Skin conditions are a leading cause of overall disability and death in Canada. Canadian researchers have made substantial contributions to address the heavy burden of skin disease, but much of the work is conducted in relative isolation by a dispersed community of scientists and clinicians. The creation of the Skin Investigation Network of Canada (SkIN Canada) plans to expand the critical mass of skin research expertise, create new collaborations, and enhance skin health through innovation. We have brought together patients and an interdisciplinary team of leading researchers and clinicians across the country who are tackling the mechanistic, clinical, health systems, and population health questions for a broad range of skin conditions.
The vision of SkIN Canada is to promote novel and high quality research that is guided by advice from patients and that improves the skin health of Canadians. The Network’s mission is to advance skin research in Canada by creating a national forum, guided by patients, to strengthen collaborations and capacity in the skin research community. The Network will be managed through a formal governance structure that includes patients, researchers, and healthcare providers.
SkIN Canada Strategic Aims
Strategic Aim 1: To develop and strengthen national infrastructure that will empower research teams to operate with greater scale and efficiency;
Strategic Aim 2: To identify priority research questions and create novel, multidisciplinary collaborations involving new teams of researchers, patients, and knowledge users;
Strategic Aim 3: To grow the community of successful skin researchers by developing talent across academic ranks and training levels.
SkIN Canada Disease Areas of Focus
There are three disease areas that the network will focus on. However, we expect that connections made among patients and researchers through SkIN Canada may also lead to interesting research questions and additional projects outside of these three disease areas of focus.
- Inflammatory skin conditions
- Wound healing, skin fibrosis and regeneration
- Skin cancer
