We are pleased to announce the Knowledge Translation (KT) Canada Summer Institute to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from June 19-21, 2024. This event is being hosted jointly with Dalhousie University.

The theme for this year’s event is “Integrating the Science and Practice of Knowledge Translation“.

The purpose of this Summer Institute is to provide participants with the opportunity to increase their understanding of knowledge translation research as well as opportunities and challenges in this field. The Summer Institute will provide participants with the chance to network with colleagues including national and international KT experts.

The Summer Institute is aimed at graduate students, post-doctoral and clinical fellows, junior faculty who study issues relevant to KT, and those who want to learn more about how to advance their research skills in this area. We encourage applications from a wide range of disciplines that span all of CIHR’s research themes (clinical, health services, and population health).

Email Meghan.Storey@UnityHealth.to with questions.

Dr. Melissa Brouwers is a Professor and the Director of the School of Epidemiology and Public Health (SEPH) in the Faculty of Medicine at University of Ottawa. She also holds appointments at McMaster University in the Department of Oncology and the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI). At SEPH, Dr. Brouwers is a co-leader of the Knowledge Synthesis and Application Unit (https://www.ksau.ca/) and a co-lead of the AGREE Research Enterprise (www.agreetrust.com). Dr. Brouwers holds a wealth of experience as a health services researcher with special interest in knowledge translation, implementation science and evaluation, and knowledge synthesis and guidelines. She has a passion for graduate school education and international research collaborations. She obtained her PhD in Social Psychology from Western University.

Aafreen Campbell is a Health Systems Manager on the Integrated Acute and Episodic Care Network at Nova Scotia Health. She has experience working in diverse portfolios and leading strategic planning sessions with the goal to optimize healthcare systems and the delivery of patient care. Aafreen has years of clinical experience as a Dentist and holds a Masters in Health Administration (MHA). She is passionate about implementing evidence-informed, data-driven decisions in healthcare. Aafreen is currently focused on health service design for perinatal, newborn, and pediatric services.

Dr. Christine Cassidy is a registered nurse with expertise in implementation science, evidence-based practice, and behaviour change. She completed her BScN at the University of Prince Edward Island and PhD in Nursing at Dalhousie University. Dr. Cassidy also completed a CIHR Health System Impact Postdoctoral Fellowship at the IWK Health Centre and University of Ottawa with the Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT) Research Network. Her program of research uses an IKT approach to design, implement, and evaluate evidence-based practices and knowledge translation interventions in pediatric care.

Dr. Janet Curran is a Professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University and a Research Chair in Quality and Patient Safety at IWK Health, Nova Scotia Health and Dalhousie University. She is the Scientific Lead in the Strengthening Transitions in Care lab at IWK Health where her program of research is focused on co-designing and evaluating best practice and policy change interventions to improve transitions in care for patients and families. Her co-design work is informed by collaborating with multiple stakeholders including patients, parents and caregivers, healthcare providers, and policy makers.

Dr. Tim Disher is a registered nurse with Vanier CGS funded doctoral training in advanced synthesis and medical decision making at the Dalhousie University School of Nursing. His current role is as Senior Director at EVERSANA where he leads a team of over twenty statisticians to develop and execute protocols and statistical analysis plans for meta-analyses and network meta-analyses based on both aggregate and individual participant data, matching-adjusted indirect comparisons, simulated treatment comparisons, and a variety of predictive and causal models leveraging clinical trial and real-world data sources. His work is published in high-impact journals including JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. He maintains active academic collaborations focused on design and analysis of clinical trials, is an active co-investigator on Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded RCTs, has developed and delivered training in the statistical methods for network meta-analyses for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and delivered workshops at international conferences.

Dr. Christine (Tina) Fahim is an implementation scientist and leads the Team for Implementation, Evaluation and Sustainability at the Knowledge Translation Program, St. Michael’s Hospital. She is also an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana school of Public health, University of Toronto, and an Associate Scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health. She obtained her MSc in Health Systems at the University of Ottawa followed by a PhD in Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact from McMaster University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Fahim’s research focuses on the science and practice of knowledge translation to implement evidence-based interventions at the provider, organization, and systems level.

Dr. Keisha Jefferies is an African Nova Scotian nurse scientist, an Assistant Professor, and a University Research Chair in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University. She is the director of her emerging program of research, M-BRACe (Multidisciplinary Black Research and Advocacy Centre), which is a research hub for dedicated to developing evidence-informed initiatives and supporting the future generation of critical health leaders. Dr. Jefferies has clinical experience in neonatal intensive care and breastfeeding support. Her doctoral research, funded by several prestigious provincial and federal awards such as Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, Killam Trust, and Research Nova Scotia, examined the leadership experiences of African Nova Scotian nurses in healthcare. Dr. Jefferies’ research interests include Black population health, nursing leadership, and inclusivity in nursing education and practice. She has expertise in the areas of health policy, qualitative research, and evidence syntheses. Importantly, Dr. Jefferies uses Black Feminist Theory to critically inform and guide her research and advocacy. Much of her advocacy includes equity and inclusivity in post-secondary institutions and the nursing profession. Notably, in 2017, Dr. Jefferies co-founded the peer-mentorship group, the Community of Black Students in Nursing at Dalhousie University.

Dr. Linda Li is Professor and Harold Robinson/Arthritis Society Chair at the Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia, and Senior Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada. Dr. Li’s research focuses on the integration of digital tools in rehabilitation, including the use of wearables and apps to promote physical activity in people with arthritis, and in older adults to prevent falls. Her work in knowledge translation and implementation science has led to a new line of studies on strategies for engaging with patients and the public in the research process. She held a Canada Research Chair in Patient-oriented Knowledge Translation in 2014-2024. Her work has been recognized by a Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of Rheumatology Professionals in the U.S. In 2019, she was inducted as Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Frank MacMaster, PhD is the IWK’s Vice President, Research and Innovation and a Professor of Psychiatry at the Dalhousie School of Medicine. Dr. MacMaster joins us from the University of Calgary where he was an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Cumming School of Medicine and was also the Scientific Director for the Provincial Addictions and Mental Health for Alberta Health Services.

Originally from Nova Scotia, MacMaster studied at Saint Mary’s and Dalhousie universities and did his training at the IWK in mental health. He holds a PhD in neurobiology and anatomy and was a postdoctoral fellow in brain imaging in child psychiatry at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. Anne Sales is a nurse and Professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing and the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri (Columbia), and she is the Associate Dean for Implementation Research and Health Delivery Effectiveness in the School of Medicine. She is also a Research Scientist at the Center for Clinical Management Research at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

Her training is in nursing, sociology, health economics, econometrics, and general health services research. Her work involves theory-based design of implementation interventions, including understanding how feedback reports affect provider behavior and through behavior change have an impact on patient outcomes; the role of social networks in implementation interventions; and effective implementation methods using electronic health records and digital interventions. She has completed over 40 funded research projects, many focused on implementation research. She is a founding co-Editor-in-Chief of Implementation Science Communications.

Dr. Tara Sampalli has held multiple important roles at Nova Scotia Health Authority and has made significant contributions in each of these roles. She has been a manager, the Director of Research, Assistant Director of Research in Primary Health Care and more recently has held the position of Senior Director, Implementation Science and Evaluation, and Global Health Systems Planning in the Research, Innovation & Discovery portfolio. In this role, she leads the Implementation Science Team, and the Network of Scholars and is working with many key partners in the province to support the Learning Health System strategy. Tara also holds an Assistant Professor position at the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University.

Tara is currently leading and co-leading several priority implementations and innovations to enhance access and facilitate optimization of roles and practice for interprofessional teams and bringing care closer to home / in your community initiatives. She is also the lead for the Nova Scotia’s International Community of Health Care Workers Engagement (NICHE) Program for internationally educated and trained professionals in the province.

Dr. Meaghan Sim is a scientist with the Implementation Science team at Nova Scotia Health (Research, Innovation & Discovery portfolio).  Meaghan has a PhD (Interdisciplinary) (2017), a MSc in Applied Human Nutrition (2006), and a BSc Honours in Nutrition (2001). She has been a registered dietitian since 2006. Her research spans the areas of health systems, maternal child health, equity and the social determinants of health, implementation science, and interprofessional practice.

Dr. Mari Somerville is a health system impact fellow and postdoc at IWK Health and Dalhousie University. Her program of research involves understanding the science of learning health systems and using these findings to implement evidence-based patient safety recommendations across the health centre. The aim of her research is to improve the quality of care for women and children who visit the IWK and to incorporate evidence into practice as an embedded researcher. Previously, Mari completed her PhD at Griffith University in Australia where she explored the nutrition care delivery for people living with prediabetes. Mari also has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, a Master of Public Health in Community Nutrition and is a registered dietitian. Her research interests include health services delivery, patient-oriented research and nutrition care access.

Dr. Sharon E. Straus is a geriatrician and clinical epidemiologist who trained at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford. She is the Director of the Knowledge Translation Program and Physician-in-Chief, St. Michael’s Hospital and Professor in Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Translation and Quality of Care and has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and 3 textbooks in evidence-based medicine, knowledge translation and mentorship. Since 2015, she has consistently been in the top 1% of highly cited clinical researchers as per Clarivate and has an H-index of 106. She holds more than $60 million in peer-reviewed research grants as a principal investigator. She has received national awards for mentorship, research and education. She was inducted as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada in November 2021 and named as a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2021.

Applications are now closed. Thank you to all who applied!

Sessions for this Summer Institute include (subject to change):

• Introduction to knowledge translation/ knowledge mobilization – What it is, and isn’t
• What are theories, models & frameworks and how do I choose one?
• Patient and public engagement in research
• KT interventions of proven effectiveness
• Process evaluation
• Outcomes evaluation
• Small group work
• Poster sessions
• Panel discussions
• Mentoring

More schedule details will be posted here as they are finalized.

Huge thank you to our sponsors!

See what past Summer Institute participants are saying:

• “I really liked the engagement with other trainees and faculty members. It was a very collaborative experience.“
• “I think the institute was structured very well. There was a good variety of lectures, workshops, and breaks. I never felt too overwhelmed or fatigued. The content was directly relevant to me and my work in patient engagement.“
• Ellen Wang – “Growing understanding of knowledge translation practice and research“