CaRDM Eq Training Program Overview

CaRDM Eq supports the delivery of 11 non-credit short courses. These courses are intended to act as primers to topics outside a trainee’s specific expertise, to broaden their knowledge base, and facilitate collaboration across disciplines and research areas.

All trainees are required to take TC2: Heart Failure 101. Master’s students will take one additional course, and PhD students and PDFs will take two additional courses, all outside their core research area.

Five courses will be offered in the 2024-25 academic year and six will be offered in the 2025-26 academic year:

TC2.1: Heart Failure 101 (2024-25)

TC2.2: Digital Microfluidics for Medical Diagnostics (2025-26)

TC2.3: Principles of Single-molecule Bioanalytical Sensors (2025-26)

TC2.4: Design & Fabrication of Paper-based Microfluidic Biosensors (2024-25)

TC2.5: Design & Development of Biomedical Electronic Devices (2024-25)

TC2.6: Principles & Applications of Biosensing (2025-26)

TC2.7: System Integration for Wearable Devices (2024-25)

TC2.8: Principles of Optical Biosensing (2025-26)

TC2.9: Barriers & Facilitators to the Implementation of Digital Health Innovation (2024-25)

TC2.10: Clinical & Equity Considerations in Digital Health Innovation (2024-25)

TC2.11: Introduction to Applied Machine Learning for Health Data (2025-26)

CaRDM Eq will facilitate access to the six-month ECHO Discovery program to explore ideation, translation, and commercialization.

ECHO Discovery is for fourth-year undergraduate students and graduate students enrolled in a Canadian university as well as post-doctoral and clinical fellows affiliated with the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN). It is designed for those interested in exploring research translation and entrepreneurship within the cardiovascular health sector but who may be unsure how to proceed. No ideas, start-ups, or previous experience are necessary to participate!

Trainees are required to take this year-long flagship course during their first year. Its four modules support the development of professional skills and perspectives needed to design for equity, which include:

• Cultural Safety & Anti-Bias Training: Through land-based approaches, hands-on workshops, and online learning, trainees will be introduced to the contemporary issues impacting health outcomes of underserved groups and become equipped with the tools needed to identify, avoid, and mitigate bias in research.
• User-Centred Design: Learn how to look beyond the technical requirements of design to consider human factors! Trainees will explore end-user engagement strategies to support patient safety, influence behaviour, and increase adoption
• Communications for Access: Trainees will explore knowledge mobilization strategies and gain tools to communicate their research goals/findings for access across different languages, cultures, abilities, and levels of health literacy and technological proficiency.
• Co-Creation: Guided by people with lived experience, Indigenous communities, and other underrepresented groups, trainees will learn how to develop relationships and respectfully co-create digital health technologies with end users across social, economic, scientific, and cultural domains.

CaRDM Eq trainees can take for-credit courses on Engineering Leadership, Global Perspective, and Ethics and Societal Impact offered through UofT’s Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice and Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering to complement professional skills development.

Trainees are required to complete a Master’s or PhD thesis (research project for PDFs) related to one/a combination of the three Research Areas, with oversight from an interdisciplinary key opinion leader (KOL) committee representing industry, clinical, community health, and lived experience perspectives.

A structured meeting with your KOL committee will be arranged once a year for the first two years of the program; trainees are encouraged to build their own connections with these mentors throughout and beyond CaRDM Eq.

Translation plans for implementation via clinical needs assessment, equitable design, and end user engagement will be foundational to all projects.

Trainees must complete one of the three types of unique experiential learning opportunities supported by CaRDM Eq:

• Industry internship (350 hours)
• Community, clinical, or industry observership (30 hours)
• Entrepreneurship training through ECHO (year-long program)

CaRDM Eq supports the mobility of our trainees through competitive Travel and Mobility Awards.

Travel Awards support attendance at a conference/workshop/symposium, and are limited to up to $750 per trainee per year.

Mobility Awards support expenses for experiential learning and exchanges, with funding determined based upon the nature of the request and availability of funds.

To apply for funding, please submit a completed Application Form to Augusta Lipscombe (a.lipscombe@utoronto.ca).