The Health System Impact Fellowship
Background: Modernizing Health Services and Policy Research Training for Greater Impact
CHSPRA’s vision for successful training modernization is a learning health system that harnesses the full talents of PhD-trained individuals for continuous health system improvement.
The Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance (CHSPRA) identified modernizing the health services and policy research (HSPR) training enterprise as a top priority for pan-Canadian collaborative action. In 2015, a Training Modernization Working Group – co-chaired by Dr. Stephen Bornstein (Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Dr. Adalsteinn Brown (University of Toronto) – was created to develop a pan-Canadian Training Modernization Strategy. The Strategy aimed to identify new, strategic directions to modernize university-based HSPR doctoral and post-doctoral training programs for optimized career readiness and impact.
The Training Modernization Working Group recognized the disconnect between the prospective career trajectories of today’s PhD graduates (which are diverse and which often involve multiple sectors) and existing PhD training programs that remain predominantly geared towards academic careers. Within health services and policy, the potential contribution of well-prepared PhD graduates to inform health policy and system transformation is considerable. The Training Modernization Strategy outlines a roadmap to harness this potential. Download the full report [ PDF (323 KB) - external link ].
To encourage experiential learning as a core element of HSPR training, CIHR-IHSPR and CHSPRA launched a multi-pronged, multi-partnered funding initiative: the Health System Impact Fellowship.
Resources
- Minister’s Announcement (2021): Government of Canada investing in talented scholars through the Health System Impact Fellowship program
- Collection of manuscripts on Training Modernization in a November 2019 special issue of the journal of Healthcare Policy
- Minister’s Announcement (2017): A new $5.8 million investment embeds PhD graduates within healthcare organizations for greater impact
- Training Modernization Strategy (Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance: Report from the Working Group on Training [ PDF (323 KB) - external link ])
- Enriched core competencies for HSPR
- Inventory of Canada’s university-based HSPR doctoral training programs
The Benefits of Becoming Involved
What’s in it for you?
For trainees:
- Your research and analytic talents will contribute to addressing the critical challenges facing health system organizations outside of the traditional university setting (e.g., public, private for-profit, and not-for-profit organizations that are not universities). In addition, you will develop professional experience, new skills, and networks;
- You will learn first-hand how health system organizations work, how decisions are made, and how research and analytic skills contribute broadly to improving an organization’s performance;
- You will acquire unique professional development training and develop an expanded set of competencies (e.g., leadership, negotiation, project management, change management) all designed to accelerate your professional growth and better prepare you to embark on a wider range of career paths with greater impact;
- As a participant of a national cohort of fellows and leaders from academic and health system and related organizations, you will benefit from unparalleled mentorship and networking opportunities.
For health system organizations:
- You will benefit from direct access to the country’s rising stars in health services and policy research and related fields (e.g., population health, epidemiology, data science, health economics);
- Your organization will benefit from fellows’ expertise in cutting- edge methodologies and analytics to advance your goals and priorities, generate innovative solutions grounded in the best available evidence, and build in-house capacity for research;
- Your organization will expand its relationships with the academic sector and the health research community;
- By contributing to training, mentoring, and preparing a cadre of the country’s up-and-coming brightest minds, your organization will be playing a leadership role in securing a bright future for your sector by developing the careers of future leaders of evidence-informed health and health system improvement.
For university training programs:
- By aligning scholarship with health system improvement, your institution will be well positioned to demonstrate the versatility of PhD graduates and the value-added quotient that they bring to help inform health policy and system transformation;
- You will foster meaningful and impactful career paths outside of the academy, accelerate career growth and impact, and encourage the skills and expertise of PhD trained individuals for broader societal contribution;
- You will contribute to the expansion and enrichment of the traditional training environment by engaging health system and related organizations in preparing a cadre of promising PhD graduates for successful careers.
Meet the Health System Impact Fellowship Partners
The Health System Impact Fellowship program is led by CIHR-IHSPR, but made possible because of partnerships with many organizations across the country.
CIHR and IHSPR are proud to partner with:
- Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR)
- Fonds de recherche du Québec –Santé (FRQS) (in French only)
- New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (NBHRF)
- Research Nova Scotia(formerly the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF)
- Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF)
- Mitacs
- CIHR’s Institutes of: Aging (IA), Cancer Research (ICR), Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH), Gender and Health (IGH), Indigenous Peoples’ Health (IIPH), Infection and Immunity (III), Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), Neurosciences, Mental Health and Additions (INMHA), Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD), Population and Public Health (IPPH), and the Science Policy Branch.
Partners Involved in the Health System Impact Fellowship Program
Health System Organizations:
- AdvantAge Ontario
- Alberta Health Services
- Alberta Health Services, Strategic Clinical Networks
- Alberta Ministry of Health
- Amaris Consulting
- Arthritis Alliance of Canada
- Autism Ontario
- BC Academic Health Science Network
- BC Cancer Agency
- BC Centre for Disease Control
- BC Ministry of Health
- BC Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions
- BC Observatory for Population & Public Health
- BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer
- BC Patient Safety and Quality Council
- Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) Ontario
- Canada Health Infoway
- Canadian Agency for Drugs for Technologies in Health
- Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance
- Canadian Blood Services
- Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement
- Canadian Institute for Health Information
- Canadian Mental Health Association
- Canadian Nurses Association
- Canadian Red Cross
- Canadian Society for International Health
- Cancer Care Ontario
- CancerCare Manitoba
- Centre intègre universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre ouest de l’Île de Montréal
- Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Chaudière-Appalaches
- Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Centre
- Centre intègre universitaire de santé et de services sociaux l’Ouest de l’Île de Montréal
- Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program
- Child Health BC - BC Children's Hospital
- Children’s’ Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
- CIET Canada
- City of Hamilton, Public Health Services
- Community-Based Research Centre
- Community Living BC
- Correctional Service Canada
- Deloitte LLP
- Dignitas International
- East Toronto Health Partners
- First Nations Health Authority
- Fraser Health Authority
- Government of Saskatchewan
- Government of Yukon
- Gwich'in Tribal Council
- Hamilton Health Sciences
- Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Local Health Integration Network
- Health Canada
- Health Standards Organization
- Healthy Child Manitoba
- Heart and Stroke Foundation
- Hospital for Sick Children
- Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ)
- Institut national d'excellence en santé et services sociaux (INESSS)
- Institute for Circumpolar Health Research
- Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (IC/ES)
- IWK Health Centre
- Jack.org
- Joseph Brant Hospital
- Manitoba Health
- McGill University Health Centre
- National Microbiology Laboratory, PHAC
- Niagara Emergency Medical Services
- North York General Hospital
- Northern Health Authority
- Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness
- Nova Scotia Health Authority
- NS Education & Early Childhood Development
- Ontario Hospital Association
- Ontario Long Term Care Association
- Ontario Medical Association
- Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General
- Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation
- Peel Public Health
- Policy Wise for Children and Families
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Public Health Ontario
- Queen's Family Health Team
- SE Research Centre
- Saint John Human Development Council
- Saskatchewan Health Authority
- Saskatchewan Ministry of Health
- Saskatoon Health Region
- See Things My Way
- St. Joseph's Healthcare
- St. Michael's Hospital
- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
- Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
- The City of Calgary
- The Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association
- Trillium Health Partners
- University Health Network
- University of Ottawa Heart Institute
- Vancouver Coastal Health
- VHA Home HealthCare
- Victoria Hospice
- Women's College Hospital
- York Region Paramedic and Senior Services
Universities:
- Carleton University
- Concordia University
- Dalhousie University
- McGill University
- McMaster University
- Mount Saint Vincent University
- Simon Fraser University
- Université de Sherbrooke
- Université Laval
- Université de Montreal
- University of Alberta
- University of British Columbia
- University of Calgary
- University of Guelph
- University of Manitoba
- University of Northern British Columbia
- University of Ottawa
- University of Regina
- University of Saskatchewan
- University of Toronto
- University of Victoria
- University of Waterloo
- University of Western Ontario
- York University
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