National Symposium on Long COVID Research and Rehabilitation-Informed Pandemic Preparedness

Long COVID affects millions of Canadians with persistent symptoms following COVID-19 infection, yet rehabilitation was not initially included as an integral part of the pandemic response, which has created a critical gap. This national symposium will address this fundamental oversight by bringing together researchers, healthcare providers, policymakers, and people with lived experience to formally integrate rehabilitation into future pandemic preparedness. The symposium will establish a national research network focused on rehabilitation-informed pandemic preparedness, identify priority research areas, and develop evidence-informed recommendations for ensuring rehabilitation has a defined role in emergency response frameworks. Our interdisciplinary approach includes representation from health sciences and community organizations representing marginalized populations. Key objectives include developing collaborative research priorities that center patient experiences; creating systematic integration strategies for rehabilitation in emergency response; establishing research partnerships between academic institutions, healthcare systems, and community organizations; and ensuring marginalized communities, particularly those disproportionately affected by long COVID, inform pandemic preparedness frameworks. Expected outcomes include a national rehabilitation-informed pandemic preparedness research agenda, policy recommendations for formal integration of rehabilitation into health emergency frameworks, sustainable research partnerships across institutions and sectors, and enhanced capacity for comprehensive rehabilitation response during future health emergencies. This symposium addresses CRPPHE priorities by building interdisciplinary collaborations, engaging diverse stakeholders including people with lived experience, sharing lessons learned from COVID-19, and mobilizing research results to inform policy and practice for improved pandemic preparedness and response.