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Advancing Health Equity

Brain Canada is committed to ensuring that advances in brain health benefit all people in Canada. By supporting investigations into the sex-, gender-, and equity-related factors affecting brain health, Brain Canada is enabling research that addresses critical gaps in knowledge and improves brain health outcomes for all people in Canada, throughout the lifespan.

"Brain disorders and diseases are complex, and we must all play a role in encouraging researchers to look at them with an equity lens. In order to help everyone, we must include everyone. Research approaches that consistently account for differences drive innovation and reduce health inequities for previously overlooked groups."

Viviane Poupon, Brain Canada President and CEO

Why do sex, gender, and equity factors matter in brain science?

For too long health research has centred on male subjects, overlooking critical biological and social factors that affect diseases, conditions, diagnosis and care. As a result, females, and equity deserving groups including women, Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis), persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities/racialized groups, and 2SLGBTQI+ communities have often received little attention, and suboptimal care.  

By enabling investigations into sex-related biological factors, gender-related sociocultural factors, and equity-related intersecting factors (e.g., race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, income, etc.) affecting brain health, Brain Canada is helping to generate knowledge that captures the complexities of human experience. These investigations are integral to realizing the promise of personalized medicine and ensuring that scientific advances in brain health can be translated into precise, cost-effective, and equitable advances for all Canadians – women, men, gender-diverse people, and other equity-deserving groups.

What is Brain Canada doing to advance knowledge in this area?

Brain Canada aims to support researchers that are exploring real world relationships, or interactions, between sex, gender, and equity factors (e.g., race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, income, etc.) in brain health, investigating the mechanisms driving those interactions, and building on those findings to identify tailored solutions, care and treatments.

Specifically, Brain Canada:

  • Requires applicants to consider sex, gender, and intersecting factors in their project design at all stages of the process including identification of the question(s), study design and population groups, methodology, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, identification of stakeholders and knowledge mobilization.

  • Allocates specific funding to integrate these considerations into existing projects.

  • Develops funding opportunities focused on addressing equity-related gaps in research.

  • Supports knowledge exchange events and knowledge products that effectively mobilize research results on sex, gender, and intersecting factors.

Results from Brain Canada’s SGBA+ and EDI Action Plan 2022-25 

Brain Canada’s Sex- and Bender-Based Analysis Plus (SGBA+) and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan built on existing efforts within Brain Canada since 2018 and our work with Galvanizing Equity, an organization that helps research organizations make progressive change by bringing evidence to practical strategies to advance equity, since 2021. The plan identified short-term activities to improve the quality and relevance of brain research in Canada by integrating SGBA+ and EDI efforts into all of Brain Canada’s activities.  

As a result, during the Action Plan period Brain Canada has: 

  • An established SGBA+ and EDI Committee, with members across departments. 

  • Engaged people with lived experience (PWLE) across its activities, including program development, peer-review, communications materials (e.g., announcements, impact stories and podcasts), and numerous events. 

  • Developed partnered programs to support Indigenous and Black scholars, and Women’s Heart and Brain Health. 

  • Conducted outreach activities to encourage researchers across Canada to apply to our funding programs. 

  • Awarded 63% of our grants to projects focused on or considering diverse groups. 

  • Noted that among our grant recipients 68% identify as members of diverse groups. 

Brain Canada’s efforts in this area are ongoing and integrated into organizational strategic planning. To learn more about Brain Canada’s 2022-25 Action Plan, click here. 

Read Brain Canada's SGBA+ and EDI Action Plan

Programs

The Personnel Awards for Black Scholars

In partnership with Heart & Stroke and CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, the objective of the competition is to increase the number of Black trainees across Canada committed to working in the fields of heart and brain research. By investing in Black researchers, we hope to strengthen representation in the Canadian research community. 

Program details

Brain Canada-WBHI Expansion Grants

The Brain Canada-WBHI Expansion Grants: Considering Sex and Gender Program provided additional funding to expand existing research projects through the inclusion of sex and/ or gender considerations in their study design. In doing so, we can contribute to overcoming existing barriers in research while creating a foundation for sex and gender considerations to become customary in scientific research. 

Program details

The Personnel Awards for Indigenous Scholars

In partnership with Heart & Stroke and CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, this program is increasing the number of trainees working in heart and/or brain research from Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) communities whose traditional and ancestral territories are in Canada. Prioritizing Indigenous capacity and representation in research will bring essential cultural knowledge and understanding to the heart and brain research community.

Program details

Basics of Better Mental Health Program

This program funds basic research that provides insight into the causes and onset of mental health conditions, explores the neuropathological changes and information-processing deficits that may eventually lead to new directions for treatments and interventions, and explores the role of sex and gender in mental health. 

Program details

Research impact spotlight: Women’s brain health  

Since 2020, Brain Canada and its partners have directed a significant portion of its funding, $160.3 million (including matched funds), to research that focuses on or considers sex- and gender -related factors. By supporting research along the pathway to impact in sex and gender brain science – from identifying sex‑ and gender‑related factors, their interactions and their implications for brain health, to understanding their mechanisms and dynamics, to enabling the identification of personalized brain health solutions – these investments have put Brain Canada at the forefront of enhancing capacity and addressing gaps in women’s brain health research.  

The result is a strong foundation for improving women’s brain health. For example: 

  • One team identified the mechanisms underlying a sex-dependent vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease, which is now a promising target for new treatments.

  • Another team is studying why women participate less often than men in stroke rehabilitation research. The results of this work will ensure changes to how the group conducts clinical trials so that women benefit equally from new innovations. Learn more about this project here. 

  • Another team is laying groundwork for the first Canadian clinical trials network capable of testing brain health therapies, like non-invasive brain stimulation, tailored separately for men and women. Learn more about this network here. 

These are just a few indicators of progress – and promise – that will help us understand female brain health and women’s lives better.    

Magazine

Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter is a magazine, published by the Women’s Brain Health Initiative, in partnership with Brain Canada, focused on the evidence-based Six Pillars of Brain Health.

Learn more