The London Health Sciences Centre and Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada have collaborated for a year. The bond between the institutions is set to grow further after a recently announced research project.
The STAR project is a joint effort aimed at pioneering care for children with bone disorders. The acronym stands for ‘Skeletal Tracking to Accelerate Research.’
The head of pediatrics at LHSC, Dr. Craig Campbell, said it will help patient families get care closer to home. The combined knowledge would mean fewer people having to travel all the way to Montreal for the latest research, or vice versa.
“They get care closer to home, they don’t have to travel. That’s a huge savings of time, energy, and money for these families. They also get to do it with providers they already know from their trips to Children’s Hospitals here,” said Dr. Campbell.
The program has been built on three core aspects:
- A database called the STAR Clinical Registry.
- New diagnostics and treatments through STAR Demonstration Projects.
- A communication network known as the STAR Learning and Discovery Network.
“What came out of that was an amazing project that really brought in many scientists together in a collaborative way that we didn’t really anticipate,” added Dr. Campbell.
Future plans include expanding which bone disorders are recognized and recruiting additional collaborators.
