Cindy Trytten’s career has been filled with firsts.

From being the first employee at trailblazing life science companies to building capacity within the public health system and contributing to BC’s current-day clinical trial infrastructure, Cindy knows how important it is to bring the right people together to make things better for the province.

“I do what I can to get people excited about the end game – and overcome the challenges along the way,” Cindy says.

Now, Cindy is honoured with Clinical Trials British Columbia’s 2026 Service & Support Award. The award recognizes community-based commitment of an individual to go above and beyond to improve BC’s research and clinical trials community.

Throughout her 35-year career, Cindy has advocated for clinical trial growth and integration into care. This includes improving equitable access to clinical research opportunities for people living outside major cities.

“It all comes down to patient care,” Cindy says. “This is not separate. This is patient care with a layer of regulatory, quality and ethical oversight layered in. Clinical trials offer patients treatment options while advancing medicine.”

Cindy’s entry into the BC clinical trials community started in 1993 at the BC Transplant Society, building partnerships and trial capacity for potential new treatments for people undergoing kidney transplant. Her goal was rural transplant recipients having the same access as those in cities. After several years at BC Transplant, Cindy left to become the first employee of Syreon Corporation. Syreon was one of the first full-service clinical research organizations in BC. Cindy was the Vice President of Syreon when a relocation to Victoria landed her on Vancouver Island.

From there, she became the Chief Administrative Officer at Can-Med Clinical Research before joining the BC Clinical Research Infrastructure Network. Along the way she was a Founding Member of Clinical Trials Research Professionals of BC, a Co-Investigator for the BC Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research, and a Provincial Consultant for BC’s Research Approvals Processes Project.

During her 14 years in a research-focused director role with Island Health, she launched a multi-year research capacity building initiative on Vancouver Island. For clinical trials this included the creation of new positions to staff a multidisciplinary clinical trials unit, the Island’s first full-time quality and compliance role, and a leadership position to establish a Permission to Contact program at Island Health. This program informed what is now REACH BC – an online platform that connects patients and the public with researchers to participate in health studies and clinical trials. Thanks to her efforts, Vancouver Island is an increasingly important contributor to BC’s health research ecosystem.

Cindy brings a strong person-centred lens to embed lived experience in research. As Academic Lead, Island Health, BC SUPPORT Unit, she prioritized meaningful partnership with people with lived experience so that research better reflected community priorities.

While Cindy worked to improve and expand clinical trials in British Columbia, she also worked to build the next generation of leaders in the field. She had an eye for creating new positions to propel clinical trials forward, and for recruiting skilled and talented individuals into them. The Canadian College of Health Leaders recognized her commitment to mentorship in 2021 with a Chapter Award for Distinguished Service.

Sharing research success to inform and inspire the community is also important to Cindy. She was pivotal to launching Five Days in May, an annual health research showcase that brings together researchers, healthcare providers, students, partner organizations, and lived experience partners. She also led the creation of Knowledge to Action November – focusing on mobilizing research evidence into healthcare practice to improve patient care.

“What stands out most about Cindy is her ability to bring people together around a shared purpose. She builds trust easily, connects people across organizations, and has a way of helping teams work through challenges while keeping relationships strong,” says Alison Orth, Executive Director, Clinical Trials British Columbia. “Cindy’s leadership brings out the best in people and creates the momentum needed to move important work forward.”

Cindy recently retired from Island Health to become a health research advocate who writes about research and innovation in BC. She says giving people hope through new medical treatments has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her career.

“The parts that touched me the most have been the experiences of clinical trial participants and their families, and how their lives have been transformed through access to trials,” Cindy says. “Clinical trials are a part of clinical care, not separate from it. Our collective efforts to break down a mindset that they’re separate is an important part of continued efforts to shift the culture of healthcare into a learning health system in BC.”