2008 Postdoctoral Award Competition Results: Key Points

Postdoctoral Awards

Twenty-seven applications were received in this eighth competition for the CHSRF/CIHR Postdoctoral Awards within the CADRE program. One application was screened out as its focus was too clinical. The remaining twenty-six applications were sent for panel review.

Merit Review Process

For the fourth year, the postdoctoral applications were reviewed by the same panel that reviewed the letters of intent received to the Foundation's Research, Exchange, and Impact for System Support (REISS) competition. The membership of the merit review panel included an equal mix of researchers and decision makers that balanced regional and disciplinary distribution and perspectives. The panel was chaired by Jack Altman; François Champagne and Mark Bisby performed scientific officer duties.

The merit review panel met on January 28 and 29, 2008 in Ottawa to assess the postdoctoral applications received from across the country. Of the postdoctoral applications under review, seventeen were in health services, five in nursing, and four in knowledge transfer. Seven applications were received from Quebec, fourteen from Ontario, four from the western provinces, and one from the Atlantic region.

Applicants Recommended for Funding

The panel recommended twelve applicants for funding. The Foundation currently has the funds to offer eight awards. Four additional candidates are on an internal reserve list should additional funds become available or should any of the candidates who are offered funding decline.

Of the applicants being offered funding, four are in the health services field, two are in nursing, and two are in knowledge transfer.

Some of the applicants offered funding have yet to complete their PhDs. They must complete all of the requirements for their doctorates and take up the award by February 15, 2009.

The recommended applicants who are being offered awards are listed in alphabetical order:

Sara Allin is completing her PhD in Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She will conduct her postdoctoral work with supervisors Tony Culyer (University of Toronto) and Adalsteinn Brown from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care as her decision-maker partner. Her research program will draw on secondary data sources to examine equity in health care use, with special focus on primary care and the relationship between inequity in access and health outcomes.
Robin Hayeems completed her PhD in June 2007 in the Department of Public Health Sciences and the Collaborative Program in Bioethics at the University of Toronto and is currently working in the Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow. Supervised by Dr. Fiona Miller in the Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation and Michele Sanborn at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, she will expand her current work related to newborn screening policy in Ontario to consider newborn screening policy across Canadian jurisdictions.
Anastasia Mallidou completed her PhD in the department of Nursing at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Phyllis Giovannetti. She will conduct her postdoctoral work with her supervisors Dr. Carole Estabrooks and Dr. Greta Cummings (University of Alberta). Dr. Mallidou’s decision-maker partner will be Corinne Schalm, Vice-President at Shepherd’s Care and a CHSRF’s EXTRA alumnus. Her program will focus on the impact of work environment on safety practices as they are mediated by the incorporation of new knowledge (i.e., best practices) into work routines. By developing and testing a model of the influence of work environment on provider and resident outcomes in acute and long term care settings, she will incorporate strategies and interventions for potentially modifiable conditions of the work environment.
Leslea Peirson completed her PhD in February 2007 in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She will conduct her postdoctoral work at McMaster University through the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools. Her co-supervisors will be Drs. Donna Ciliska and Maureen Dobbins, and her decision making partners will be Dr. David Mowat, Medical Officer of Health for Peel Region, and Ms. Barbara Medlar, Senior Program Advisor and Chair of the Knowledge Translation and Evidence Informed Practice Working Group with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Dr. Peirson's postdoctoral program will focus on understanding the context and evaluating the impacts of evidence informed decision making in public health settings.
Amanda Terry completed her Ph.D. in 2006 in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario. Dr. Terry will conduct her post-doctoral work with her supervisor, Dr. Moira Stewart from the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, The University of Western Ontario, and decision-maker partner, Marsha Barnes, from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). Dr. Terry’s research interests focus on primary health care services, policy, performance measurement, indicators, quality improvement, and electronic health record implementation. Her proposed research explores two interconnected primary health care topics: 1) providers’ adoption of electronic health records, and 2) the potential role of electronic health record databases in reporting (on indicators). The proposed policy-related learnings are: 1) increased skills in knowledge transfer within a decision-maker environment, and 2) experience in the policy and program development as well as implementation processes within the MOHTLC.
Brigitte Vachon is currently completing her PhD in Clinical Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke. She will conduct her postdoctoral work at the Ottawa Health Research Institute with her supervisor Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw. Ms. Vachon's decision-maker partner will be Dr. Denis A. Roy from the "Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de la Montérégie". Her program will focus on the development of knowledge translation strategies to improve the quality of diabetes care in this region of Quebec. This project will link together the knowledge and expertise of a research team with a regional steering committee composed of regional medical leaders and healthcare system decision makers to promote evidence informed decision-making and healthcare services organization for optimal diabetes management.
Ellen Olive Wahoush obtained a Ph.D. in Health Policy Management and Evaluation (University of Toronto) in June 2007, supervised by Dr Rhonda Cockerill. My research dissertation was titled, ‘When Their Preschooler is Ill: The Experiences of Refugee and Refugee Claimant Mothers’. At present she is an assistant professor; School of Nursing at McMaster University. Her postdoctoral training supervisor is Dr Michael Boyle (Offord Centre for Child Studies McMaster University). Decision making partners include; Morteza Jafarpour Chair: Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance and the Settlement and Integration Joint Policy and Program Council; and Jill Vienneau Manager: System Innovation Strategy; Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. This postdoctoral training will enable her to develop her skills and abilities for health services and policy related research that examines the link between government policies, community programs, access/take-up of health services and child health among economically vulnerable refugee, immigrant and non-immigrant families.
Rishma Walji is a Naturopathic Doctor with a PhD from the University of Toronto in the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy working with Dr. Heather Boon. She is currently pursuing post-doctoral training at McMaster University in the Department of Health, Aging and Society with her supervisor Dr. Ivy Bourgeault. Her post-doctoral work is being conducted with Dr. Jenna Griffiths, the decision-making partner from the Marketed Health Products Directorate of Health Canada. The purpose of her post-doctoral research is to explore natural health product (NHP) industry relationships with government and consumers. The recent 2004 NHP regulations attempt to address broad safety concerns related to NHPs by placing legal requirements on the NHP industry. These include reporting suspected adverse reactions, similar to requirements for the pharmaceutical industry. The general objectives of this research are to: 1) determine the key dimensions associated with industry compliance to the new regulations; 2) explore industry-government relationships with respect to safety assessments; 3) investigate the overall policy implications of these relationships in the context of evolving social dynamics.