Frontline Innovators is a national program hosted by the Clinician Investigator Trainee Association of Canada (CITAC) to inspire the next generation of physician-scientists in primary care.
Confronting Canada’s Primary Care Crisis
Primary care, the first entry point into our health system, remains inaccessible. More than 6.5 million Canadians do not have access to a primary care clinician, leading to worse health outcomes.
OurCare’s national report reveals a growing crisis in primary care access (OurCare, 2023). It calls to re-imagine how primary care is delivered across Canada.
Provinces are stepping up. Ontario is investing over $1.8 billion to connect every person in the province to primary care (Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan, 2025). British Columbia has committed over $1.2 billion to support its Primary Care Strategy initiatives (British Columbia News, 2025).
Universities are also stepping up. For example, Simon Fraser University and York University have launched new programs to train community-embedded primary care physicians (Simon Fraser University, 2025; York University, 2025).
Building on this momentum, we saw an opportunity to inspire future leaders to re-imagine primary care through research and innovation. Together with the Clinician Investigator Trainee Association of Canada, we started Frontline Innovators.
Our Core Program
Frontline Innovators empowers students to explore the intersection of research, innovation, and primary care.
See One
Conference Immersion: Our scholars are sponsored to attend primary care research conferences. These experiences are complemented by workshops that help scholars develop foundational research and communication skills.
Do One
Scholarly Output: Our scholars participate in post-conference programming, including a workshop to consolidate their learning and opportunities to engage in mentored research.
Teach One
Mentorship and Peer Leadership: Our scholars are matched with near-peer mentors, including MD–PhD trainees affiliated with CITAC. They are later invited to mentor future scholars, fostering a rich mentorship network.
What We Stand For
Our mission is to inspire the next generation of physician-scientists in primary care professions, including family medicine, general internal medicine, and general paediatrics.
Our vision is to change the narrative: primary care is foundational to research, innovation, and system-wide transformation.