Pediatric Outcome imProvement through COordination of Research Networks

Healthcare professional listening to child’s breathing

Healthcare professional listening to child’s breathing

POPCORN Objectives

The overall objective of the POPCORN Platform is to prepare Canadian child health researchers and their networks to respond rapidly and cohesively to the current and future pandemics or to any child health issues of importance, using COVID-19 as the proof-of-concept. More specifically, POPCORN aims to:

  1. Integrate the entire follow-up of a child across its healthcare trajectory, starting with COVID-19 and expanding to other child health-related issues;

  2. Determine indirect consequences of COVID-19 response measures on child health; and

  3. Build human capital, infrastructure, and expertise for a pediatric research-ready platform to enable network investigators to attract additional funding.

POPCORN is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to establish a research platform that will monitor COVID-19 infections, vaccinations, and the social impacts among children and youth.

 

Leadership

POPCORN brings together leaders from eight areas of expertise: infectious diseases, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine, critical care, epidemiology and biostatistics, data governance, biobanking governance, and knowledge mobilization. Working with other experts, this team will prepare Canadian child health researchers and their networks to respond rapidly to the current and any future pandemics, as well as any child health-related issues of importance.

Healthcare professional smiling and meeting with family of three - two parents and a child

Healthcare professional smiling and meeting with family of three - two parents and a child

 
 
Healthcare professional reviewing document on clipboard with parent and child

Healthcare professional reviewing document on clipboard with parent and child

Participating Sites

POPCORN’s 16 participating sites across Canada will establish a common national infrastructure for agile pediatric research to inform decision-making on any child health-related issue.

Land Acknowledgement

POPCORN acknowledges that our network is situated on the unceded and ancestral territories of diverse Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island. From coast to coast to coast, we respect and acknowledge Inuit, Métis, and First Nations peoples as the traditional stewards of the lands we work and live on. For those of us who are settlers, we recognize that processes of colonization continue to impact Indigenous Peoples today. POPCORN is committed to working toward cultural safety, decolonization, and reconciliation.

Please take a moment, in your own time, to reflect on and recognize the lands on which you live, work, and travel to, by visiting https://native-land.ca/.