Why ACCESS?

Pediatric cancers are rare diseases and different from adult cancers. And children are not simply small adults.

Due to the complexities of childhood cancers – from the biology of how it develops to long-term survivorship issues – there remain challenges to understanding the biological and genetic foundations of childhood cancer, adapting the Canadian regulatory framework for drug and technology development and access, adopting innovative diagnostics and treatments, and providing optimal care and ongoing support across the country for children, adolescents, and young adults experiencing cancer.

Mission:

To ensure that every child with cancer in Canada has access to the latest scientific advances, diagnostic tools, innovative therapies and supportive care leading to better health outcomes and quality of life.

Our work is two-fold:

  • Establish and lead a multi-stakeholder pan-Canadian pediatric cancer network.
  • Support research in all phases of the pediatric cancer journey.

ACCESS is organized into seven research themes, each of which addresses a specific aim.

Aim: To better understand the biology of pediatric cancers and accelerate research efforts by removing barriers to collaboration, increasing research pathways, and building infrastructure to enable knowledge, expertise, and data sharing across Canada.

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Aim: To establish a national clinical trials infrastructure and develop remote access pathways to trials to support Canadian-led trials and improve pan-Canadian trial availability.

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Aim: To improve access to innovative and novel therapies and optimal care through the development of sustainable pathways and better system navigation support for pediatric cancer patients and their families.

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Aim: To assess health policies and systems to improve health equity and disparities, provide rigorous health systems evidence, promote evidence-informed policies and programs that will translate into equitable, efficient and sustainable cancer care for children, adolescents, and young adults in Canada.

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Aim: To improve patient involvement in pediatric cancer care, advocacy, and research and to enhance career development and training opportunities for clinicians, researchers, people with lived experience, and other team members.

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Aim: To improve system processes including ethics reviews, data governance, and data sharing and to facilitate the adoption of research innovations into regular use.

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Aim: To advance the wellbeing and quality of life of patients, survivors, and their families through the identification, prevention, and management of long-term physical, emotional and/or cognitive effects of disease and treatment.

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Two cross-cutting groups support all aspects of our work.

Aim: To advance information sharing and exchange between researchers, patient communities, and other relevant parties and to improve the uptake of evidence-based knowledge through multiple pathways, methods, and media.

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Aim: To develop guidelines for the appropriate collection of sensitive information, advise on the meaningful inclusion of equity-deserving groups, and build expert councils that offer insight on strategic and project-based directions in the pediatric cancer space.

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