From June 16-20 2025, The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) hosted its Annual Clinical and Scientific Conference in Whistler, BC! This conference is hosted by SOGC each year, as an opportunity for researchers, clinicians and trainees in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology to meet, discuss their latest research findings and form connections/potential collaborations. This year’s annual conference had a strong presence for the RID Program, with RID Program investigator Dr. Jeffrey Wong, MD student Lucia Forward, and MSc student Sofia Nicolls all presenting at the conference!
Dr. Jeffrey Wong (top left in image) gave a plenary presentation on the opening day of the conference on the topic of “Respiratory Syncytial Virus from the OBGYN perspective: Lessons from Canada’s first rollout of the RSV immunization program“. Through this presentation, Dr. Wong was able to describe and comment on the differing neonate RSV immunization strategies in Canada, their impact on infant outcomes, patient perspectives , as well as the current evidence and cost-effectiveness of the different strategies. This presentation was very well-received, with Dr. Wong responding to attendee questions very effectively.
Lucia Forward also presented on the first day of the conference, during the first oral abstract session. She presented on the topic of “Impact of COVID-19 in Pregnancy: The Role of Variant and Vaccination“, which described some of the key results from the RID Program’s CANCOVID-Preg project. Lucia’s presentation was also very well-received, with a large audience of attendees present at the presentation and many insightful questions asked.
MSc Student Sofia Nicolls presented a poster during the third day of the conference, entitled “Assessing Human Papillomavirus Self-Sampling Attitudes in Women and People with a Cervix Living with HIV in Canada“. The poster included survey data that was collected from participants of the RID Program’s NOVA-HIV study, on their thoughts and attitudes towards vaginal self-sampling as a method of HPV screening. The data was collected from women and people with a cervix living with HIV across Canada, and highlighted areas of concern for this population regarding this sampling method and HPV in general as well as identified key knowledge gaps in this population that need to be addressed when rolling out this screening method in the future. Sofia’s poster was very well regarded, with conference attendees from across the country watching her presentation and asking questions.
Overall, the 2025 SOGC Annual Clinical and Scientific Conference was a resounding success for the RID Program team, and allowed for recent findings from multiple RID Program projects to be disseminated to the scientific community!