Clinical Trials Ontario: Call for Members for the College of Lived Experience

The following is a message from Clinical Trials Ontario

Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO) is an independent not-for-profit organization established with support from the Government of Ontario. Our mandate is to work together with the clinical trials community, the public, and other partners to improve Ontario’s clinical trials environment. Since 2012 we have been carrying out our mandate with one of our three strategic pillars being patient and public engagement. We believe engaging patients and the public is critical to improving the environment for clinical trials in Ontario and will result in better clinical trials, better experiences for trial participants, better physician-researcher experiences, and in the long run, a better health care system. More information about Clinical Trials Ontario can be found at www.ctontario.ca.

In 2020, CTO created the College of Lived Experience (or the College) that is composed of people from all across Ontario who have different backgrounds and who are interested in clinical trials. The College members help CTO ensure that our activities are informed and improved by the perspectives and advice of patients and the public. The College has helped CTO create a number of resources on its website (Learn More about Clinical Trials, Clinical Trials Finder, Clinical Trials Glossary, and Participant Experience Toolkit), and has contributed to a number of other projects.

CTO is looking for new members to join the College. You do not need to know about clinical trials or to have participated in a clinical trial to be involved – as long as you are interested in clinical trials and live in Ontario there may be a role for you. While many of the current College members live with a health condition or are caregivers to those who do, this is not a requirement to be a member of the College.

To be part of the College, we ask that you:
  • Be prepared for and attend virtual meetings about once every 1-2 months. Throughout the pandemic, the meetings have been hosted virtually and may return in the future to in-person meetings.
  • Openly and constructively participate in discussions, provide feedback, raise issues, and solve problems collaboratively;
  • Participate in training about the research process and clinical trials;
  • Foster and contribute to an open, collaborative engagement, independent of your own personal interests;
  • Support the mandate of Clinical Trials Ontario;
  • Provide constructive feedback as well as criticism;
  • Draw on knowledge, personal and professional networks, and experience to provide input into discussions and decisions;
  • Act as a champion for further patient and public engagement with clinical trials;
  • Maintain confidentiality about topics and meetings when asked to do so.

CTO is seeking College members who reflect a breadth of intersectionality (for example, geography, age, race, language, sex and gender, etc.).

You will be provided with an honorarium for your participation (if you wish) and have your expenses covered to attend any in-person College meetings.

If you are interested in this opportunity:

Please email Dawn Richards, CTO’s Director of Patient and Public Engagement (dawn.richards@ctontario.ca), with some information about yourself including (if a video is easier than written information, please feel free to send a link to a video instead):

  • Why you are interested in being part of the College;
  • The contribution you feel you could make to the College (for example, the skills, experience, or perspectives you would bring);
  • Any involvement you have with patient or healthcare organizations (this is not a requirement to participate – we are simply interested in learning about this from you);
  • Where you live in Ontario (we’re interested in having members from all over the province);
  • Any other community affiliation or other information that you wish to share (e.g., a particular ethno-cultural community, LGBTQ2S+, youth, etc.).

Please only share what you are comfortable sharing in your expression of interest and do not feel any pressure to share anything you do not wish to. Though we may not be able to invite everyone who expresses interest to be part of the College, you will receive a communication about whether or not you are invited to join.

If you are interested, please provide your brief expression of interest by March 26, 2023. Thank you in advance for your interest in participating. If you have any questions about this opportunity, please contact Dawn Richards (dawn.richards@ctontario.ca).