Maureen Smith

Maureen Smith is a citizen leader committed to evidence-based medicine and patient/citizen engagement in research. Her commitment stems from her lived experience with the health system subsequent to a rare disease diagnosis in childhood. Maureen is the chair of Cochrane’s Consumer Network Executive and is involved in several global Cochrane projects and advisory committees. She is the co-convenor of Cochrane’s Co-Production Methods group.  In Canada, she sits on the Board of Directors of Ontario’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) SUPPORT Unit. She is a Principal Knowledge User of SPOR’s Evidence Alliance. Maureen is a patient member on the Ontario Committee to Evaluate Drugs since 2014 and the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee since 2016. Most recently, Maureen became the citizen-partnership lead for the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END), a global evidence network to support decision making.  Previously, Maureen served on the Executive of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders and Rare Disease International.

Maureen is the co-chair of the Citizen Leadership Group of the Global Evidence Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges.