It’s a modest space, only 1,000 sq. ft. in area, but scientists working at ICES North will collect and analyze data that could eventually benefit the health of residents throughout Northern Ontario.
The sixth and final Ontario satellite of the prestigious Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences was officially opened Friday at Health Sciences North’s Ramsey Lake Health Centre.
ICES is a not-for-profit research institute encompassing a community of research, data and clinical experts, and a secure and accessible array of health data in Ontario.
Until now, northern health researchers have had limited access to data collected by ICES, said Dominic Giroux, chief executive officer of HSNRI, at a news conference. “That is about to change” with the opening of ICES North, he told a standing room only crowd at the announcement.
ICES North is a partnership among Health Sciences North Research Institute, Laurentian University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
Dr. Michael Conlon is site director of ICES North, an appointment made last year. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, FedNor and the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation invested $563,424 to renovate space on the third floor of HSN’s North Tower for the satellite.
Conlon said ICES North is starting with one local lead analyst, Laurentian graduate Dr. Joe Caswell, who is responsible for doing data analytics and training analytical staff as they are brought on.
As well as Conlon and Caswell, a privacy and security officer and a site administrator make up the core team.
Conlon and others stressed that information available and collected at ICES North will be “highly secured.”
Conlon said after the news conference that ICES North will allow researchers to answer questions with a northern focus. Several clinicians have an interest in outcomes from health care and equitable access to care and follow-up care, “and this kind of data will help them answer those questions.”
Scientists working at ICES North will undertake important research projects that are part of the evaluation, planning and management of the health care system in Ontario.
Conlon said Sudbury is fortunate to be named a satellite for the world-class institution. Every academic health sciences institution now has an ICES satellite.
“We’re proud that we are the last and final build ... It’s really important for the North,” said Conlon.
Dr. Roger Strasser, dean and chief executive officer of NOSM, said partnering with ICES North aligns with the medical school’s social accountability mandate.
“I really see today as a great day for the health of the people of Northern Ontario,” Strasser told the crowd, explaining the partnership has been in the works for a decade.
Until now, a good deal of research focus has been on whole of Northern Ontario or has been Toronto-centric. “Today that has changed.”
He called the opening of ICES North “a turning point for Northern Ontario.”
Dr. Jennifer Walker is a core scientist at ICES and Laurentian University’s first Indigenous Canada Research Chair. Data collected and analysed by ICES North will help better respond to the needs of Indigenous communities, she said.
Dr. Michael Schull, CEO of ICES, said the institute’s vision is to create a province-wide community of research, data and health system experts. That vision could not be complete until ICES North in Sudbury was established.
The partnership will contribute to the effectiveness, quality, equity and efficiency of health care and services in Ontario, he said.
The ICES North office has 10 work spaces for sciences and two for students. Highly secured information technology will allow ICES North scientists, in Sudbury and other parts of Northern Ontario, directly connect with ICES central at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
