#MEAction Launches Research Program for Young Scholars

We are excited to announce that #MEAction has received funding to launch the NextGen IACC Scholars Program, supporting up to four graduate researchers at Canadian universities to lead studies using #MEAction’s Symptom Cluster Characterization in Complex Chronic Disease (SC4D) dataset.

This research will utilize the dataset that #MEAction collected as part of our Chronic Illness Survey Adventure, now known as the SC4D dataset.

The SC4D dataset represents more than 2,200 subjects and includes 1.5 million data points. The cleaned, de-identified dataset combines established measures of functional capacity, fatigue, pain, sensory reactivity, and more, with questions drawn from lived experience. It also captures information about illness onset, severity, duration, comorbidities, demographics, and symptoms that have historically been overlooked or inadequately measured.

#MEAction launched SC4D to address a persistent challenge in myalgic encephalomyelitis (#MECFS), #LongCOVID, #POTS, #MCAS, and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (#hEDS). Studies are often too small or narrowly focused to identify reproducible symptom patterns, clinically meaningful subgroups, and important differences in illness experience. Mentorship for emerging researchers is also limited, yet it is vital to the growth of the field.

The NextGen IACC Scholars Program: an opportunity for Canadian MS/PhD trainees

Each Canadian trainee will propose an original research question and develop it into a year-long project. With structured mentorship, trainees will refine their question, create and carry out a statistical analysis plan, interpret their findings, and prepare a peer-reviewed manuscript. 

Master’s and PhD trainees in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, and MD-PhD programs are especially encouraged to apply. Students from other disciplines are welcome to apply if their training and proposed research question are a good fit for the dataset and program.

This work is supported by an ICanCME Research Network grant, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (CIHR-IMHA). 

Program Goals: 

The program is designed to produce:

• Scholar-led manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication 

• Clinician-facing materials that translate findings into actionable clinical information

• Accessible public-facing materials

Trainees will work towards producing manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications, clinician-facing research products, and accessible patient-facing research products. The project will support the mentorship of a new generation of IACC researchers as they analyze this dataset and partner with the lived-experience community.

Applications will open on September 21, 2026, and will close on November 16, 2026. Full eligibility requirements, program expectations, and instructions are available on the IACC Scholars Landing Page.  We encourage students, graduate programs, researchers, clinicians, and community organizations across Canada to share this opportunity widely.

A multidisciplinary mentorship team

The scholars will be supported by mentors with complementary expertise:

• Jaime Seltzer, SC4D Principal Investigator and #MEAction Scientific Director, will lead the program and provide instruction and mentorship across research-question development, interpretation, scientific writing, publication, and project management.

• Andrew Grimson, Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences at Cornell University, will mentor scholars in statistical methodology, including development and review of their analysis plans, models, and methods reporting.

• Jason Karamchandani, Associate Professor at McGill University and Scientific Director of The Neuro’s C-BIG Repository, will provide training and guidance in data stewardship, data safety, responsible use of research data, and the platform where the dataset will be housed.

• Sarah Ketterer, a #MEAction investigator and project coordinator with lived experience of Long COVID and ME, will mentor scholars in patient-centered framing, respectful and accessible communication, potential harms, uncertainty, and explaining what findings do and do not show.

• Daisy Fung, a family physician and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Alberta, will guide the clinical interpretation of findings and the development of accurate, useful clinician-facing materials.