Professor Marc-André Langlois, executive director of CoVaRR-Net and molecular virologist at uOttawa, saw the gaps in the last pandemic response in real time. “We can’t wait for a crisis to bring people together,” he says. “We need the structure in place before the emergency.”
Building a Canadian interdisciplinary network
Backed by $24 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), CoVaRR-Net was developed and launched in record time. The grant proposal was written in just nine days, and the network became operational within weeks — a testament to the agility of the team and the urgency of the situation.
Led by Professor Langlois, the network was intentionally designed as a “network of networks.” CoVaRR-Net succeeded by breaking down silos to unite virologists, immunologists, mathematicians, engineers, clinicians, social scientists and data experts. The vision was clear: to create a national network tailored to Canada’s needs.
CoVaRR-Net ultimately brought together 117 core members and over 340 contributors from 48 institutions nationwide. Their work was organized into 10 research pillars and 5 cross-cutting initiatives. These included a national biobank, a coordinated wastewater surveillance system and the Canadian Consortium of Academic Biosafety Level 3 Laboratories. All of this is critical infrastructure to ensure a rapid response and effective knowledge-sharing.
Real-world impact and lasting contributions
CoVaRR-Net’s reach extended well beyond the lab. It developed key infrastructure, trained the next generation of pandemic experts, delivered real-time briefings to policymakers and engaged Canadians through outreach and media. A defining feature was the equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity directorate, which held veto power over projects to ensure best practices. “Giving researchers the freedom to safely ask tough questions and find real answers — that’s a big part of why this initiative worked so well for us,” says Langlois.
“Giving researchers the freedom to safely ask tough questions and find real answers — that’s a big part of why this initiative worked so well for us.”
Marc-André Langlois
— Executive director of CoVaRR-Net and professor at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine
The Indigenous engagement, development and research team — now the independent Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development and Research (CIEDAR) network — ensured Indigenous health sovereignty and data governance remained central. The network’s research directly helped to shape public health decisions, such as vaccine strategies and risk assessments for infections among vaccinated people. CoVaRR-Net’s investment in wastewater surveillance also proved invaluable for tracking viral waves. These efforts overcame initial skepticism about this technology and set a new standard for low-cost, effective pandemic monitoring.
Lessons learned to prepare for future pandemics
Experience from CoVaRR-Net highlights several key lessons:
- Sustained investment: Long-term funding is crucial. A ready research team is a small cost that yields major benefits for the public.
- Canadian focus with global connections: While global collaboration matters, national networks ensure context-specific insights and build trusted relationships with federal agencies.
- Interdisciplinary approach: Involving researchers from a broad range of disciplines is critical to tackling complex research challenges of this kind.
- Academia–government collaboration: Direct engagement and collaboration with decision-makers ensures policies are based on science.
A core team for sustainable readiness
As CoVaRR-Net’s chapter closes, its blueprint remains. Canada needs a funded, interdisciplinary preparedness unit focused on real-time data, lab coordination and communication between scientists and policymakers. When a new threat arises, this unit can rapidly scale up its response. “If we get this right,” says Langlois, “the next threat may be stopped before it starts. The public might never even know we were there working behind the scenes. And that’s how we know we’ve done our job.”
A core preparedness unit, shaped by lessons learned from CoVaRR-Net, would give Canada a quiet but effective framework to face future threats.
