Improving the health of Maritimers through patient-oriented research

The Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU) is an interprovincial research support unit designed to increase local capacity for patient-oriented research and help decision-makers move evidence into practice.

The MSSU collaborates with government stakeholders, health authorities, the research community, Patient Partners, and caregivers across Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to support the conduct and implementation of patient-oriented research that addresses Maritime health priorities.

The MSSU’s core functions include learning health systems, capacity development, patient engagement, effective collaboration, alignment within and across the Maritime provinces, and data platforms and services. The latter is accomplished in partnership with New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT), Health Data Nova Scotia (HDNS) and the Secure Island Data Repository (SIDR) in PEI.

Formed in 2013, the MSSU is one of 11 Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (SUPPORT) units that form an integral part of the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) initiative that is matched by the provincial governments.

The MSSU is the only SPOR SUPPORT Unit that serves more than one province, working with more than 50 people at five locations including the Centre for Health and Community Research at the University of Prince Edward Island (PEI). The MSSU also actively engages with our broader community including Patient Partners, MSSU Student Award Recipients, and more than 150 MSSU Scientists.

The MSSU actively supports several CHCR research initiatives including the establishment of the Secure Island Repository (SIDR), the SPOR Canadian Data Platform and the High-Resource Patients initiative.