Page 13 - CIRN Annual Report 2017-18

UPDATE FROM THE NETWORK LEADS
DR. MELISSA ANDREW
& SHELLY MCNEIL

The SOS Network demonstrates the importance
of vaccines as a key part of an overall strategy for
healthy aging, and not just a method of disease
prevention. We know that infl uenza vaccines work
reasonably well to prevent infection in younger
adults, but we really want to understand how well
infl uenza vaccines prevent older people from being The SOS Co-Lead, Dr. Melissa Andrew, was recently
hospitalized. Importantly, our data shows that 15% named to the scientifi c advisory committee of the
of people 65 years of age and older admitted with Global Infl uenza Hospital Surveillance Network. SOS
infl uenza don’t get back to their usual baseline of has also been working closely with epidemiologists
activity, and may never get that function back. at the Center for Disease Control to ensure that data
in Canada and the United States are collected in a
The SOS Network continues to lead the fi eld in the manner that they can be eff ectively compared and
study of the impact of frailty and how frailty is used studied.
to measure the eff ectiveness of vaccines. This work
has resulted in standardized ways to measure frailty The SOS Network was also successful this year in
in vaccine studies. recruiting trainees. Michaela Nichols-Evans, who
completed her master’s degree working on SOS
This year, SOS continued its collaboration with the research, was recently hired as the epidemiologist
Global Infl uenza Hospital Surveillance Network, for the SOS network and has been integral to
a network of similar hospital-based surveillance moving our projects forward.
networks that are trying to defi ne the burden of
infl uenza in both children and adults. Through this The SOS Network has become core infrastructure
collaboration, the SOS Network is not only informing in Canada’s infl uenza surveillance program and
Canadian health policy, but infl uencing the agenda informs decisions around prevention of severe
of public health globally. outcomes due to infl uenza and pneumonia.

CO-INVESTIGATORS

Guy Boivin Todd Hatchette Anne McCarthy David Richardson
Université Laval Dalhousie University The Ottawa Hospital University of Toronto
Research Institute
Brenda Coleman Kevin Katz Daniel Smyth
Dalla Lana School of Public University of Toronto Janet McElhaney Moncton Regional Hospital
Health Advanced Medical Research
Joanne Langley Sylvie Trottier
May ElSherif Dalhousie University Institute of Canada Université Laval
Dalhousie University Allison McGeer
Jason Leblanc Loius Valiquette
Karen Green Dalhousie University Mt. Sinai Hospital Université Sherbrooke
Mt. Sinai Hospital Jeff Powis
Mark Loeb Duncan Webster
Scott Halperin McMaster University Toronto East General St. John Regional Hospital
Dalhousie University Hospital

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