Title: The Cuban National Child Cohort Study: A 50-Year Life-Course Follow-Up

When: Monday, October 19, 2026 at 8:00 EDT / 13:00 BST / 14:00 SAST / 17:30 IST / 20:00 CST)

Presenter: Dr. Yeneir Vera Fernández, Physician and Clinical Researcher; Project Lead, Cuban National Child Cohort Study; Research Associate, Alliance for Human Development | Lye Lab at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health

Brief Description: The Cuban National Child Cohort Study is a unique longitudinal birth cohort that has followed 4,299 individuals born across Cuba during the first week of March 1973. Participants were assessed from birth through childhood and adolescence, and the current follow-up is reassessing the cohort at approximately 50 years of age. This presentation will provide an overview of the cohort, its historical and scientific significance, the current midlife follow-up, and emerging findings related to cardiovascular, metabolic, cognitive, and mental health outcomes. It will also highlight the opportunities this exceptional 50-year cohort provides for understanding how early-life factors influence health and disease across the life course.

Title: TBD

When: Thursday, November 19, 2026 at 8:00 EST

Presenter: Catherine Birken, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Lead PI, HeLTI-Canada Team Senior Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences; Staff Paediatrician, Department of Paediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids); Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto.

Brief Description: Child obesity management

Title: TBD

When: Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 10:00 EST

Presenter: Amy Metcalfe, PhD, Professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medicine, and Community Health Sciences; Maternal and Child Health Program Director, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary

Brief Description: The retention strategy mapping review work focusing on retention of second-generation cohort participants and the use of social media as a retention device.

Title: TBD

When: TBD

Presenter: Cindy-Lee Dennis, PhD, Professor at University of Toronto and Colleagues

Brief Description: Influence of paternal precondeption health on perinatal outcomes

Title: Knowledge Translation

When: TBD

Presenter: Dan Sellen, PhD, Professor at University of Toronto and Jenna Hickey, Lead Research Coordinator

Brief Description: On the topic of knowledge translation / mobilization some work one of my teams has been doing with CANWACH on gender transformation of nutrition programs using Global Affairs Canada’s feminist development agenda translated through the “GTFN” framework adopted by Scaling Up Nutrition and a range of NGO’s may be relevant. Methodological highlights include c-creative approaches to MNCHN-program transformative tool design and testing.