With much gratitude, we say goodbye to Karen Arts as she steps down from the Board of N2. Many of you know Karen Arts as the face of N2. As its founder and first Board Chair from 2007-2018, she worked tirelessly on our shared goals. You may have heard about N2 from a presentation she made or through her clinical research networking activities. Karen has an indomitable spirit with a seemingly endless capacity to support and advocate for our membership as well as the entire Canadian clinical research enterprise.
Karen spent many years as a nurse in various clinical settings, most notably labour & delivery, and oncology. After following this with 5-years of working for pharmaceutical company Amgen, Karen began an impactful period at the Ontario Cancer Research Network, now the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR).
This chapter saw Karen establish a high-impact clinical trials environment, 3CTN, and our own Network of Networks. After facilitating two national networking meetings to explore shared challenges, unmet needs, and opportunities to collaborate, N2 was incorporated in 2007.
With Karen’s skilled leadership and vision, N2 has grown to 163 members, includes MOUs with critical organizations, and has a robust infrastructure that leverages expertise across the country and has generated a breadth and depth of expert resources — no small feat given that N2 was primarily voluntary work while Karen also maintained her leadership position at OICR.
Please join us in wishing Karen well and celebrating her incredible legacy.
