kNOw-PAIN Conference 2026
March 26, 2026
Great Hall, Western University
9:00am-4:00pm
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Hance Clarke is a Staff anesthesiologist and the Director of Pain Services and the Pain Research Unit at the Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Clarke is currently the knowledge Translation Chair For the University of Toronto Centre For the Study of Pain and a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto.
He currently holds the GoodHope Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Chair in Translational Medicine and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Chronic Pain, Mental Health and Substance Use from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Clarke has been recognized internationally for the development of the Toronto General Hospital Transitional Pain Service and is a key opinion leader with respect to safe opioid practices and currently leads several trials investigating cannabinoid based medicines in order to understand the beneficial and adverse effects of cannabis for Canadians.
He is the president of the Canadian Pain Society, the past-president of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids, has authored over 240 peer reviewed publications and has been invited to speak on pain control, cannabis and the opioid crisis to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Canada and elsewhere around the world.
Dr. Margot Latimer
Dr. Margot Latimer is a settler Canadian of Scottish ancestry. She lives and works on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq. She is a Professor in the Faculty of Health and is cross-appointed in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University. Margot is the CIHR Research Chair in Indigenous Health Nursing in Nova Scotia and holds a scientific appointment at IWK Health. Since 2008, she has been working closely with First Nation communities to mobilize Indigenous knowledge to improve health care experiences and access to culturally safe education. Margot co-leads several projects with community researchers, including the CIHR funded “Aboriginal Children’s Hurt and Healing” Initiative, the Chronic Pain Network, and the Research Nova Scotia-funded W’loti Etuapmunk: Using Mi’kmaw Knowledge to Create Health & Wellness Solutions.
Dr. Hance Clarke
John R. Sylliboy
John R. Sylliboy is L'nu from the Millbrook Mi'kmaw Community in Nova Scotia. He is the Vice-Provost, Indigenous Relations at Dalhousie University. John’s role is to enhance Dalhousie’s Indigenous community partnerships, develop pathways into meaningful learning opportunities on campus, and expand on the work that Indigenous programming provides to benefit students, faculty, and staff for learning, teaching, and research.
John collaborates on various regional and national research at the IWK Health Centre with the Aboriginal Children’s Hurt and Healing Initiative. He is a co-recipient of a Focused Research Investment grant from Research Nova Scotia to explore Indigenous health and healing for L’nu children through Etuaptmumk / Two-Eyed Seeing.
John's other interests include advocating to build support for Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+. He is the co-founder and former Executive Director of the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance.
