Formal Launch of the SPOR Canadian Data Platform
Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, announced the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Canadian Data Platform. This groundbreaking initiative is a single portal through which researchers will be able to request access to a multitude of administrative, clinical, and social data from various sources from across the country.
The platform is housed at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. Scientific Director Dr. Kim McGrail leads a team of representatives from across Canada to ensure that the platform reflects the priorities of multiple regions.
“This is a game changer for Canada. Our pan-Canadian team has been working for almost five years to create a vision, and we are thrilled that [Canadian Institutes of Health Research] CIHR and our partners are providing funding to make that vision a reality,” said McGrail. “Data are as fundamental to research and improvement as the internet is to communications. Analyzing data from across the country can lead to insights that would be impossible if limited to a single province. A streamlined, simplified process for requesting comparable data will create new opportunities for researchers across the country.”