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Clinical trials are the gold standard in medical research, used to test new treatments and medical devices to ensure they are safe and improve patient outcomes.

Each year on May 20, Clinical Trials Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of clinical trials. At Lawson Health Research Institute, our researchers, research staff and learners across London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) are working daily to advance clinical trials for some of the most pressing health challenges.
 
“If you look at many areas of medicine, like cancer and cardiovascular disease, part of why those conditions have had dramatic improvements in outcomes over the last several decades is because of clinical trials,” says Dr. Amit Garg, Scientist at Lawson, Lead for the Kidney, Dialysis & Transplantation Research Program at ICES Western, and a Nephrologist at LHSC. 

Clinical trials can also provide patient participants with new treatment options and can demonstrate when existing treatments have applications for other diseases.

“We could not conduct clinical trials without patients participating in them,” adds Dr. David Palma, Associate Scientist at Lawson and Radiation Oncologist at LHSC. “A clinical trial is a very rigorous process where we carefully define a treatment and follow patients very closely with extra interventions and tests to see not only how the disease is responding to treatment, but also any effects on a patient’s quality of life.”

It also takes a team to make clinical trials a success, including the critical work of research coordinators, associates and assistants, adds Dr. Swati Mehta, Lawson Scientist based at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute.

Dr. Palma also notes that while clinical trials require investment to conduct them, they can ultimately lead to savings in the health system. 

“While the primary goal of a clinical trial is to improve or save lives, they often lead to cost savings down the road. Improving cure rates means people don’t need as much treatment and that can save the initial investment many, many times over,” Palma says. 

Looking ahead, work is ongoing to make clinical trials more efficient and equitable. 

“Eliminating specialized infrastructure would help make trials more equitable, so they are available in smaller communities and at distant sites that otherwise would not have access. Making study materials available in multiple languages and to anyone with accessibility issues can also help,” Garg adds.

“Future clinical trials will need to follow more pragmatic, adaptive study designs that allow us to evaluate therapies or interventions in a more realistic setting,” Dr. Mehta says. “These would also allow us to follow-up with patients that were potentially underrepresented in past research.”

According to researchers at Lawson, the future of clinical trials is bright with hundreds of trials currently underway at LHSC and St. Joseph’s with the goal of improving patient outcomes. 

Local youth use art and storytelling to illustrate the personal and system challenges in mental health.

The words and images are both heartbreaking and hopeful.

“Nobody likes you if you are sad.”

you are enough. stay strong. let life surprise you.

“Please don’t leave like everyone else.”

1 year sober. 1 year of school. 1 year building a safe home. 1 year loving myself.

Zine-writing, a personal and introspective medium often used by people who have been marginalized, is an important part of local research that is finding solutions to complex mental health challenges among young adults. Its name derives from its magazine (“zine”) format.

“When we make the voices of people with lived experience central to our research, we can learn from each other and then change the system together,” says Dr. Arlene MacDougall, founder of MINDS of London-Middlesex.

The social innovation and research lab based at St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) is dedicated to designing, piloting and testing mental health innovations for teens and young adults. Its recent evolution into MINDS 2.0 adds insights by and for people up to age 35 who have complex, pervasive mental health and addiction issues.

Learning from experts

Rin, a London artist, who has published independent zines for a decade, created three for this project, including one that, with irony, asks the reader to ponder which vulnerable people aren’t worth saving.

“I believe making art can be very healing,” says Rin. “I wanted to share some of my story to help myself and help others. I want to play a part in shaping a mental health system that’s better than the one I encountered.”

The zines weave art, prose and poetry into story:

3 things I would change: affordability, stigma, waitlists.

“If I had a magic wand, I would use it to heal the waters, grow the trees, foster animal growth.”

Look in the mirror, see how far you’ve come.

They also raise and propose solutions to troubling issues among people with mental illness: housing and homelessness, sparse resources for people with addictions, lack of coordination among service providers, and dehumanizing attitudes in health and criminal justice systems.

“Participants experienced catharsis just in telling their stories,” says Renee Hunt PhD, Associate Director of Research and Operations at MINDS. “And because they’re the experts, they’re also playing an important part in changing systems that need an overhaul.”

Adds Rin, “It feels empowering knowing people are listening to us – people who care and are committed to making change to the system.”

MacDougall notes the pivotal role of St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation – in particular, a groundbreaking $5-million donation towards mental health research from philanthropist Ryan Finch – in advancing mental health innovation through MINDS and MINDS 2.0.

“They’ve been our biggest supporters since day one. This wouldn’t have happened without support from Ryan and the foundation and all the many donors who believe in mental health research,” says MacDougall, who is also Director of Research and Innovation with St. Joseph’s Mental Health Care Program.

“MINDS has been a catalyst for system change,” MacDougall adds. “Research is always about finding answers and generating impact.”

Many findings from MINDS research have been put into practice, among them are the creation of guidebooks for peer support, free taxi service for rural youth needing urban mental health or addiction services, and educational resources to support 2SLGBTQI+ students.

MacDougall says MINDS 2.0 expands that work with new voices and the exploration of more in-depth solutions.
 

What’s next for MINDS 2.0

• Workshopping ideas and prototypes for mental health systems change.  Sessions will be held   where people with lived/living experience and service providers propose and develop potential solutions.
• Leadership-building. Twenty mental health practitioners will be trained to become “agents of change” who will collectively create, implement and evaluate mental health programs, technology, interventions and training.
• Imaginarium conference. In 2025, a first-of-its-kind national conference will take place to share system innovations in mental health and addiction.