Manitoba’s patient-oriented research unit gets two more years of funding

A $2.6 million federal investment will extend CHI’s work in putting patients at the centre of health research

Historically, health research has been done on people rather than with them. Patients live with various conditions for years while they navigate systems and notice what works—and what doesn’t. This experiential knowledge can’t come from traditional research methods, leaving that knowledge on the other side of the lab door.

Since 2008, CHI has been working to change that. Now, backed by a $2.6 million investment from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), that work continues for two more years.

The funding extends the Manitoba SPOR SUPPORT Unit’s second phase of funding as part of CIHR’s pan-Canadian Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR). It supports the infrastructure, relationships, and training that make genuine patient engagement possible—not as a formality, but as the thing that makes research better.

“This funding helps us continue building connections and trust between patient partners, researchers, and decision-makers. Having people with lived experience at the table is vital to ensuring we’re working on the problems that matter most to Manitobans.”

— Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, CHI Scientific Director

What nearly two decades of patient-oriented research looks like

Since CHI’s launch, patient engagement has moved from aspiration to infrastructure in Manitoba. Here is some of what that has produced:

Seeing who gets what care—and who doesn’t.

For decades, Manitoba’s health system collected data on diagnoses and treatments but not on who patients were. That meant inequities in care—by race, ethnicity, and Indigenous identity—were largely invisible.

Working with Dr. Marcia Anderson and Manitoba Health, CHI supported the development of a province-wide strategy to routinely collect patients’ race, ethnicity, and Indigenous identity data. In June 2025, that work produced Manitoba’s first public release of Emergency Department data broken down by demographics. For the first time, health system leaders can see not just how many people are being served, but whether the system is serving everyone equitably. That data is now driving frontline interventions designed to reduce gaps and improve culturally safe care.

Making patient feedback part of how the system improves.

When something goes wrong in a hospital stay, patients often know it before the data does. CHI developed a province-wide strategy to routinely capture patient experience across Manitoba’s hospitals through the Canadian Patient Experience Survey. That feedback now feeds directly into quality improvement conversations—helping care teams identify what matters, set priorities, and track whether things are getting better.

Research that measures what patients actually care about.

When CHI researchers co-designed a clinical trial of a drug to reduce blood transfusions during surgery, patient partners changed the study itself. The original design measured outcomes that mattered to health professionals. Patient partners pushed back: they wanted the trial to measure what mattered to them. The redesigned study captures outcomes that patients identified as priorities—producing practice-changing evidence built on the right questions.

Research that starts with community.

Through CHI’s PREPPP Award, more than 55 research projects have been strengthened by bringing patients and communities in from day one—shaping research priorities, refining study design, and ensuring the work answers questions people actually have. One outcome: a $1.2 million CIHR-funded study on improving access to joint care for First Nations patients, co-designed with a First Nations Advisory Circle from the outset.

A patient voice at every major health system table.

CHI leads patient and public engagement for Shared Health. Through the Shared Health Patient and Family Advisor Network, now more than 100 Manitobans strong, people with lived experience sit on boards of directors, provincial quality committees, and clinical advisory councils. Their input is directly shaping service planning, patient safety initiatives, and care pathways across the province. It is no longer unusual for a patient partner to be in the room when a major health system decision gets made. Five years ago, it was rare.

“Quality research changes how care gets delivered. This funding keeps Manitoba at the forefront of research that is rigorous, relevant, and built around the patient.”

— Dr. Peter Nickerson, Dean & Vice-Provost, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba

What it means to be a patient partner

CHI’s patient and public partners are collaborators, not just respondents or participants. They are people who bring knowledge about what it is like to navigate the health system, live with a condition, or try to access care in a rural community.

“I started working with CHI as a patient partner because I wanted my experience as a young student with the health system to make a difference for others. Being able to contribute to research and serve on the provincial Patient and Family Advisor Network Council shows what’s possible when patients are invited to be true partners in improving healthcare.”

— Janita Garcia, CHI Collaborative Partnership Member

That shift from patient as a subject to patient as a partner is what the SPOR SUPPORT Unit has worked to build, sustain, and protect. The network of patient partners now spans the province, reaching communities and conditions that health research has historically underserved.

What the next two years will do

This extension builds on what’s working and deepens CHI’s relationships.

The funding will expand the provincial network of patient partners to reach more communities and conditions. It will deepen Indigenous health partnerships, including the ongoing work with Ongomiizwin—Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, bringing Indigenous perspectives into both research design and health system decisions. It will strengthen training and mentorship for researchers learning to work authentically with patients. And it will keep patient voices connected to health system decisions at every level.

The goal is a health system where every policy change, service redesign, and clinical improvement is guided by the people closest to the problem. Not as an ideal, but as a practice.