trials and wipe away U.S. “soft power” in developing countries, scientists warn

What's happening at #USAID is causing so much damage. The great reporters at @science.org explore some of that damage. www.science.org/content/arti...

YouTube video by 22 Minutes There's only one winner in a trade war... | This Hour Has 22 Minutes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYUI...

Scientists as political advocates Science, both teaching and doing, is under attack. The recent US presidential election of a person and platform with anti-science bias exemplifies this. The study of climate processes and patterns and...

If you can, do something, speak up and act up. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid (Gift Article) Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work.

#GlobalHealth Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid. Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for #tuberculosis, #malaria, #HIV and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/h... via @nytimes.com

Canada announces new immigration stream specific to health workers Communities across Canada need health workers. The health field is one of several key sectors of Canada’s labour force which is facing unprecedented shortages. To help respond to this challenge, last ...

American health workers looking to relocate? Doorway to practice medicine in Canada 🇨🇦
We have job openings nationwide. www.canada.ca/en/immigrati...

National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills An NSF online payment system remained down after the federal funding freeze was lifted, leaving early-career scientists scrambling to pay bills

War on science? www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t... @statnews.com @ericboodman.bsky.social

NIH is purging Trump-targeted programs—but is sparing existing grants, so far Chaos extends to CDC, which is shuttering websites in “data apocalypse”

The chaos triggered by President Donald Trump’s executive orders banning federal funding for diversity and other topics continues to shake the National Institutes of Health and other health agencies. scim.ag/3EjJGag

Promotional image for the 2025 Clinical Trials Training Summit featuring a stylized maple leaf and hotel image. Dates: February 24-26. Location: Vancouver, BC at the Fairmount Hotel. Hosts: CANTRAIN, CAN-TAP-TALENT, STROKECOG, CBITN. Slogan: Better Prepared. Better Care. Together.

We are excited to announce the 2025 Clinical Trials Training Summit, advancing quality, innovation, and inclusivity in clinical trials. Feb 24-26, Vancouver, BC + virtual attendance free and open to the public. #ClinicalTrialTraining #CTSummit2025
clinicaltrailstrainingsummit2025.wecantrain.ca

How to write a narrative CV - University Affairs This document should strongly demonstrate your capability as well as the feasibility of your proposed work.

This looks useful for Canadian academics

https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/how-to-write-a-narrative-cv/

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring Researchers facing “a lot of uncertainty, fear, and panic”

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

New health research group president targets areas of greatest impact Dr. Paul Hebert of Ottawa has started a five-year term as head of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

New president of Canadian Institutes of Health Research,
Dr. Paul Hébert, targets areas of greatest impact, by @egpayne.bsky.social ottawacitizen.com/news/new-hea... via @ottawacitizen.com

Infographic: Evolving EDI practices in the post-secondary research system. Over the past several decades, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives have led to transformative changes at institutions across Canada. However, gaps in data limit our full understanding of their effectiveness. To continue to foster a culture of inclusive excellence, a systems-wide approach to EDI is essential.

What do we know about EDI practices in the post-secondary research system? What’s next? Our recent report explores measures that can enhance #EDI, the benefits and challenges of implementing them, and their potential impacts on individuals and institutions go.cca-reports.ca/4fwaRwl

It’s remarkably easy to inject new medical misinformation into LLMs Changing just 0.001% of inputs to misinformation makes the AI less accurate.

Important warning about "data poisoning"

It's easy to inject new medical misinformation into LLMs arstechnica.com/science/2025...

From study: Need "...awareness of emergent risks from LLMs trained indiscriminately on web-scraped data, particularly in healthcare where misinformation..."

Want to learn more about the new, narrative-style tri-agency CV? Join our webinar on January 21 from 1 – 2 p.m., where we will guide you through the process of writing a compelling narrative CV that highlights your research achievements, skills, and impact: westernuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Access to care: 5 principles for action on primary health-care teams A newly created Primary Care Action Team has a lofty goal: to ensure all Ontarians have access to primary health care within five years. Here are five principals to consider to help achieve it.

Access to care: 5 principles for action on primary health-care teams

Being in shape is better for longevity than being thin, new study shows A comprehensive review found that being out of shape greatly increased the risk of dying prematurely — regardless of age or body mass index.

Sum: #Move!

Being in shape is better for longevity than being thin, new study shows wapo.st/426kAoZ

“...it should be known that you can get more healthy at your current body weight just by moving more.”

The 15 Safest Countries To Travel, Ranked In A New Report Searching for the safest countries to visit? An annual report ranks the safest countries in the world—with Iceland coming out on top. The U.S. didn’t make the cut.

Canada ranked as one of the safest countries in the world www.forbes.com/sites/laurab...

Regarding violent crime, we rank #2 in safety.

There is a massive disconnect between perception of crime (often driven by political rhetoric, headlines, TV shows) & reality.

Issue complex. But perspective key