On September 19, 2025, the CVC was pleased to host the 12th annual CVC Colloquium in Calgary, Alberta. The theme for this year’s meeting was “Exploring Strategies for Optimizing Clinical Research in Canada”.
The session opened with a keynote address by Dr. Robert Mentz (Duke Clinical Research Institute), who shared his insights on the evolving clinical trial landscape, current challenges and new opportunities. We then held an engaging panel discussion with members of CVC’s Site Engagement Working Group, who shared their local perspectives and offered strategies for advancing clinical research in their regions.
Through rich discussions in several facilitated breakout groups, the remainder of the morning focused on learning from other site personnel with respect to considerations for trial start-up and feasibility, maintaining audit readiness from the start, and training and resource requirements for clinical trials.
Moving into the afternoon, CVC Co-Director Dr. Justin Ezekowitz presented perspectives on the use of artificial intelligence in clinical trials, including, how AI is being used across the clinical trial development spectrum and potential future uses. Many attendees flagged this session as a topic of great interest and relevance for future Colloquia.
And finally, the last sessions of the day focused on dedicated and separate discussion groups with physicians and study coordinators. Both groups were asked to reflect on advice they would give to a new investigator/coordinator regarding patient engagement and strategies for prescreening, recruitment and retention successfully implemented at their sites. Key highlights from each group were shared, with the group at large agreeing on a shared message: ‘The principal investigator is critical for initial informed consent, and the study coordinator is vital for long-term retention!’
Building off the many lessons learned, high-level of engagement and rich discussion from our in-person Colloquium, the CVC was pleased to host a Virtual Colloquium on November 20, 2025 and discuss key highlights with our wider network of sites and Sponsor partners. Thank you to CVC Co-Director Dr. Shaun Goodman and the CVC Clinical Operations Team for taking the lead and presenting during the Virtual Colloquium!
We wish to thank all those who attended the face-to-face and/or virtual CVC Colloquium 2025; we appreciate your ongoing enthusiasm, contributions to the field of clinical research, and we thank you for your time!
We also extend our sincere appreciation to our sponsors, whose support makes these events possible: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Cytokinetics, Lilly, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi and Viatris/Idorsia.
For your reference, the 2025 presentation materials are available on our website here. We encourage you to review and discuss them with your teams.
We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and look forward to sharing plans for the 2026 CVC Colloquium in the coming months. If you have any questions or comments, please contact either Melisa Spaling (mspaling@ualberta.ca) or Tracy Temple (tracy.temple@ualberta.ca).
