Brain Canada is pleased to share that in partnership with the Azrieli Foundation and its Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence and led by The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) the Canadian Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging Research Knowledge Mobilization (KM) Hub Funding Opportunity, has been awarded to the Brain Health Resources And Integrated Diversity (BRAID) Hub, led by principal investigators Drs. Parminder Raina, Scientific Director of McMaster Institute for Research on Aging), and Marla Beauchamp, Director, MIRA|Dixon Hall Centre. The BRAID Hub is a six-year grant with a total investment of $2.125M.
Vision of the BRAID Hub
The vision for the Brain Health Resources and Integrated Diversity (BRAID) Hub aligns with Canada’s National Dementia Strategy, which was developed with the goal of creating a nation where all individuals living with dementia and their care partners are valued and supported, quality of life is optimized, and dementia is prevented, well understood, and effectively treated. Initially targeting healthcare professionals and people affected by dementia, the BRAID Hub aims to integrate education, resources, and supports. This will be informed by a two-way exchange between the BRAID Hub and knowledge users to move high-quality evidence-based guidelines into practice.
Purpose and Goals of the BRAID Hub
The BRAID Hub will provide holistic support for older adults at risk of cognitive impairment and living with dementia, prioritizing quality of life and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles, by addressing critical gaps in Canada’s dementia care system.
The BRAID Hub’s centralized platform will leverage and integrate knowledge created by research through collaborating with partners, and will:
- Focus on practical use and uptake of evidence-based information to improve care.
- Emphasize evidence-based, culturally appropriate guidelines that support Canada’s National Dementia Strategy.
- Adopt an agile Knowledge Translation and Exchange strategy co-designed with knowledge users, ensuring flexibility in information access preferences.
- Serve healthcare professionals as well as other diverse audiences, emphasizing ethnically diverse and underserved communities.
- Mobilize existing guidelines to translate them into accessible courses, tools, guides, and training pathways.
- Use a multifaceted approach to knowledge mobilization, working with partners to produce webinars, online resources, and workshops, for example.
Meet the Team
The leadership team is comprised of individuals with extensive experience in international dementia policy and leading national coalitions on dementia and brain health research. Their expertise includes co-designing guidelines; engaging healthcare professionals and diverse communities; and knowledge mobilization. The team includes clinicians, epidemiologists and health service researchers from ethnically diverse and Indigenous communities, Indigenous communities, many of whom have lived experience with dementia. The BRAID Hub is based at McMaster, McGill, and the University of Calgary, all of which boast rich histories in dementia research and knowledge mobilization.