Patient Public Involvement Expert Seminar Series

Co-Developing a How-to-Guide for Patient Engagement in Research: The journey and the product

In our first session, we welcome PPI colleagues Dawn Richards and Christine Thomas from Canada who will be discussing their new online guidance for patient partners, here about the guidance and how they developed it and how you could use the guidance to help you!

Read about Dawn and Christine below

Register for Patient Public Involvement Expert Seminar Series – 1 – 25th October 2022 2pm-3pm

Crack! Christine Thomas was only 42 when, bending to lift her new-born daughter, she fractured her spine. She had no idea of the painful and transformative road she would have to travel to build stronger bones and reclaim her life from the clutches of osteoporosis.

Christine is a nationally recognized author and speaker in Canada. Having been a senior negotiator in the Canadian Government and having studied at the universities of Carleton (Honours Bachelor of Commerce), Queen's (Executive MBA) and Harvard (Program on Negotiation), Christine has honed her communication skills. As the author of Unbreakable: A Woman's Triumph Over Osteoporosis, she has won numerous awards (Eleanor Mills Inspiration & Back Bone awards as well as a nomination for a Woman of Distinction award) and is often seen in the Canadian media delivering her messages with the kind of conviction learned only through hard experience.

Christine has been a volunteer with Osteoporosis Canada (OC) and a passionate advocate for better bone health care in Canada for those at risk of breaking a bone from the disease. Her lived experience has been at the core of the roles she has played, some of which include: Chair of the former Ottawa Chapter for OC; advocating to politicians to support the Ontario Strategy for bone health; executive on the Canadian Osteoporosis Patient Network; and member of the board of directors of OC. Since 2018 she has been a patient representative on the Pharmacotherapy & Knowledge Translation Working Groups updating the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Osteoporosis. Christine has learned so much from her experience. She believes that if you truly want to improve osteoporosis outcomes and produce the best guidelines for this condition, you really need a combination of evidence, risks, benefits & the patient perspective!

Dawn Richards PhD, is the founder of Five02 Labs Inc. Her firm provides traditional services including project management and preparation of grants, manuscripts, corporate and lay language materials; along with those to incorporate the patient perspective and through the development of relationships with patients and patient organizations. Clients are from all sectors. With a PhD (Analytical Chemistry) from the University of Alberta, Dawn has worked in a variety of roles during the past 20 years, however her diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis almost 15 years ago instigated a journey to intertwine her passion for science with making the most of her diagnosis.

As a patient advocate and volunteer, Dawn is Vice President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and a member of The BMJ’s Patient Panel. She served as an IMHA Research Ambassador from 2014 - 2019 and was the first Patient Advisor of the Canadian Medical Association’s Wait Time Alliance. Dawn advocates for arthritis awareness, access to treatment, the importance of research and the inclusion of patients both in decision-making and as research collaborators.