PiPER Research Day 2025

The Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER) team envisions a future where UHN is an international leader in partnering with people with lived experience (PLEX; includes patients, families, and caregivers) in research. PiPER is working to build organizational structures, policies, and technology to make these partnerships possible, ensuring that research is relevant and impactful. On October 8, 2025, PiPER hosted its third annual Research Day to share accomplishments toward this goal and enhancing health outcomes. 

The event was held at the Guild Inn Estate in Scarborough, and welcomed over 200 registrants including PLEX, researchers, community organization representatives, trainees, and health care leaders. Guided by the theme “Research Engagement in Action: Do the Right Thing, Share It With Others, Build a Better Tomorrow,” PiPER Research Day aimed to inspire collaboration across disciplines and create learning opportunities to foster innovation.  

Brad Wouters, Executive Vice President of Science and Research at UHN, kicked off the day by emphasizing PiPER’s essential role in improving the impact and value of research at UHN. He provided an overview of PiPER’s key accomplishments to date and announced the launch of UHN Research Explained, a public-facing website that offers easy-to-read summaries of research at UHN.  

Mahadeo Sukhai, a leading expert on accessibility and inclusion, delivered a keynote address titled “Anti-Ableism in Patient Engagement and Research: A Personal and Professional Journey”. As the world’s first congenitally blind geneticist, he encouraged attendees to reflect on how disability is represented in health research and challenged them to consider new models of inclusive research.  

Mahadeo Sukhai delivering the keynote presentation. 

The afternoon keynote panel, “The Important Role of People with Lived Experience in Long COVID Care and Research”, led by Angela Cheung, Senior Scientist at UHN, explored the evolving role of engaging those affected by long-COVID in care and research. Panelists Alexandra Rendely, Rebecca Lewkowicz, and Susie Goulding shared their personal learnings related to PLEX engagement and long-COVID as a physician, caregiver, and long-COVID patient. 

Other Research Day activities included a workshop, oral presentations, posters, and an art exhibit highlighting best practices and innovations in PLEX engagement in research. Presenters discussed engaging PLEX early, involving them in research decisions, and including them in pre-clinical research.  

Teams shared examples of PLEX engagement in action such as co-designing an aquatic rehabilitation program, a Veteran-led project creating learning modules on engaging Veterans in research, and partnering with Youth in a randomized controlled trial. Teams also presented on the power of artificial intelligence to include marginalized communities as partners in research and the co-development of more inclusive electoral practices. 

We thank the Planning Committee, volunteers, speakers, and attendees who made PiPER Research Day possible. Beyond this annual event, PiPER continues collaborating with TeamUHN to develop new policies, processes, resources, and research methods that support the implementation of transformative research experiences, driving collective impact toward A Healthier World.

To view summaries of the works presented, click here. 

For more information on PiPER, click here or email piper@uhn.ca. Follow PiPER on LinkedIn and BlueSky.  

PiPER Research Day was made possible by the support of our Silver Sponsor, The Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU), and our PLEX Sponsors: Asthma Canada, BioCanRx, Canadian Cancer Survivor Network, Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, Ontario Aids Network, and the Ontario Brain Institute. PiPER supported PLEX to attend through the CIHR-IMHA Inclusive Research Excellence Prize - Patient Engagement (RE5-195224).  

Photographs in this story by Tim Fraser of UHN’s KITE Studio.