Trainee member spotlights
Our trainee membership is continually growing and diversifying. Below, our winter 2023 engagement fund recipients share their unique journeys that have led them to patient-engaged research and what drives their passions along the way.
Liz Birchall
Program: Social Work, PhD candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Randall Jackson
“I have particularly enjoyed interacting with undergraduate students as part of a teaching team for various courses. I have learned a great deal from them about how perceptions and the field have changed since I was a direct service provider. I have also been quite surprised by and very much appreciate how open and interested community agencies have been in my research.” — On what excites Liz most about her research in her (academic) career so far?
Rebecca Correia
Program: Health Research Methodology, PhD candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Costa
“I would encourage aging researchers to regularly reflect on the objectives of their research and consider the impacts or value it offers to patients. Consider visiting an older family member, friend, neighbour, or colleague and try explaining your research project to them. Being able to communicate your research to others (especially patients) is a very useful skill, and you want to ensure your work is ultimately meaningful to end-users (patients, health care providers, etc.). If you’re conducting research about older adults, it makes sense to engage them (either informally or formally) to understand ways to strengthen your work and ensure it is meaningful.” — On advice to share if you are thinking about getting involved in patient-oriented research in aging and health?
Kylie Teggart
Program: Nursing, PhD student
Supervisor: Dr. Rebecca Ganann
“To meaningfully bridge ongoing research-to-practice gaps, we need to focus our efforts on understanding the perspectives of end-users, and then actively engage them to identify novel, contextually relevant strategies to improve care.” — On why patient-oriented research is important in the research Kylie is involved in
To learn more about all of our trainee members, visit our trainee members page.
Visit our funding page to learn more about the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging Partnership in Research Fellowship, available to trainees (PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows) at accredited universities across Ontario.
Funding for the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging is provided by the Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit, which is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Province of Ontario and partner Ontario hospital foundations and institutes.
OSSU is a network of 14 leading health research centres and eight research initiatives, supported by a coordinating centre located in Toronto, ON, that engages researchers, patients and other partners in patient-oriented research to improve the health of Ontarians and the health care system. OSSU provides supports such as expertise, infrastructure, training and resources to people conducting patient-oriented research to help implement Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research in Ontario. OSSU also funds projects that demonstrate the value of patient-oriented research and how it can leverage OSSU supports to achieve greater impacts.
Funding, Trainees