$6.7 million to study the impacts of COVID-19 on children

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos visits Montreal to announce a new investment in pediatric research.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was in Montreal on April 26 to announce a new investment of 6.7 million dollars by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The investment will create a Canada-wide research platform to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people. Minister Duclos said the platform will allow researchers, in pediatric centre’s across the country, to monitor COVID-19 infections, vaccination, and the social impact of the disease on children and youth. 

The platform is called POPCORN, which stands for Pediatric Outcomes Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks. Dr. Jesse Papenburg is the principal investigator of the POPCORN project at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), one of 16 research sites across Canada. Other RI-MUHC researchers with leadership roles include Drs. Patricia Fontela, Brett Burstein, Patricia Li and Evelyn Constantin, all members of the Child Health and Human Development Program (CHHD) at the RI-MUHC and clinicians at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

Related links:

• Government of Canda: New investment in collaborative research will address the impacts of COVID-19 on children and youth
• CTV News: Feds invest $6.7 million on research platform looking at impact of COVID-19 on youth
• CHU Ste Justine (in French): Plateforme de recherche collaborative POPCORN – 6,7 M$ pour mieux protéger les enfants en temps de pandémie
• Backgrounder, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) : Pediatric Outcome Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks (POPCORN)
• RI-MUHC team receives Discovery of the Year Award from Québec Science magazine