Postdoctoal Award Competition Results 2002
Thirty-three applications were reviewed in this second competition for the CHSRF/CIHR postdoctoral awards within the CADRE program. This is a 50% increase over the twenty-one reviewed in the first competition. The Foundation deemed that four of the applications were ineligible due to their clinical focus.
The size of the merit review panel was increased substantially to adjust for increased volume in applications and to ensure an adequate representation across regions and disciplines. Steven Lewis chaired the panel and Laurence Thompson performed scientific officer duties.
Merit Review Process
The merit review panel met February 7th and 8th, 2002 in Ottawa to assess the thirty-three proposals received from across the country. Of these, ten were in health services, seven in nursing, twelve in the social sciences, and four other proposals were clinical in focus.
Summary of Applicants Recommended for Funding
Four of the applicants who have been recommended for funding this year are in nursing. Others have backgrounds from a wide range of disciplines. These fall into the general categories of health services (for example, health policy and administration) and social sciences (for example, health economics, political science, anthropology and sociology).
Some of the candidates offered funding have yet to complete their PhDs. They must complete all the requirements for their doctorates and take up the award within one year of the funding offer.
Anne-Marie Broemeling is working at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (University of British Columbia) and the Vancouver/Richmond Health Region. She will continue to be based in these two settings for her postdoctoral research, under the supervision of Morris Barer. Her program of research will develop a profile of chronic disease co-morbidity among Vancouver/Richmond Health Region residents (including measures of continuity of care,
service coordination requirements, and impact on health services utilization). This information will be used to identify 'best practice' approaches for meeting the needs of these residents.
Astrid Brouselle (award offered but declined) is completing her PhD at the Department of Health Administration at the University of Montreal. She will conduct her postdoctoral work at the Centre de recherche de l'hôpital Douglas with her supervisor, Céline Mercier. Her program will analyze the implementation of a service integration program for people suffering from mental health problems and substance abuse.
Arlene Carson is the community coordinator for the Community Alliances for Health Research program in Victoria, British Columbia. She will be based at the University of Victoria's Centre on Aging, with her supervisor Neena Chappell. Her research will study existing community-based health services and access, and how people in mid-life use these services. This will help determine why people who are at risk for chronic conditions do not use these
services. She will explore who is likely to benefit from services, and use these results to help prevent chronic disease and contain costs in the future.
Tamara Daly is completing her PhD at the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She will do her postdoctoral work with Pat Armstrong at the Department of Sociology at York University. She will examine how government policy decisions affect the ability of voluntary nonprofit organizations to deliver health and social care services to at-risk elderly populations (especially women). The work will include an
international comparison between four cities: Toronto, Boston, Stockholm, and Amsterdam.
Carl Ardy Dubois is completing his PhD at the Department of Health Administration at the University of Montreal. He will do his postdoctoral work with Martin McKee at the Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, England. His work will focus on how to manage the performance of health care systems during changes in health policy and organizational structure.
Anita Kothari is completing her PhD in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University. She will do her postdoctoral work with Nancy Edwards at the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa. By rigorously analyzing the many factors that contribute to health policy development and implementation, she will examine how to ensure that research is used more often.
Mélanie Lavoie-Tremblay is completing her PhD at the départment de prévention et médecine sociale at l'Université Laval. She will do her postdoctoral work at the Nursing Effectiveness, Utilization and Outcomes Research Unit at the University of Toronto with her supervisor Linda O'Brien-Pallas. Chantal Viens at the faculté des sciences infirmières, Université Laval will be her co-supervisor. She will use an
action-research methodology to explore the different needs of aging healthcare workers. This will be used to develop employment recruitment/retention policies which would take different age groups into account.
Monique Mrazek is working at the London School of Economics and Political Science with her supervisor Elias Mossialos, and will also spend a portion of her time in a Canadian setting. Her program is set up through the European Observatory on Health Care Systems and she will work in Copenhagen, London and Brussels. She will focus on the regulation of pharmaceutical prices and profits; influencing patient demand for pharmaceuticals through co-payments;
and the regulation of generic pharmaceutical markets.
Joanne Profetto-McGrath is a member of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. Carole Estabrooks at the University of Alberta and Réjean Landry at l'Université Laval will be her a co-supervisors. Her research will attempt to unravel the process and practice of knowledge use in organizations. It will include a component that compares and contrasts how academics and practitioners use knowledge.
Caroline Tait is completing her PhD at the Department of Philosophy and Medical Anthropology at McGill University. She will do her postdoctoral work with Laurence Kirmayer and Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, co-directors of the Aboriginal Mental Health Research Team National Research Network Initiative in Montreal. She will explore ways in which qualitative research can be used to inform policy-making by Aboriginal organizations (particularly the
identification of 'best practices' in program and service delivery). She will also conduct an ethnographic research project on alcohol-related birth defects in two high-risk aboriginal populations.
Deborah Tregunno is completing her PhD at the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She will do her postdoctoral work with Diane Irvine Doran at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. She will develop and test a model to identify and collect data regarding patient safety outcomes, which will be translated into best-practices which nurses can implement.
The following three candidates have been offered Postdoctoral Awards through funding from the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research within the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. These awards will be administered by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation as part of the joint Postdoctoral Award program with CIHR.
Doris Howell is completing her PhD in the department of health policy, management and evaluation at the University of Toronto. She will conduct her postdoctoral work in the department of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at McMaster University with her supervisor Kevin Brazil. Her program will focus on the development of indicators and measurement tools that identify specific care processes that can be modified to improve the quality of
end-of-life care.
Linda Cazale is currently working as a research assistant at the research centre of the Hôpital Charles LeMoyne. She will conduct her postdoctoral work with her supervisor Danièle Roberge at l'Hôpital Charles LeMoyne. Paul Lamarche at the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé, University of Montreal will be her co-supervisor. Her program will focus on conducting a synthesis of evidence, documenting the facilitators and
barriers to integrated health systems, and evaluating the effects of integrated health systems.
Sharon Koehn will conduct her postdoctoral work with Gloria Gutman at the Gerontology Research Centre and Programs at Simon Fraser University. Her program will focus on the Indo-Canadian senior population of Greater Vancouver to examine the cultural and social dimensions of perceived barriers to their use of long-term care facilities.