Training, Mentoring and Capacity Development

Led by Dr. John Parker of the Unvisersity of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, the training, mentoring and capacity development team aims to implement various programs to support training within the network, including an educational training program, financial support programs, and a mentoring program.

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Educational training program 

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One of the priorities of this team is to create an educational training program that will provide trainees with training in research methods such as modern epidemiologic methods and statistics, pragmatic clinical trials and their implementation, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, fundamentals of machine learning and AI, cultural and social sensitivities, patient partner engagement, health systems, translational knowledege, and how policies are developed and implemented, in addition to content knowledge about HF. This educational program is being delivered in a variety of ways, including online courses and in-person workshops. 

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The CHF Alliance partners with the CIHR-funded CANTRAIN program, a clinical trials training platform to increase competency beyond e-learning, e-training, modules and webinars for postgraduate students, clinical research professionals, trialists and community partners. The CHF Alliance is working with CANTRAIN to identify training needs and help develop the traning modules. 

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Financial support programs

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Each year, the CHF Alliance launches a competition for Training Awards and Early Career Investigator Grants in heart failure to support the training and career development of the next generation.  

The one-year training awards are intended to cover the salary of a master's, doctoral or postdoctoral student, or an MD enrolled in a research fellowship, conducting research with a supervisor, member of the network. The amount awarded by the CHF Alliance must be matched by funds from the Principal Investigator's university or institution. In addition, training funds may be available from our partners MITACS through its ACCELERATE program, and CANTRAIN through their scholarships and fellowships programs, to which CHF Alliance trainees are encouraged to apply. 

 

In addition, the CHF Alliance also supports researchers within the first five years of their first appointment through the Early Career Investigator Grant competition. This grant is intended to help young investigators by supporting the development of their unfunded research project. While there is no restriction in terms of research areas, projects must be in line with the CHF Alliance's mission to improve the prediction, prevention, diagnosis and management of heart failure.

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Visit the Grants page to learn more about the financial support programs.

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Mentoring program

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One of the priorities highlighted by the Training Committee is the need for a mentoring program. In fact, trainees often struggle to find the right mentor and have no resources in this situation. Therefore, the team will work to develop resources for trainees, such as a list of potential supervisors within the Alliance, a list of key people who can guide them in their research, and a way to facilitate the matching of supervisors looking for a trainee with trainees looking for a supervisor.