2018-2019 Health System Impact Fellowships (for doctoral trainees and post-doctoral fellows)
Host Partner Organization Linkage Tool

Archived information

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Overview

The Health System Impact Fellowship (HSIF) program is founded on partnerships with health system and related organizations (e.g., public, not-for-profit, private for-profit organizations) that are committed to the program objectives, including providing enriching, stimulating and impact-oriented experiential learning opportunities for PhD trainees and/or post-doctoral fellows that accelerate their professional growth and career readiness and advance the organization’s impact goals regarding health system improvement.

Brief profiles of the organizations that have expressed interest in hosting an HSI Fellow (PhD trainee and/or post-doctoral fellow) are provided below.

Applicants are invited to review these profiles and submit expressions of interest (EOI) to organizations. Note: applicants may pursue experiential learning opportunities with profiled organizations and/or organizations that are not profiled but that meet the definition of "health system and related organization" as defined in the funding opportunity.

Organizations that are interested in hosting a fellow are invited to complete a short survey (i.e., profile). Once complete, your information will be added to the table below to facilitate collaborations with interested applicants. Notes: (1) profiles are posted unedited and in the language submitted; (2) the information is provided on a voluntary basis and in no way confers any advantages in the evaluation and funding of applications; and (3) the table will be updated weekly, until two weeks before the application deadline.

Instructions for applicants

  1. Step 1: Explore potential host partner organizations and submit expressions of interest: Interested applicants are encouraged to review the host partner organization profiles and submit an EOI to organizations of interest. Multiple EOIs are permitted, however applicants must ultimately confirm one host partner organization and submit a CIHR application with that organization. Tip: Do this early. Do not leave it to the last minute. It takes time to build a meaningful partnership and to then co-develop a CIHR application. Host partner organizations will accept EOIs and make commitments on an ongoing basis, so reach out early on.
  2. Step 2: Expression of interest requirements: The EOI must be sent by email (see the contact details in the host partner organization’s profile) and must include, in addition to a general introduction and purpose statement, the applicant’s CV (professional CV, not Common CV) and half page “Relevant Accomplishments and Abilities” component of the HSIF application. Organizations will use these documents for initial screening. Organizations may request additional information from the applicant (e.g., Common CV, writing sample). Tip: Tailor your EOIs to each organization. Clearly specify why you are interested in a particular organization and the added value you believe you can bring to the organization’s impact goals.
  3. Step 3: Meet with organizations: Organizations will respond to all EOIs received and invite the candidate(s) of potential interest for a meeting (or multiple meetings) to discuss interests and ideas and explore fit (i.e., by phone, web or in-person). Organizations will conduct an internal assessment and selection process. Candidates, similarly, may meet with multiple organizations and conduct their own assessment and selection of the optimal host partner organization for their personal career goals and interests.
  4. Step 4: Confirm partnership and develop application: When a mutual fit is confirmed between a candidate and an organization, an email between the two will officially verify the partnership. The candidate and host partner organization will, at this stage, co-develop the CIHR application. Tip: Review the funding opportunity Evaluation Criteria and How to Apply sections in detail. The funding opportunity is the official resources for application details and requirements.

Host partner organizations: Profiles

Contact Information
Name
Email
Phone
Province/Territory, City
Name of organization
Organization’s Impact Goal Organization’s Priority Areas for Fellowship Type of work Expression of interest eligibility: PhD trainee, post-doctoral fellow, both

Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille du CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre
Geneviève Lizé
Longueuil, Quebec

L’Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille (INLB) vise l’autonomie et la pleine participation sociale de la personne ayant une déficience visuelle ou une double déficience sensorielle. Il s’appuie sur l’innovation ainsi que sur le développement des compétences et de l’expertise. L’INLB fait partie du Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain. INLB welcomes bilingual (French-English) candidates.

Les axes de recherche sont : Instruments d’évaluation et de mesure; Interventions d’adaptation et de réadaptation; Nouvelles technologies et aides techniques; Clientèle et environnement social et Recherche fondamentale et s’appliquent à :

  • Enfance-jeunesse
  • Adultes et réadaptation au travail
  • Aînés
  • Surdicécité (INLB-IRD)
  • Basse vision, conduite automobile et service d’aides techniques
  • Adaptation de l’information en médias substituts
  • Recherche et innovation

En collaboration avec la coordonnatrice des programmes cliniques et en tenant compte de la clientèle desservie, des besoins des programmes cliniques et de l’utilisation des données probantes, le candidat pourra réaliser, dans une perspective d’innovation et de transfert des connaissances, les activités suivantes:

  • Revue de littérature
  • Projections et planification
  • Évaluation de pratiques cliniques, de programmes ou de continuums de soins et services
  • Conceptualisation de modèles de services
Either / both

Deloitte
Dr. Shanil Ebrahim
Toronto, Ontario

Deloitte seeks to:
  • Develop creative analytical approaches to solve client’s problems
  • Develop and roll out key provincial initiatives for the healthcare system in Ontario
  • Influence the transformation of the healthcare
  • Strategic advisory for healthcare organizations
  • Analytics and artificial intelligence for solving the most pressing healthcare problems
  • Examining and refreshing leading practices and organizational responses to public sector trends and health care policies
  • Thought leadership including research on leading health practices and innovative technological and analytical solutions
The successful fellow(s) will have a range of opportunities to lead and/or contribute to any or all of the following: strategy development; analytics and artificial intelligence, environmental scanning of health systems; evaluation of programs, therapies or policies; economic analyses; development of reports for clients; and participating in meetings with internal and external clients Either / both

BC Ministry of Mental Health
and Addictions

Gina McGowan
Director Research Translation and Knowledge Mobilization
Victoria and Vancouver, British Colombia

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions Service Plan(2018/19-2022/23)supports the BC Government's goal to deliver the services people count on. To this end, the Ministry's two goals are to:
  1. Deliver an immediate, escalated response to the opioid overdose public health emergency that keeps people safe and improves the health and well-being of British Columbians; and
  2. Improve access to effective mental health and addictions services and supports through the design development and implementation of a Mental Health and Addictions strategy and Action Plan that includes a central focus on prevention and early intervention services/supports, and children, youth and Indigenous Peoples. Integrating with these priorities is government’s commitment to true, lasting reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in BC. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to undertake projects related to these goal areas over the fellowship period.
In alignment with the overarching mission and impact goals, the following priority areas have been designated as options for this fellowship competition:
  • Overdose emergency response in BC
  • Policy and planning for mental health and addictions, including a focus on children and youth, Indigenous populations, early intervention and prevention
  • Mental health and addictions research, monitoring and policy evaluation
The successful fellow will have a range of opportunities to focus on health system innovations within one of the priority areas listed above and on-going Ministry initiatives that require planning, strategy development, policy analysis, stakeholder consultations, jurisdictional reviews/environmental scanning, program/service evaluation and data analysis (qualitative and quantitative). Either / both

British Columbia Ministry of Health
Nicolette McGuire
Victoria, British Colombia

The Ministry of Health’s goals are to help government achieve the following three commitments to British Columbians:
  1. The first commitment is to make life more affordable. British Columbians are counting on government to make their lives easier by containing costs and services fees.
  2. The second commitment is to deliver the services that people count on. Government services touch the lives of British Columbians every day, and there is so much more that we can – and must – do to provide these services where and when people need them.
  3. The third commitment is to build a strong, sustainable, innovative economy that works for everyone. Integrating with these priorities is government’s commitment to true, lasting reconciliation with First Nations in British Columbia. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to undertake projects related to these goal areas over the fellowship period.
In alignment with the overarching mission and impact goals, the following priority areas have been designated as options for this fellowship competition:
  1. Primary and Community Care
  2. Wait Time Reduction
  3. Seniors Care
  4. Pharmaceutical Services
  5. Mental Health and Addictions
  6. Maternal and child health care
  7. Cultural safety, diversity and inclusion
  8. Population and Public Health
  9. Other related disciplines
The successful fellow will have a range of opportunities to focus on health system innovations within one of the priority areas listed above and on-going Ministry initiatives that require planning, strategy development, policy analysis, stakeholder consultations, jurisdictional reviews/environmental scanning, program/service evaluation and data analysis (qualitative and quantitative). Either / both

Alberta Health Services
Debbie McNeil / Judy Seidel
Calgary, Alberta

Strategic Clinical Networks™ (SCNs) as, engines of innovation for our Alberta’s health system, focus on partnerships, engagement, research and working with patients, clinical experts, front-line workers, research teams, communities, and policy makers to achieve a high-performing health system. Our goal is to identify the feasibility of executing an implementation science laboratory in Alberta. The strategic priority for our system transformation is to more effectively and efficiently implement innovations for scale and spread. Additionally we endeavor to create an environment for impactful partnerships with shared commitments, priorities, and deliverables among Alberta Health Services, academic and funding partners and other stakeholders.
  • Understanding of the current context and readiness of Alberta Health Services, funders, academic partners and other stakeholders’
  • Developing models for consideration based on an environmental scan of successful exemplars of implementation science laboratories
  • Leading a deliberative dialogue with multiple stakeholder to assess context, readiness and design characteristics
Post-doctoral fellows only

Pallium Canada
Dr. Jose Pereira
Scientific Officer, Pallium Canada.
Dr. Pereira is also Director, Research, College of Family Physicians of Canada and Gilchrist Chair and Professor of Palliative Medicine, Queen’s University and Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa
and/or Jonathan Faulkner
VP of Operations
Ottawa, Ontario

Anticipated fellows’ impact goals include:
  • Increase access to appropriate palliative care for Canadians through evidence-based education of healthcare professionals
  • Delivering quality improvement tools for palliative care across Canada’s health care systems
  • Increasing community capacity for palliative care by developing Compassionate Communities and caregiving support
Pallium’s anticipated priorities include:
  • Assessing the systems-level impact of LEAP courses on Canada’s healthcare system (national and regional)
  • Development of targeted quality improvement tools and resources based on existing Pallium data and research
  • Evaluating implementation methods to strengthen social change initiatives towards death, and promotion of palliative care within Canada
The fellow will potentially engage in:
  • Mixed methods and qualitative analysis to examine outcome measures in regional healthcare systems
  • Program development and evaluation of Compassionate Community toolkits
  • Working with an interdisciplinary team on knowledge transferring strategies to share findings, and to support implementation of quality improvement initiatives
Either / both

Alzheimer Society of Canada
Dr. Saskia Sivananthan
Toronto, Ontario

Fellows will have the opportunity to work with ASC to advance the research strategy through the Alzheimer Society Research Enterprise. The Research Enterprise (RE) will provide direction that will be representative of all Alzheimer Society Federation Partners and will focus on funding leading-edge research across Canada while creating capacity to ensure Canada remains at the forefront of dementia research.

Contact Meg McMahon for full profile.
The Alzheimer Society provides a rich and engaging environment for Fellows interested in working on projects and within programs that consider how evidenced based research can be placed into practise through knowledge translation and exchange. This includes services and programs currently provided or being developed by the Alzheimer Society that require evaluation. The successful fellow will have the option to participate in two potential avenues of work.
  1. Contribute to the work of the Research Enterprise
  2. Take the lead on developing an evaluation strategy for programs and services currently provided by the Alzheimer Society Federation.
Professional growth and development:
  • ASC will provide the fellow with an orientation of the Society, including Dementia Training.
  • In addition to having a dedicated senior executive supervisor/mentor with extensive cross-departmental experience in research, policy and advocacy, fundraising, communications a board of mentors within the organization will be created for the fellow. The fellow will also have full access to the regular formal and informal professional development opportunities offered to ASC employees.
Either / both

Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA)
Vinita Haroun
Toronto, Ontario

OLTCA is Canada’s largest long-term care association and represents a full spectrum of charitable, not-for-profit, private and municipal long-term care operators. The Association’s member homes are funded and regulated by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. OLTCA members provide care, accommodation, and services to almost 100,000 seniors annually. The Ontario Long Term Care Association supports excellence in long-term care through research, analysis, advocacy and services for members. We use a solutions-oriented approach to advance the delivery of the care and services to meet the changing needs of Ontario's long-term care residents. The goal of the HSIF would be to provide leadership in developing evidence-based policy and program recommendations to complement our solutions-based approach to advocacy. Priority areas could include but are not limited to:
  • Advancing our understanding of Long Term Care Plus, innovative models of care. Expertise required could include capacity planning and projections, study design and evaluation of complex systems, including mixed methods experience.
  • Enhancing our suite of business intelligence tools and dashboards. Expertise required could include quantitative methodology expertise (planning, analysis, and interpretation), data visualization and communications expertise
  • Stakeholder consultation: our members include owners and operators of long-term care homes, as well as commercial vendors that provide services and products in the seniors care context
  • Policy analysis and briefings
  • Program and policy evaluation, including individual, organizational and system level outcomes
Post-doctoral fellows only

Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario
Dianne Martin
Chief Executive Officer
905-602-4664
1-877-602-4664 ext 226
The office is in Mississauga, Ontario however RPNAO activities occur across the province.

To develop a staged research strategy and conduct early stage projects to address the absence of evidence regarding the optimal use and health system value / impact of Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), Ontario’s second largest group of regulated health professionals, particularly on patient outcomes across sectors.
  • Nursing workforce optimization with a RPN research focus
  • RPN health system value impact evidence generation
  • Global practical nursing utilization and impact
  • Evidence to inform nursing workforce planning & policy
  • Nursing role clarity
  • Model of care and role innovation
  • RPN competency development to meet emerging health system needs
  • Strategy development
  • Stakeholder engagement & consultation
  • Environmental scanning & literature review
  • RPN Workforce demographic profiling
  • Quantitative or qualitative data analysis
  • Demonstration/research project design, implementation
  • Strategic partnership development
  • Design & management of innovation challenges for research project selection
  • Policy briefings
  • Economic evaluation
  • Project design & management
  • Program evaluation & impact assessment
Either / both

Public Health Agency of Canada
Wendy Thompson
613-697-6014
Ottawa, Ontario

The Injury and Healthy Living (IHL) Surveillance Team is within Public Health Agency of Canada is looking for one or two fellows that could provide research expertise, help develop questions for national health surveys, contribute to reports and peer-review publications, identify gaps and future work plans, review and provide advice and direction to grants and contribution, multisectoral partnerships and engagement. The Injury and Healthy Living (IHL) Surveillance Team is within Public Health Agency of Canada is interested in the Health System Impact Fellowship for both injury and poisoning surveillance (priorities include: concussions, falls, illicit substances)as well as Healthy Living Surveillance (priorities include: sleep, healthy weights and obesity and healthy built environment) Anticipated engagements may include literature reviews, qualitative analyses, stakeholder engagement strategy development, reviews and advice for multisectoral partnerships and funding and performance measurement indicators related to project funding Either / both

Child Health BC
Jennifer Scarr
Vancouver, British Colombia

Child Health BC brings together policy makers, health administrators, clinicians, operational leaders and physician leaders from across BC who together have a bold, common goal: To work together to continuously improve the health status and health outcomes of BC’s children by building an integrated and accessible system of service. To achieve that goal of improving health status, outcomes and services for BC’s kids, we collaborate to:
  • Strengthen the system of service for child & youth health.
  • Keep children healthy and safe.
  • Promote novel integrated primary care and community-based models.
  • Increase access to high quality innovative appropriate services across the Tiers.
  • Enhance quality through the implementation of provincial standards and pathways.
The strategic priority areas for Child Health BC can be found on our Action Plan - see link to the plan. The candidate will have the opportunity to develop the following skills:
  • stakeholder consultation and facilitation
  • environmental scanning, jurisdictional reviews and evidence reviews
  • applying research methodology to support health research related to process and outcomes, including both quantitative and qualitative data analysis
  • program evaluation and impact assessment to support organizational and provincial planning
  • communicating results to inform decision-making, these would include writing reports, developing briefing notes, presenting results
  • exposure to administrative and strategic planning to support organizational outcomes
Either / both

Alberta Health Services, Primary Health Care Integration Network, Strategic Clinical Network (SCN)
Judy Seidel
403-560-2803
Calgary, Alberta

Strategic Clinical Networks™ (SCNs) are engines of innovation for Alberta’s health system that focus on achieving a high-performing health system through partnerships, engagement, and research. A key area of focus of the Primary Health Care Integration Network (PHCIN) SCN is to further the development of enhancing care in the community. A strategic priority for our PHCIN SCN is to mobilize best evidence on enhancing care in the community in Alberta with a focus on:
  1. moving appropriate services out of hospital and into the community;
  2. emphasizing community-based, multidisciplinary teams; and
  3. a shift from acute care to wellness.
  • Understanding of the current context of health service delivery and policy in Alberta
  • Synthesizing available evidence on best practices and models of care
  • Taking population health lens to evaluating best practices and implementation models
  • Engaging provincial primary care stakeholders and patients on care experiences, health system challenges, and implementation considerations.
Post-doctoral fellows only

Canadian Society for International Health
Eva Slawecki
Ottawa, Ontario

The impact goal of this Fellowship is to support the Canadian Society for International Health (CSIH) in enabling collective action for the Canadian global health community to make a sustainable and meaningful impact on Canadian and other national health systems as part of our international commitments. The Fellowship will focus on bridging the evidence to policy gap in Knowledge Translation (KT) related to Canada’s global commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Canada’s recent commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comes with implications for both domestic and foreign policy. CSIH intends to coordinate and support national and international networks on issues that align with the SDGs, with an end to improving health systems. Its main challenges lie in knowledge translation (KT) and community engagement. There is a gap in sustained dialogue in an interdisciplinary global health community that is otherwise not formally connected. A Community of Practice for SDGs for Health has already been established, and the next step is to mobilize this network of Canadian researchers, NGOs, and decision-makers to identify concrete solutions to the SDG challenge through KT and capacity-building.
  • Stakeholder consultation related to health systems and international relations in the policy making process,
  • Development of policies and position statements related to SDGs for Health
  • Engagement in policy dialogues and relevant networking opportunities
  • Capacity-development for the Community of Practice and CSIH members related to SDGs and health
Either / both

Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA), Population Health, Quality & Research Division/Care Services Division/Medical Services Division
Riaz Alvi
Epidemiology and Performance Measurement
639-635-3030
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The SCA is looking to strengthen its commitment to data driven decision-making and strategy. Key areas include design and implementation of; performance measurement framework, analytics framework for clinical disease site groups, framework to measure research impact. Outputs will inform SCA strategy, quality improvement and innovation in cancer control.
  • Project aligns with 2015-2020 SCA Strategic Plan
  • Initiatives to achieve strategic priorities include:
    • Development of a performance measurement framework with associated indicators for multiple levels of governance; including evidence-based measures and standards for disease site groups.
    • Developing a framework to measure research impact as the Agency implements its research plan.
  • Needs assessment
  • Indicator development
  • Pilot indicator calculation and interpretation
  • Knowledge translation tool development
  • Qualitative and quantitative analyses
  • Literature reviews
  • Environmental scans
  • Evaluation
Doctoral trainees only

Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Population Health, Quality & Research Division, Early Detection - Screening Program for Breast Cancer
Linda Weir
Director - Early Detection
(639) 625-2048
Regina (preference) or Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Agency’s key impact goal for the experiential learning opportunity is to provide an experience for a fellow to be exposed to how a health system makes transformational change in a program that is delivered by different stakeholders.
  • Align with the 2015-2020 strategic plan for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency
  • Ensure Saskatchewan women in the target population receive same services in the breast pathway, which included screening and follow-up care
  • Impact provincial participation rates for breast screening to align with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer target
  • Ensuring all woman of Saskatchewan receive equitable access to timely, high quality, efficient, safe, client-centered breast screening and follow-up care
  • Redesigning the pathway for a woman from screening to follow up care
  • Stakeholder consultation
  • Modeling and forecasting of capacity required for new technology
  • Data analysis for current usage of equipment
Either / both

Alberta Health Services
Tracy Wasylak
403-943-1256
Calgary, Alberta

Strategic Clinical Networks™ (SCNs) as, engines of innovation for our Alberta’s health system, focus on partnerships, engagement, research and working with patients, clinical experts, front-line workers, research teams, communities, and policy makers to achieve a high-performing health system. Our goal is to identify the feasibility of executing an implementation science laboratory in Alberta. The strategic priority for our system transformation is to more effectively and efficiently implement research and innovations for scale and spread to achieve health and health system impact. Additionally we endeavour to create an environment for impactful partnerships with shared commitments, priorities, and deliverables among Alberta Health Services, academic and funding partners and other stakeholders.
  • Co-develop leading edge tools (such as stage gate models) for assessing the scale and spread of research and innovation to achieve health and health system impact
  • Understand the current context and readiness of Alberta Health Services, funders, academic partners and other stakeholders’ and lead a deliberative dialogue with stakeholder to assess context, readiness and design characteristics
  • Developing models for consideration based on an environmental scan of successful exemplars of implementation science laboratories
  • Support systematic review of the role of cannabis in treatment of pain across the lifespan
  • Help create a white paper on the role of education for clinicians as a means of improving training within the academic centers in Alberta
Post-doctoral fellows only

Alberta Health Services
Tracy Wasylak
403-943-1256
Calgary, Alberta

Strategic Clinical Networks™ (SCNs) as, engines of innovation for our Alberta’s health system, focus on partnerships, engagement, research and working with patients, clinical experts, front-line workers, research teams, communities, and policy makers to achieve a high-performing health system. Our goal is to implement an Alberta Pain Strategy across the province exploring opportunities to integrate both research and educational strategies to improve outcomes for those with acute and chronic pain across the lifecycle.
  • Pain is the priority area of focus for the fellowship (see type of work for additional details)
  • Validating the Alberta Pain Strategy with Health System Operations, Academic Partners, Community providers and patients and families
  • Creating a full business case for priority areas within the Acute, Chronic and Opioid Working groups focused on identified gaps and evidence informed solutions
  • Support research in the area of addictions and pain across the lifespan
  • Support systematic review of the role of cannabis in treatment of pain across the lifespan
  • Help create a white paper on the role of education for clinicians as a means of improving training within the academic centers in Alberta
Post-doctoral fellows only

Alberta Health Services Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNsTM) in partnership with the Office of Lifelong Learning and the Physician Learning Program in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta
Tracy Wasylak
403-943-1256
Edmonton, Alberta

Additional Sites:
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Lifelong Learning
Physician Learning Program

The Physician Learning Program inspires a learning health care system, helping physicians and teams reflect on clinical problems and create solutions to advance practice. This HSI Fellow will study the emerging structures and linkages leveraged by PLP and the Strategic Clinical Networks™ to achieve sustainable system change. Study how PLP:
  • effectively and efficiently implement practice-ready evidence for scale and spread, to transform health and health system impact.
  • advance impactful partnerships with shared commitments, priorities, and deliverables with stakeholder groups
  • understand problems, leverage partnerships to extend our reach, and the methods used to achieve our goals.
The HSI Fellow will study the process of stakeholder engagement, clinical care gap analysis, problem understanding with a multi-stakeholder lens, and interventions in context to shift practice. They will look at the whole arc of PLP from engagement, understanding, data, interventions, and sustainability. Post-doctoral fellows only

Ontario Hospital Association (Division of Policy and Public Affairs)
Elizabeth Carlton
Vice-President Policy and Public Affairs
Kulsum Dharamshi
Executive Assistant
416-205-1358
Toronto, Ontario

Through our thought leadership mandate in our 2018-2021 Strategic Plan, the OHA is committed to becoming a leader in the health policy dialogue by generating and sharing ideas that will improve the system. This includes working with other system stakeholders to strengthen evidence-based decision making in topic areas such as, but not limited to, health system planning (e.g., new models of care), and health system performance (e.g., hospital funding). The HSIF leadership and research expertise would help support this mandate.
  • New models of care (e.g., integrated care models, virtual care, governance & leadership)
  • Physician and Professional Issues (e.g. clinical engagement, alignment of incentives)
  • Health System Performance (e.g., indicator development and refinement)
  • Stakeholder Consultation and Collaboration
  • Jurisdictional Scans
  • Policy Development, Analyses, and Briefings
  • Statistical Analyses (both quantitative and qualitative)
  • Program Evaluation
Doctoral trainees only

Nova Scotia Health Authority
Susan Stevens
Halifax, Nova Scotia

NSHA is committed to improving both the care and experience of the people we serve. Our first strategic direction is about providing a person centred, high quality, safe and sustainable health and wellness system for Nova Scotians through a focus on performance, accountability, education, research and innovation. Every year 40,000 Nova Scotians and their families access approximately $1B of continuing care services through the NSHA. NSHA wants to improve both the quality of care and experience of people accessing home care and long term care services through enhanced utilization of the RAI-HC assessment and related indicators currently used care for case management. This work may also involve the development of new indicators. This work would involve consultations with clients and family caregivers, care coordinators, managers and service providers, a jurisdictional scan and literature review. Both quantitative analysis (RAI-HC data) and qualitative analysis of stakeholder interviews will be required. The RAI-HC system is held by the Ministry and changes will involve developing a plan and series of policy products for senior decision makers within NSHA and the Ministry. Post-doctoral fellows only

Public Health Ontario
Dr. John McLaughlin
Chief Science Officer
Toronto, Ontario

Fellows can achieve impact within PHO teams that provide scientific and technical expertise to strengthen Ontario’s public health sector, enhance population health monitoring, conduct public health research, and apply evidence to enhance public health policies and programs. There are diverse opportunities for Fellows across PHO, plus one fellow will be supported to apply AI methods to address a public health challenge and help to build AI capacities in public health research and practice. All PHO program areas provide opportunities including:
  • health promotion & chronic disease prevention
  • applied immunization research
  • communicable diseases, emergency preparedness
  • infection prevention & control
  • environmental & occupational health
  • public health laboratory sciences
The AI Post-doctoral Fellow will collaborate with fellows at other public health agencies while applying AI methods in studies of chronic disease prevention or health impacts of pneumococcal immunization.
PHO operates at the nexus where scholarly research improves evidence, knowledge informs policy/practice, public health programs are enhanced through evaluation, and capacity is built through training and education. Fellow activities may include:
  • strategy development
  • quantitative or qualitative analysis
  • predictive modeling
  • evaluation & risk assessment
  • interpretation of results & knowledge synthesis
The AI Fellow will employ advanced AI methods to address important public health questions.
Either / both

Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care
Della Saunders
Penetanguishene, Ontario

Waypoint is a specialized mental health hospital that treats patients across all psychiatric disorders and is Ontario’s only high-secure psychiatric facility. Waypoint advances a strategy of integrating research excellence with clinical services to improve care. Using research evidence to guide decision-making, Waypoint is committed to system reform that improves outcomes. With a commitment to research excellence and fostering partnerships and collaborations, key focus areas for this Fellowship include:
  • Risk factor identification and assessment, specifically in forensic mental health and psychopathy
  • Gender-specific mental health services
  • Psychological health in the workplace, especially in a high-risk environment
  • Metabolic syndrome among forensic psychiatric patients
Working closely with senior leadership and researchers:
  • Develop, coordinate, and execute study work-plans, procedures, and protocols
  • Lead data collection, and conduct quantitative/qualitative analyses
  • Measure and evaluate results for impact assessment
  • Conduct environmental scans/literature reviews
  • Provide advice on process and results
  • Communicate progress and results by reports, briefing-notes, publications, and presentations
Either / both

PricewaterhouseCoopers & CHSPRA
Tara McCarville (PwC)
Diane Finegood (CHSPRA)
416-414-6957
Vancouver/Victoria, British Colombia OR Toronto, Ontario (flexibility)

PwC Canada provides strategic advice for public and private sector organizations and is interested in building capacity for health system transformation and integration of data into provincial, territorial and national health systems. The Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance (CHSPRA) a co-operative venture building capacity for health system transformation through key elements of learning health systems including training modernization, impact analysis and other system leverage points. CHSPRA will work with PwC to build organizational capacity to deliver on these related agendas.
  • Building models for effective learning health systems through strategic application of data and analytics in targeted priority areas
  • Building a governance and sustainability plan for the CHSPRA Alliance
The successful applicant will have an opportunity to contribute to a number of different projects related to:
  • effective learning health systems
  • strategic application of data in addressing health system strategies; population health / social determinants
  • the national and global application of machine learning and artificial intelligence as it relates to health industries (population health, social determinants, other)
Post-doctoral fellows only

PolicyWise for Children & Families
Robyn Blackadar
Calgary, Alberta

PolicyWise aims to develop and integrate evidence to inform, identify, and promote effective public policy and service delivery to improve the well-being of children, families, and communities. PolicyWise conducts their work in collaboration with community and government stakeholders.
  • To facilitate evidence-informed health and health-related social systems, service integration, transitions in care, and design services to meet the needs of people who have complex needs.
  • To enable data use for improved services, and policy and practice decision-making in the community and non-profit sectors.
Targeted hands-on learning experience in:
  • Strategy development, stakeholder consultation
  • Environmental scans, literature reviews
  • Quantitative, qualitative analysis
  • Program evaluation, impact assessment
  • Secondary data use
  • Engage with communities and stakeholders to create, analyze, disseminate, and mobilize data
The trainee will be better prepared to explore job opportunities inside and outside of academia.
Either / both

Health Standards Organization (HSO)
Kaye Phillips (PhD)
Director, Standards
Ottawa, Ontario

Health Standards Organization (HSO) is a global non-for profit, that develops and delivers world-class, evidence-based standards; innovative assessment programs; and resources and training to enable health and social service providers in Canada and around the world to achieve quality health and social services for all. HSO places people, families and community members at the heart of our design and operations.
  • Integrated health and social services
  • Person Centered Care
  • Leadership and Governance
  • Quality and Safety
  • Outcome Measurement
  • Publication development and management, including standards, white papers and literature reviews
  • Technical Committee and stakeholder management and support
  • Applied mixed-method research methodology design and implementation
  • Research and evaluation, analysis and report writing
  • Publication sponsorship and endorsement
  • Dashboard development
Either / both

Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS)
Marie-Hélène Chastenay
Montréal and Québec city, Quebec

INESSS is aware of the need to enhance leadership capacity to support the transformation of the health and social services system. In support of the INESSS mandates, the successful candidate will be able to provide a methodological background to participate with a senior mentor from the institute, in support of strengthened clinical governance, at one or more levels of the cycle of activities, under four main functions:
  • The identification of priorities, which aims to inform the choice of priorities towards the sectors of activity where the potential gains in optimizing practices are the highest
  • The development of knowledge products, at the heart of INESSS activities, leading to the production of assessments, recommendations and guides based on the best available knowledge
  • The implementation of recommendations, which is intended to equip the department, as well as clinicians and managers, to accelerate the implementation of recommendations
  • Measurement and evaluation, which aim to instrument the network's actors to monitor the implementation of the recommendations as well as to feed into the identification of priorities for the next cycle of activities
  1. Support the improvement of practices in a real world context
    • Better equip local integrated services in the continuous improvement of their practices
    • Support intervention adapted to people with complex needs
    • Support the Ministry’s clinical relevance projects
    • Characterize the use of care and services at the end of life
  2. Implement ethical and methodological standards arising from the INESSS institutional assessment framework
    • Methodological work on the integration of knowledge
    • Value assessment in a real world context
    • Methodological work on the care and services pathways of users
  3. Carry out mandates to evaluate technologies and methods of intervention deemed to be priorities in the fields of drugs, health services and social services
    1. Drug
      • Optimal use of the drug
      • National medical protocols and associated prescriptions
      • Evaluation of drugs for listing
    2. Social Services
      • Physical, intellectual and autism spectrum disorders
      • Youth and Families
      • Support for the autonomy of seniors
      • Addictions and homelessness
      • Mental health
      • General social services
    3. Health Services and Technology Assessment
      • Screening and preventive clinical practices
      • Medical Biology and Genomics
      • Medical Imaging
      • Traumatology and Critical Care
      • Cardiology and neurovascular diseases
      • Oncology
      • Stable blood products
      • Technological innovations and medical devices
      • Cellular therapies
      • Health Intervention Methods
INESSS has a central place at the heart of Quebec’s health and social services network, and positions itself as a partner in the Canadian network and abroad. Practical learning opportunities within INESSS are plentiful and can take the form of many kinds of enriching projects, in terms of both career development for the fellow and organizational impact for INESSS. Depending on the profile of the successful applicant, here are some examples of project portfolios that are aligned with the strategic plan:
  • Quantitative Methodologies Profile:
    • Study of practice variation, analysis of trajectories and identification of areas with high potential for improvement by exploiting the potential of Megadata
  • Policy and Systems Analysis Profile:
    • implementation of the new institutional framework for technology assessment for public reimbursement
    • implementation of accelerated assessment modalities for innovative health technologies under POETIS (optimized process for evaluating health intervention technologies)
  • Mixed Methods Profile:
    • Study of the diverse perspectives of stakeholders involved in technology assessment
    • Evaluation of the impact of INESSS recommendations in a real world context
    • Studies of new partnership modalities in collaboration with the academic community and the technology assessment and intervention units in health and social services (UETMI) in order to strengthen network collaboration
Either / both

BlueDot
Kamran Khan
Toronto, Ontario

BlueDot is a digital health company that uses big data, advanced analytics/artificial intelligence, and web and mobile technologies to spread insights about emerging global infectious diseases faster than the diseases themselves. Fellows will work in one or more of three priority areas:
  1. enhancing timely global surveillance of infectious diseases
  2. conducting timely risk assessments of emerging epidemic threats, and
  3. developing web and mobile products to empower public health and healthcare stakeholders in Canada and internationally.
Priority areas for experiential learning:
  • Digital surveillance for global infectious diseases
  • Modelling and forecasting epidemic transmission and dispersion
  • Knowledge dissemination through web and mobile technologies
  • Knowledge translation to government stakeholders during public health emergencies
  • Big data analytics using natural language processing, machine learning and other AI modalities
Fellows will work in a diverse and unique learning environment comprised of physicians specializing in infectious diseases, veterinarians, ecologists, epidemiologists, data scientists, computer scientists, engineers, and designers. Activities will focus on data analytics and modelling using a diverse set of public and private sector data sources. Analytical techniques will include, but not be limited to, spatial analysis, statistical and mathematical models, natural language processing, machine learning and other AI modalities. Fellows will also participate in the translation of insights into digital products (web and mobile apps) and health policy in partnership with public health/security agencies in Canada and internationally. Fellows will also have the opportunity to work within a social enterprise, where activities lie at the intersection of science (medicine and public health), technology (web and mobile app development), and commercialization (social innovation and entrepreneurship). Post-doctoral fellows only

Lung Association, Saskatchewan
Susan Cron
306-343-9511
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The Lung Association aspires to lead lung health in Saskatchewan by increasing prevention, promotion and education for all residents through an integration of policy, clinical care, and research. An Environmental Scan will be completed during 2019 as an essential data source to inform a Provincial Lung Health Strategy and plan. A Provincial Strategy and Plan will enable Government funding and priorities to be directed to the areas impacting health care systems the most COPD, Asthma and Lung Cancer. The Environmental Scan is essential to inform the strategy that will enhance the management and prevention of chronic lung disease in Saskatchewan. Scope of Environmental Scan:
  • Support development Provincial Lung Health Strategy and Action Plan
  • Complete Cost Benefit Analysis and Budget to support Strategy and Plan
  • Assist in preparation and presentation on Ministerial Briefing paper
  • Identify prior lung health research studies in respiratory health that have provided knowledge for clinical care pathways and or health policies
Either / both

British Columbia Centre for Disease Control
Dr. Naveed Janjua
Interim Director Public Health Analytics
604-707-2514
Vancouver, British Columbia

BCCDC provides health promotion and prevention services, analytical and policy support to government and health authorities, and diagnostic and treatment services to reduce communicable & chronic disease, preventable injury and environmental health risks. Fellows can create impact through working with teams at BCCDC focusing on applied public health research using large integrated datasets that could inform health policy and design of health services to improve health of British Columbians; enhancing population health monitoring and evaluation; knowledge synthesis and application of evidence to inform policies and programs. The BCCDC programs areas and priorities include:
  • Big Data and machine learning: Areas of interests and priority in machine learning include natural language processing for text data including laboratory results, and medical notes; big data and prediction modelling; and disease clustering and alerting for action.
  • Population health monitoring
  • Sexually Transmitted and Bloodborne infections including hepatitis, HIV and STIs (See: BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort)
  • Harm Reduction and overdose response
  • Tuberculosis
  • Communicable & Vaccine preventable diseases
  • Antimicrobial stewardship
  • Environmental health
  • Chronic disease prevention, health promotion and surveillance / BC Observatory for Population & Public Health
  • Public health laboratory services
Please visit the website to see the BCCDC’s comprehensive approaches to public health in British Columbia.
The type of work an awardee could expect to lead/contribute to include:
  • integration and analysis of data
  • reviewing, assessing, and synthesizing complex research findings from scientific literature, and other lines of evidence, to create knowledge translation documents
  • research and respond to complex questions and issues related to public health concerns
  • perform statistical analysis, interpret data, identify significant results, draw conclusions and make recommendations
  • document findings and publish detailed research reports
Either / both

Urban Public Health Network (UPHN)
Dr. Cordell Neudorf
Director, Standards
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The UPHN, which consists of the lead Medical Health Officers of 23 cities, is the national voice of local, urban public health in Canada. Fellows will work with UPHN members and their Regional Health Authorities to promote best practice and assist with research and advocacy relating to public and population health, preventative medicine, and upstream interventions.
  • Healthy Built Environment
  • Reduction of Sexually Transmitted infections
  • Enhancing immunization coverage in the under-immunized
  • Improving the Public Health / Primary Health Care Interface
  • Population Health perspectives on health system transformation
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Health Equity Over Time in Canadian Cities (Collaborative with CIHI and Stat Can)
  • Intersectoral action to improve health
The fellow will work with groups of UPHN members and partner organizations on projects including the development of briefing notes, position papers, literature reviews, program evaluations, reports and publications, aimed at all levels of government as well as partner agencies and the public, in addition to the development and carrying out of intervention research proposals in member cities. Either / both

Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ)
Élise Fortin
Gilles Paradis
Québec/Montréal, Quebec

The INSPQ’s mission is to monitor public health and well-being. The impact goal is to use artificial intelligence (goals, algorithm selection and implementation, validation and confirmation) to develop a model for using INSPQ monitoring data on the use of antibiotics. The awardee will collaborate with three other post-doctoral fellows affiliated with federal and provincial public health agencies to better understand and make use of AI’s public health applications. The INSPQ’s priority is monitoring antibiotic resistance in Quebec: using artificial intelligence to improve quantitative and qualitative knowledge of communities’ antimicrobial use, its determinants and consequences.
  • Synthesis of knowledge on the use of artificial intelligence in analyzing quantitative public health monitoring data
  • Analysis plan using a method that incorporates artificial intelligence, to be applied to available data
  • Validation of results
  • Interpretation of results
  • Assessment of the usefulness of incorporating artificial intelligence
  • Recommendations for the continued development of this monitoring approach at the INSPQ
Post-doctoral fellows only

Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living (MHSAL) in partnership with the University of Manitoba
Dr. Malcolm Doupe
204-975-7759
Winnipeg, Manitoba

MHSAL and UofM are collaborating to develop evidence-informed strategies that help to more rigorously formulate, implement, and evaluate policies, with the goal of better supporting/guiding healthcare delivery. The fellow will develop and pilot test these strategies in one healthcare area, and provide recommendations for scaleup activities. The Fellow will critically examine policies about housing with health services (care structures positioned between home care & nursing homes) use across Canada, apply various methods to propose/apply policy updates, pilot test (in some way) this new policy cycle, and provide various types of scale-up recommendations (e.g., geography, healthcare sector). The Fellow will engage with the MHSAL Policy and Standards branch where they will:
  1. become immersed in the culture, operations, and creation of policy cycles in a provincial health ministry; and
  2. inform how evidence (generated from literature reviews, stakeholder consultations, consensus building techniques) can be integrated into this process.
Post-doctoral fellows only

Public Health Agency of Canada
Barrett Halliday
Ottawa, Ontario

The goal for PHAC is to use Artificial Intelligence to manage expanding data and information sources, as well as to exploit new tools and technologies, for more productive situational awareness of public health events and issues. In particular, the detection and risk assessment capabilities of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) can be further enhanced by adopting new AI strategies. GPHIN is an event-based surveillance (EBS) system that involves laborious collection, curation, assessment, and verification of very large amounts of unstructured raw information to produce and disseminate intelligence. The fellowship would focus on the unique challenges of EBS, the future drivers and challenges that programs like GPHIN face and which AI strategies should be considered for application. The over-arching goal is to build new and more powerful analytic/predictive tools into systems. The work will involve developing strategies and defining specific approaches to enhance PHAC’s event-based surveillance capacity. In addition to being integrated within an emerging AI community within PHAC, the fellow will work closely with fellows pursuing AI projects at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), and Public Health Ontario (PHO), and will help advance CIHR’s Equitable AI Initiative. Post-doctoral fellows only

Victoria Hospice & Island Health
British Columbia
Victoria
Helena Daudt, PhD. Victoria Hospice, Director Education & Research

Victoria Hospice is a charity affiliated with Island Health, one of five regional health authorities in BC. We are partnering to expand our reach in the community. The overall goal of the future project is to improve care for patients who prefer to die at home, wherever home may be. Transformation through innovation is the priority area for the fellowship. We are interested in research that focuses on interdisciplinary community-based models of care, social innovations for frail seniors, and innovations that enhance value by addressing specific challenges for those who prefer to die at home, wherever home may be. This training opportunity will focus on patient-oriented, community-based and/or participatory action research approaches. The fellow will be part of an interdisciplinary team from both institutions, including patients/families and community team members. We are open to supporting candidates to develop their own program of research within palliative and end-of-life care. Post-doctoral fellows only

Department of Health and Community Services – Policy, Planning and Performance Management branch
Farah McCrate
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

To develop a legislative/ policy framework that addresses challenges associated with the custodianship, management and commercialization of digitized health data. In the current climate of ever-increasing access to digital data it is imperative that the right governance structure is in place to ensure the appropriate use of health data, while maximizing its impact, utility and value.
  • Developing an understanding of the landscape and requirement of digital health data custodianship and management
  • Involvement in creating novel and amending existing legislation and policies to support the above
  • Understanding the relationships between this endeavor and other relevant legislation
  • Aligning with strategic priorities such as the Department of Health and Community Service’s 2017-20 Strategic Plan, the Way Forward, and the Minister’s Mandate Letter
  • Stakeholder consultations
  • Environmental scanning
  • Literature reviews
  • Information collating and summarizing
  • Report writing
  • Giving presentations
  • Policy briefings 
  • Policy development 
  • Legislative development
  • Regulatory framework development
Either / both

Nova Scotia Health Authority
Tara Sampalli
Nova Scotia (Halifax for the project)

Primary Health Care at the Nova Scotia Health Authority and Dalhousie University Faculty of Health are interested in partnering to support a Postdoctoral Fellow in studying the impact of team-based care in the broad areas of optimizing practice efficiencies, health outcomes, and care for complex patients / high cost users. Applicants with a background of community health and epidemiology or interdisciplinary fields such as health and computer science, health and industrial engineering and health. Focus on gathering evidence and data to support policy and practice related to:
  1. Collaborative family practice teams in Nova Scotia
  2. Team-based care in addressing the needs of priority populations and communities
  1. Environmental scanning
  2. Stakeholder consultation
  3. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
  4. Literature reviews
  5. Modeling and forecasting
Post-doctoral fellows only

Health Canada
Hong Chen
Ottawa, Ontario

Health Canada is the federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health. Health Canada strives to prevent and reduce risks to individual health and the overall environment. The Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau of Health Canada is committed to reducing the negative impacts of environmental exposures on the health of Canadians through research, surveillance, monitoring, epidemiological investigations, and emergency planning. The Fellow will work with the Population Studies Division within the Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau and collaborate with other organizations to examine the impacts of environmental factors (esp. air pollution, green space, and extreme weather) on public health using health administrative data. The Fellow will be expected to generate policy-relevant evidence to assist in developing effective mitigation strategies to maximize health benefits for the Canadian population. Potential engagements for the successful applicant include:
  1. Manipulating of large administrative datasets
  2. Quantitative and/or qualitative data analysis
  3. Interpreting research findings
  4. Engaging in knowledge translation and dissemination activities
Post-doctoral fellows only
Southlake Regional Health Centre
Patrick Clifford
Newmarket, Ontario
Southlake Regional Health Centre is a 471 acute care hospital located in Newmarket Ontario. SRHC serves 300,00 individuals as a community hospital and 1.5 million with its regional programs. SRHC just launched its 2019-2024 strategic plan which includes the opportunity for a HSI Fellow to support the hospital in developing its Digital, Analytics and Integrated Care Delivery model. The Fellow will support development of digital and analytic strategies and evaluate our Integrated Care model (IC). Consistent with our newly launched strategic plan, SRHC will be focusing on; forging new paths to meet the changing needs of our growing communities, championing a culture of exemplary care and delivering excellence, creating an environment where the best experiences happen and we will own our role to improve the system. Researching, developing and advancing our digital, analytics and integrated care model are keys in our plan. The HSI Fellow will be integral in leading these initiatives. Digital Strategy-completing environmental scans, compiling and assessing best practices, aligning with hospital capabilities, developing a digital strategy, engaging stakeholders, consulting on draft plan, establish operational mechanisms, evaluation and business frameworks for deployment Analytic Strategy-research and select leading practices, capabilities and maturity models, establish baseline capabilities and perform gap analysis, develop road map IC-research design, execution, analysis Doctoral trainees only
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