Would you like to know more about the work of the #PEPRPartnership? On October 5th, we'll be hosting a Research Day at Hart House, University of Toronto. If you want to spend a day learning about the innovative and inclusive research we're doing on chronic pain and marginalization, please register.

📢 Registration is now open for the Critical Approaches to Pain Scholarship (CAPS) Research Network Conference 2026: Decolonising Pain. 📅 24–26 September 2026 📍 University of Manchester, UK (with hybrid participation available) Registration: In-person - lnkd.in/gRy39TXA Online - lnkd.in/g5P3TYUR

Check out our July 2026 newsletter! We review the last few months, celebrate accomplishments, and look forward to upcoming events and opportunities. ☀️Happy summer from everyone here at #PeprPartnership and please reach out any time if you'd like to learn more about our work.

Check out some highlights from PEPR's symposium at the Canadian Pain Society 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting! Leave a comment or connect with us if you'd like to learn more about the work we're doing at #PeprPartnership. youtu.be/_ANmJE9TqT8

Desmond Williams and Kate Rice chatted with Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift! We're grateful for this conversation about the very personal experience of chronic pain and the questions we might ask in the pursuit of a more equitable, person-centered care system. youtube.com/watch?v=yK4P...

"We are brilliant at diagnosing the body in pain. But we are systematically failing to diagnose the social body in pain." Check out this narrative performance by Nayena Sen, part of Storyhouse at Western University! storyhouse.substack.com/p/gendered-w...

🎙️New episode - Living Proof: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research Episode 4: Engaging Marginalized POWer, Expertise, and Representation: EMPOWER 🔗YOUTUBE: youtu.be/6m6lR_atoAk 🔗SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/episode/6L1B... 🔗APPLE: podcasters.spotify.com/.../Episode-....

⏩SNEAK PREVIEW⏪ Here's a clip from our latest episode, dropping next week. You know Desmond Williams and Emerald Asuncion are the visionaries and co-hosts of Living Proof: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research, but did you know they also co-chair #PeprPartnership's EMPOWER Committee?

Congrats to Karime Mescouto who participated in the Postdoctoral Research Sprint at the Postdoctoral Forum at Western University! Participants had to share their research in 120 seconds in a way that is engaging and easy to understand. Karime came in third and won the People’s Choice award. Bravo! 🏆

Check out PEPR Co-Director Desmond Williams on Just Asking with Saroja Coelho on CBC discussing pain management, common myths, and how people and places can better support people living with chronic pain. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... #PeprPartnership

Ready for our symposium! #CanadianPain26

Came down this morning to a new addition to our #PeprPartnership booth 🫑 #CanadianPain26

We hope you will visit our #PeprPartnership booth in the exhibitor hall. We’re sharing our many studies and projects an we’d love to chat with fellow attendees about how we can support each other’s work. #CanadianPain26

We are thrilled to be together with so many esteemed colleagues and friends at #CanadianPain26! Please join us for our symposium, “Critical Approaches to Pain Research: Insights from Research with Structurally Marginalized Communities.”

🎙️NEW - Living Proof: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research Episode 3, part 2: Cultural Pathways to Meaningful Engagement with Dr Vanessa Ambtman-Smith 🔗YOUTUBE: youtu.be/XLn_V46sjxM 🔗SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/episode/3LTI... 🔗APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/e...

We're please to share our first quarterly newsletter of 2026! We're already having a great, productive year at #PEPRPartnership. Please have a look, and connect with us if you have questions or ideas about our research.

New publication! Congrats to Kathleen Rice, Ginetta Salvalaggio, Laura Connoy, and Fiona Webster on their new publication in SSM - Qualitative Research in Health. Trapped in the labyrinth: The structural violence of disability support for people with chronic pain Read it: doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...

Congrats to Laura Connoy, Kathleen Rice, Craig Dale, Abhimanyu Sud, Ross Upshur, Joel Katz, Andrew Pinto, and Fiona Webster on their new publication in Qualitative Health Research. Read it here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Congratulations to Karime Mescouto for receiving this year's @canadianpain.bsky.social Trainee Travel Award. We are all looking forward to this year's Annual Scientific Meeting in Quebec City! #PeprPartnership #CanadianPain26

40% of male veterans and 50% of female veterans are affected by chronic pain, yet sex and gender have been overlooked in the research. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

🎙️NEW EPISODE: Cultural Pathways to Meaningful Engagement. Desmond Williams and Emerald Asuncion welcome Dr. Vanessa Ambtman-Smith to the PEPR podcast. Check it out and subscribe to #LivingProofPodcast: 🔗YOUTUBE: tinyurl.com/5c33p748 🔗SPOTIFY: tinyurl.com/muv3f4n2 🔗APPLE: tinyurl.com/2pwkjkwp

🎙️EPISODE 3 PREVIEW Dr. Vanessa Ambtman-Smith discusses her project - Weaving Indigenous Knowledge into Pain Research: Cultural Pathways to Meaningful Engagement. Please subscribe! 🔗YOUTUBE: lnkd.in/gkmabJcS 🔗SPOTIFY: lnkd.in/gG5hp-q9 🔗APPLE: lnkd.in/gHpeXRx8 #PeprPartnership#LivingProofPodcast

Happy holidays from all of us at PEPR! We are so grateful for all of the connections we've made across our growing network and for all of the progress we made together in 2025. Wishing you and yours a great holiday season. See you in 2026 🥂

We're pleased to share our December newsletter! 2025 has been a productive year for the #PEPRPartnership. We’ve added new team members and made important progress on projects and initiatives. Please have a look, and connect with us if you have questions or ideas about our research.

Get to know PEPR 🫑 To learn more about #PeprPartnership, visit www.pepr-partnership.org

🎙️Episode 2, Part 2: Why Do We Need an EDID Lens in Pain Research? Inclusive Language, Structural Violence, and the Power of Community Check it out and subscribe to #LivingProofPodcast on your favourite platform: 🔗YOUTUBE: shorturl.at/TnwVC 🔗SPOTIFY: shorturl.at/ovpHX 🔗APPLE: shorturl.at/S0P8v

🎙️PODCAST PREVIEW Living Proof: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research Part 2 of Episode 2 - Why Do We Need an EDID Lens in Pain Research? Our language around pain overlooks the collective impact of colonization. Stay tuned for the latest episode of #LivingProofPodcast from #PeprPartnership.

If we aim to truly #PriortizePain, all experiences and communities must be engaged. At PEPR, we’re developing a culturally responsive framework for engaging Indigenous patients that bridges academic methodologies with Indigenous healing practices and knowledge systems. #NPAW2025 #PeprPartnership

This #NPAW2025, be mindful of the guidelines and frameworks that shape #patientengagement. #PEPRPartnership is conducting an interpretive synthesis to identify the assumptions underpinning PE frameworks in order to re-imagine what it might look like in ways that promote equity and decolonization.

Have you seen the latest episode of #LivingProofPodcast? Meaningful engagement is a call to recognized lived experience AS evidence. Thank you Jenny Lorca, for this perspective. 🔗YOUTUBE: youtu.be/bbGmm952tGY 🔗SPOTIFY: tinyurl.com/43z746tb 🔗APPLE: tinyurl.com/4m2mbcmx #PeprPartnership #NPAW2025

This #NPAW2025, PEPR would like to emphasize how we’re identifying institutional interests that underpin #pain #research in Canada and exploring the social relations that organize the experiences of #PWLE of #ChronicPain. #PrioritizePain #PeprPartnership

#PeprPartnership aims to #PrioritizePain through our Brokered Dialogue project that aims to understand how #PatientEngagement is characterized & understood by those holding a range of relevant #ChronicPain perspectives. Learn about the project: www.pepr-partnership.org/projects/bro... #NPAW2025

🎙️Episode 2 of LIVING PROOF: Experience as Evidence is here! 🔗YOUTUBE: youtu.be/bbGmm952tGY 🔗SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/episode/568n... 🔗APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/p... Please subscribe, and stay tuned for part 2! #PeprPartnership #NPAW2025

PEPR Partnership supports meaningful engagement in #ChronicPain research in ways that move beyond the individual towards communities. Through community consultations, we’re learning collaboratively & carefully how, when & where to engage #PWLE of #pain & marginalization. #NPAW2025 #PeprPartnership

🎙️PODCAST PREVIEW Living Proof: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research Episode 2: Why Do We Need an EDID Lens in Pain Research? We can't wait to share the latest episode of #LivingProofPodcast with you tomorrow. Stay tuned! #PeprPartnership #NPAW2025

PEPR is proud to support the Putting the Pieces Together Conference. Tune in now, and throughout the week. You can find more information here: www.paincanada.ca/events/putti...

It's National Pain Awareness Week! Our systems of care can be improved to help the 8M Canadians with pain to live better. This #NPAW2025, look at how far we've come in the implementation of the Action Plan for Pain in Canada has come & how far we still need to go. PainCanada.ca/actionplan

"The Unforgotten" is a film that explores systemic racism, the impacts of colonialism and the ongoing trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples in the Canadian health care system. You can view the film here: theunforgotten.cma.ca

Today we observe National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We reflect on and acknowledge the historical and current lived experiences of Canada's Indigenous Peoples and strengthen PEPR's ongoing commitment to decolonization in our research, engagement, and knowledge mobilization practices.

🎙️Episode 1 of LIVING PROOF: Experience as Evidence is here! 🔗YOUTUBE: youtu.be/Xtw3AET8y5k 🔗SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/show/6lrG3BV... 🔗APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/l... We invite you to listen, subscribe to #LivingProofPodcast, and share your feedback with us at #PeprPartnership.

Here's a clip from our debut #LivingProofPodcast episode, dropping on Monday! Stay tuned on all of our #PeprPartnership channels for our premiere.

Our colleagues at @kidsinpain.bsky.social are hiring 👇

We're pleased to share a sneak preview of our new podcast, Living Proof: Experience as Evidence, launching in one week! What topics or questions would you like us to explore in future episodes of #LivingProofPodcast? Follow us here on Bluesky, and stay tuned for our premiere. #PeprPartnership

PEPR's podcast LIVING PROOF: Experience as Evidence in Pain Research premieres Sep 22 during #PainAwarenessMonth. #LivingProofPodcast brings together researchers and people with lived experience to ask: What counts as evidence, and how do we share it? Follow #PeprPartnership for updates!

Canadian Journal of Pain special issue: "Social and health inequities in chronic pain across the lifespan." Members of our partnership, including @fionawebster1.bsky.social, are co-editors. Check out the collection, including their insightful editorial, here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/ucjp20/8/2

Dr. Laura Connoy is a critical sociologist whose research interests center on chronic pain, trauma, and social injustice. She is the Research Manager for the #PEPRPartnership and Postdoctoral Associate. She is involved in various projects that focus on #patientengagement in #chronicpainresearch.

Kathleen (Kate) Rice is the Co-Director - Academic for the #PeprPartnership. Kate is Assistant Professor and Research Director in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University, where she holds the Tier II Canada Research Chair in the Medical Anthropology of Primary Care.

We are thrilled to announce PEPR’s new partnership with the Saskatchewan Pain Society aka SaskPain! You can learn about SaskPain at their website saskpain.ca

We're on LinkedIn! Connect with us www.linkedin.com/company/pepr-partnership #PeprPartnership

Desmond Williams is the Co-Director - Person With Lived Experience for the #PeprPartnership. He also helps people to manage #chronicpain through movement and mindfulness. In his advocacy work, Desmond aims to amplify the voices of marginalized communities. #PainResearch #PatientEngagement