Press Release

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The Université de Moncton will host a new NB-IRDT satellite location

A new satellite location of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) was launched on the Moncton campus of the Université de Moncton (MCUM) in a shared facility with Statistics Canada Research Data Centre (RDC). This is the first data facility of its kind in Canada to house both federal and provincial administrative data securely. The University of New Brunswick in Saint John is also launching a NB-IRDT Satellite Site and expects the new Statistics Canada RDC to open in their shared facility in the Spring of 2019. UNB Fredericton hosts the main sites of these data centres in the province.

“We are very happy to see NB-IRDT expand its operations to Saint John and Moncton because it offers more opportunities for researchers and scientists to access this data,” said Judy Wagner, Clerk of the Executive Council Office with the Province of New Brunswick. “This work, and the projects that result from it, will allow government decision makers to adapt and improve our programs to provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people.”

Serving as a research data entre for the province, NB-IRDT provides researchers with secure access to, provincial administrative data allowing researchers to examine questions that will empower government to implement evidence-based policy, stretch public dollars, anticipate the needs of a changing population, and encourage growth.

“This new satellite location will enable our university community, which includes not only researchers but also our students, to access a rich database about the population of New-Brunswick”, said Francis LeBlanc, Associate Vice-President of Research and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research from the Université de Moncton. “It`s a very important addition to our research infrastructure”.

The addition of a satellite location of NB-IRDT in Moncton allow researchers to access the data they need for their research without needing to drive 1.5 hours each way to the UNB Fredericton campus, taking away valuable time from their research project.

Moncton researchers already have plans to take advantage of this new access to data. One project aims to examine potential interactions between physical exercise and medication-use, including metformin and statins. There is an urgent need to understand the basis and consequences of physical exercise and medication-use interactions, since both are considered foundations in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases.

Following the first phase of the project, which will investigate exercise-medications interaction effects on laboratory-related and functional capacity outcomes, the second phase will address their impact on life-threatening health outcomes, including hospitalizations and major adverse cardiovascular events. For this project, we will use the Hospitalizations and Vital Statistics databases of New Brunswick, accompanied with data from the Cardiac Wellness Program in Moncton. Adding to the evidence-based knowledge about medication-exercise interactions would help practitioners understand the potential outcomes following their co-prescription, and help in reassuring patients about their current treatments.

“This is a major milestone for NB-IRDT,” says Ted McDonald, NB-IRDT director. “From its inception, we and our government partners conceived of NB-IRDT as a resource for all of NB even though data access was only available through our Fredericton facility. The opening of our satellite sites in Saint John and Moncton is tangible evidence of our commitment to that objective. NB-IRDT’s data facilities in New Brunswick’s three main cities means that access to data for policy and research is now possible for researchers located at our medical schools, regional health authorities and larger universities.”

About NB-IRDT
NB-IRDT was established as a provincial data research centre in early 2015 through the collaboration of many New Brunswick government departments including the Department of Health; the Executive Council Office; Post-secondary Education, Training and Labour; Education and Early Childhood Development; and Social Development.


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