2024 PSI Mid-Career KT Fellow at the Starting Line: Passing the Baton to Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy

Upon receiving their approval letters and sharing the exciting news of the award with their community, the PSI Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellows begin preparing to get settled in their place at the starting line. As they embark on their KT Fellowship journey, we asked them few questions to know them beyond their recipient biographies, as well as some notes they could pass on to future applicants. 

Please use 3 words to describe how you feel as you begin your KT Fellowship.

Enthusiastic – the work over several years culminated in the development of a risk tool for patients who present to the emergency department with syncope. Very enthusiastic to now complete implementation and dissemination.

Optimistic – that the knowledge translation efforts will lead to improved patient care both in the safety and resource utilization front.

Thankful – to PSI which funded the derivation phase and now both the process evaluation of the implementation and salary support in the form of KT fellowship.

Why did you apply for the PSI KT Fellowship? How does this award align with your current research and career goals?

Over the past decade, our team has derived and validated the risk tool. We also developed an online calculator and practice recommendations based on the prognosis. As we are embarking on the implementation phase, this funding opportunity was available.

The ultimate test of any research is its widespread implementation and dissemination to impact patient care globally. The award will aid in developing robust implementation strategies for future tools which we are currently developing for use in emergency departments.

What are 3 to 5 general tips and notes you would pass on to those preparing their KT Fellowship application?

  1. Ensure that your research program is at a KT stage and the proposed research has KT as the main component
  2. Prove that your research program and projects proposed have the potential to improve patient care and the health system – impact the community, impact the overall health of Ontarians
  3. Explain how it will impact your career and future researchers
  4. Have a funding plan for the projects proposed
  5. Be concise and to the point in the application (as there are no page limits currently)

New PSI Funding Opportunity: 2025 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

PSI Launches the 2025 Competition for the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship

PSI Foundation is very pleased to announce the 2025 competition for the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship. This Fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a new investigator who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high impact knowledge translation research. The Fellowship funds, dedicated to salary support, must protect at least 50% of the Fellow’s time to conduct such research.

Please note: This funding opportunity is not an additional PSI operating grant. Knowledge translation must be the fundamental purpose of this Fellowship and must be demonstrated in the application.

Amount and Duration of Funding

This program offers two options for a funding timeline for salary support: A maximum of $150,000 per year for two years; OR a maximum of $100,000 per year for three years.

Please note: the award is intended to protect at least 50% of the fellow’s time to undertake research, regardless of whether the award is taken over two or three years.

Eligibility of Candidate

For this competition, PSI has set the eligibility criteria for candidates as follows:

The candidate for the Fellowship must be either:

  • Within six (6) years of their first academic appointment and have demonstrated potential for high impact research work
    • Please note: PSI has adjusted this eligibility requirement in recognition of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Dedicating at least 50% of a full-time schedule to the Fellowship
  • A practising physician with a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) licensed M.D. having direct patient care responsibilities and an academic appointment, thus eligible to apply for their own research grants as an independent investigator.

OR

  • A clinical fellow in Ontario who is a practising physician having direct patient care responsibilities, with a supervisor who has an academic appointment and that can provide the necessary research supervision and infrastructure (including administering the grant at the sponsoring institution). A letter of support from this supervisor must be included in the application.

The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellow is able to apply to PSI for an operating grant (e.g. New Investigator grant).

Important Information in Funding Guidelines

The Funding Guidelines contain important information regarding the award, including PSI’s definition of knowledge translation, sponsoring institution requirements, and funding criteria. Please review this document before applying.

How to Apply

Similar to the previous years, PSI is launching this competition through a Letter of Intent (LOI) process. Please note that for this competition, applicants are required to submit their applications directly to PSI, not through the institution.

We require all applicants to submit the completed LOI directly to PSI via the PSI Online Grants Management System (https://psifoundation.smartsimple.ca/) by June 10th, 2024 at 5pm EST. LOIs will be reviewed by the PSI Grants Committee in July/August 2024.

PSI will invite successful applicants to submit full applications by October 28th, 2024 at 5pm EST, which will undergo internal review for a final funding decision in December 2024.

Questions?

Please contact the PSI Office to discuss any questions you may have about submitting an application for funding.

New PSI Funding Opportunity: 2025 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

PSI acknowledges that mid-career can be a challenging time for physician researchers. During this phase, there are often additional academic roles and responsibilities including committee work, leadership positions, and mentoring of junior investigators, while clinical work continues. PSI recognizes the importance in supporting this phase of an investigator’s trajectory.

PSI Launches the 2025 Competition for the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship

PSI Foundation is very pleased to announce the 2025 competition for the PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship. This Fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a mid-career physician researcher in Ontario who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high-impact knowledge translation research. The Fellowship funds, dedicated to salary support, must protect at least 50% of the Fellow’s time to conduct such research.

Please note: Knowledge translation must be the fundamental purpose of this Fellowship and must be demonstrated in the application.

Amount and Duration of Funding

Total Support

This program offers two options for a funding timeline for salary support:

A maximum of $400,000 over two years;

OR

A maximum of $400,000 over three years.

The award is intended to protect at least 50% of the fellow’s time to undertake research, regardless of whether the award is taken over two or three years.

Matching Funding Requirements

The sponsoring institution is required to fund 50% of the total award.

For example, if the fellow requests a total support of $400,000 over two years, then PSI will fund $200,000 over two years ($100,000 per year) and the institution is required to co-fund $200,000 over two years ($100,000 per year).

Eligibility

For this competition, the candidate for the Fellowship must be:

  • A practicing physician in Ontario with a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario licensed M.D. having direct patient care responsibilities and an academic appointment, thus eligible to apply for their own research grants as an independent investigator
  • Within six (6) to fifteen (15) years of their first academic appointment and have demonstrated potential for high impact research work
  • Dedicating at least 50% of a full-time schedule to the Fellowship

The PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellow is able to apply to PSI for an operating grant (e.g. Clinical Research grant).

Important Information in Funding Guidelines

The Funding Guidelines contain important information regarding the award, including PSI’s definition of knowledge translation, matching funding requirements, and funding criteria. Please review this document before applying.

How to Apply

PSI is launching this competition through a Letter of Intent (LOI) process.

Please note that for this competition, applicants are required to submit their applications directly to PSI, not through their institution.
We require all applicants to submit the completed LOI directly to PSI via the PSI Online Grants Management System (https://psifoundation.smartsimple.ca/) by June 10th, 2024 at 5pm EST. LOIs will be reviewed by the PSI Grants Committee in July/August 2024.

PSI will invite successful applicants to submit full applications by October 28th, 2024 at 5pm EST, which will undergo internal review for a final funding decision in December 2024.

Questions?

Please contact the PSI Office to discuss any questions you may have about submitting an application for funding.

 

Three Physician Researchers Awarded: 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $300,000 for over two or three years – helps protect a promising physician’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.

Three Physician Researchers Awarded with the 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

PSI Foundation is pleased to name three physician researchers as the 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellowship recipients:

Dr. Michael Fralick – Sinai Health (Recipient Biography)

Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw – University Health Network (Recipient Biography)

Dr. Kamila Premji – University of Ottawa (Recipient Biography)

Please visit their recipient biographies for more information on each of these Fellows and how they will be using PSI funds to conduct high-impact knowledge translation research. We thank all stakeholders for supporting PSI with the 2024 competition.

PSI’s Commitment to Funding Early Career Physician Researchers in Ontario

Since the launch of this award in 2012, PSI has invested over $7.1 million in funding 23 physician researchers in Ontario with the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

Dr. Robin Walker, PSI Chair, highlights the productivity of this funding stream.

“What we have learned from funding early career physician researchers (as opposed to just project grants) is that it is a highly effective way of building careers and the funded researchers become very productive. Measured by publications, the same funds given to a researcher provide a much larger return on investment than when given to a single project. We benefit from the researchers tending to have a stronger bond with PSI when we have supported their career in this manner.”

Continuing KT Research Funding to Improve the Health of Ontarians

Knowledge translation research is aimed at taking research discoveries and moving them into the real world to improve health outcomes. PSI’s KT Fellowship program focuses on translational research that is multi-disciplinary and multi-method, focused on improving the processes of care and/or outcomes of medical care for Ontarians.

“Translational research has been identified as a major need to ensure research findings become translated to effective interventions at the bedside and system-wide,” says Dr. Walker. “We expect that PSI will continue to strongly support this area.”

Two Physician Researchers Awarded: 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

The PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $400,000 for over three or four years – helps protect a mid-career physician’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.

Two Physician Researchers Awarded with the 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship

PSI Foundation is pleased to name two physician researchers as the 2024 PSI Mid-Career KT Fellowship recipients:

Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy – The Ottawa Hospital (Recipient Biography)

Dr. Carolyn Snider – Unity Health Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital (Recipient Biography)

Please visit their recipient biographies for more information on each of these Fellows and how they will be using PSI funds to conduct high-impact knowledge translation research. We thank all stakeholders for supporting PSI with the 2024 competition.

Filling in the Gaps: Evolving Nature of Our Funding Streams

PSI’s KT Fellowship program initially targeted early career physician researchers through the PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellowship, which launched in 2012. Since then, the program has evolved and expanded to include funding mid-career physician researchers through the PSI Mid-Career KT Fellowship, which launched in 2022.

Dr. Robin Walker, PSI Chair, explains the rationale behind this evolution.

“It’s obvious that researchers in early career need lots of support to get their careers started, but it has become increasingly evident that the transition from early career funding (of which there is more now available than in the past) to funding from large agencies like CIHR can be a difficult one. PSI has always tried to fill gaps in funding, so it was natural that we should try to help close this gap between early funding and the time when a researcher is fully established and able to get grants from major national agencies. It’s early to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, but I am expecting it will prove very helpful to mid-career researchers.”

Filling in the Gaps: From the Lab to the Bedside

“Talking of gaps, one of the biggest has always been the difficulty of getting established science from the lab to the bedside. Studies a few years ago suggested it takes, on average, fourteen years for a new evidence-based therapy to go from clinical trials to clinical use. Even then, adoption of most proven therapies is far from 100%. The response to COVID shows us it is possible to be much faster,” says Dr. Walker.

Knowledge translation research aims to transition research discoveries into the real world to improve health outcomes. Dr. Walker highlights how PSI’s KT Fellowship program prioritizes funding translational research — research that is more likely to directly affect the health outcomes of Ontarians.

“Our support of KT researchers offers hope that we can develop methods to bring evidence-based therapies into use much faster to the benefit of all Ontarians.”

Dr. Kamila Premji: 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship Recipient

“Primary care, the foundation of Canada’s healthcare system, is in crisis. Multiple complex factors have resulted in an estimated 6.5 million (22%) Canadians and 2.3 million Ontarians who are now without a family doctor, creating significant challenges accessing primary care, especially for vulnerable populations. There is an urgent need for data-driven insights to understand and address the problems Ontarians face accessing primary care. With the PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellowship, I will lead and mobilize research guiding decisionmakers’ and policymakers’ understanding of and responses to the primary care crisis. My KT strategy aligns with PSI’s goal ‘to move research into the real world to help improve health outcomes’ and applies an equity lens aimed at improving access for vulnerable populations.” – Dr. Kamila Premji

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Kamila Premji as the recipient of the 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship.

About Dr. Kamila Premji

Dr. Kamila Premji is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa and a Clinician Researcher at the Institut du Savoir Montfort (ISM). She is a Family Physician who provides primary care services to approximately 1,200 patients in an urban community-based practice in Ottawa. She was awarded the Junior Clinical Research Chair in Family Medicine by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa (2020-2025). She is currently enrolled to complete her Ph.D. at the Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine at Western University. To date, she has published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers as author or co-author and presented at numerous national and international meetings. Dr. Premji’s focus is on health services and policy research, with a special interest in access to primary care.

About the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship

Knowledge translation research aims at transitioning research discoveries to the real world to improve health outcomes. The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $300,000 for over two or three years – helps protect a promising new clinician investigator’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.

Dr. Kamila Premji highlights the importance of salary support awards for early career physician researchers.

“For early career researchers, salary support is a critical enabler of productivity, impact, and career development. With salary support, we can accelerate the growth of our program of research and build connections that translate into meaningful knowledge mobilization. I am grateful for PSI’s support and thrilled to have this opportunity to contribute to the health of Ontarians through research.”

Fellowship Funds to be Used to Improve Access to Primary Care in Ontario

Primary care is the foundation of Canada’s healthcare system. A recent national survey found that 97% of Canadians view access to a regular source of primary care as a basic right, and a large body of local and international evidence demonstrates that strong, accessible primary care systems result in improved health equity, improved health outcomes, and reduced health system costs. Concerningly, Canada’s primary care sector is experiencing capacity challenges that threaten access to primary care. More than 6.5 million Canadians and 2.3 million Ontarians are now without a regular source of primary care, and this is predicted to worsen due to factors such as health workforce retirements, declining interest in family medicine among medical students, shifts away from comprehensive, longitudinal family practice among family physicians, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health workforce burnout. Previous research has also found the pandemic has exacerbated health inequities, widening social disparities in access to primary care. With the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship, Dr. Premji will produce and disseminate equity-oriented research guiding decisionmakers’ and policymakers’ understanding of and responses to the challenges accessing primary care in Ontario.

Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw: 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship Recipient

“Patients and caregivers are a primary source of wisdom about how their healthcare could be better. This project puts them in the driver’s seat, identifying which areas of care should be improved first.”  – Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw as the recipient of the 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship.

About Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw

Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw is a General Internal Medicine Physician and Clinician Scientist at the University Health Network. She is also an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). She was awarded a CIHR-IHSPR Rising Star Award in 2019 and holds over $600,000 in CIHR funding as principal applicant. Her research focuses on the quality of in-hospital and outpatient care, as well as the organization of physician services.

About the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship

Knowledge translation research aims at transitioning research discoveries to the real world to improve health outcomes. The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $300,000 for over two or three years – helps protect a promising new clinician investigator’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.

Dr. Lapointe-Shaw highlights the importance of supporting early career physician researchers.

“The PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellowship offers much-needed stability to early physician researchers, allowing them time to focus on their research and KT work. This time is pivotal to launching one’s career.”

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Quality Improvement on General Medical Wards

General medical wards care for patients admitted to hospital for common conditions such as heart failure, lung disease, pneumonia and falls. The number of patients cared for on such wards has increased over the past decade, and is expected to continue to grow in line with population aging. Learning what matters most to patients and their families can provide direction to quality improvement efforts. This project will elicit patient and caregiver priorities for improvement on general medical hospital wards, in order to drive quality improvement that is aligned with their preferences.

Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw and her team will use group concept mapping to first elicit contributors to the patient and caregiver experience, and then ask patients and caregivers to rate and sort these ideas to create a map of key concepts, and to identify the top priorities for quality improvement. Throughout all steps of the process, they will focus on recruiting a diverse group of participants, to reflect the broad experience and perspectives of the general medical community.

The Ontario General Medicine Quality Improvement Network (GEMQIN) is an Ontario Health-funded program that brings together clinicians and administrators from Ontario hospitals to improve the quality of care provided on general medical wards. All data and reporting in GeMQIN is produced by GEMINI, Canada‘s largest hospital data research network. The outputs of group concept mapping will be used to develop new quality indicators for GEMQIN physician and hospital performance reports, as well as improvement initiatives in the general medical healthcare community.

Dr. Michael Fralick: 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship Recipient

“As a general internist who sees many patients with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart failure, obesity, and chronic kidney disease, the existence of medications like SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP1 analogues is a revelation; the slow uptake, however, is challenging. I strongly believe that this dedicated knowledge translation program—informed by stakeholder perspectives, policy process insights, behavioural science, and diverse stakeholder support—can have a meaningful impact on the prescribing of these medications and, consequently, a significant impact on the lives of the almost 35% of Ontarians living with the abovementioned conditions. I am honoured to be a PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellow, and I look forward to pursuing this work.” – Dr. Michael Fralick

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Michael Fralick as the recipient of the 2024 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Michael Fralick

Dr. Michael Fralick is a Clinician Scientist at Sinai Health and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine. He also works clinically at the Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. To date, he has published over 160 papers, with over 80 as first or senior author. His research focuses on integrating pharmacoepidemiology with machine learning to understand the safety and effectiveness of medications for adults living with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

About the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship

Knowledge translation research aims at transitioning research discoveries to the real world to improve health outcomes. The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $300,000 for over two or three years – helps protect a promising new clinician investigator’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.

Dr. Fralick highlights the significance of salary support awards for early career physician researchers.

“Salary support for physician researchers at the early career level is invaluable. Protected time is incredibly important to break through the competing demands and endless pursuit of funding and allow physician researchers to focus on achieving impactful, timely results. What’s more, having this dedicated time early in one’s career creates opportunities for generating research outputs, establishing collaborations, and pursuing professional development, all of which lay the foundation for a successful research program moving forward.”

Fellowship Funds to be Used to Improve Uptake of Novel Diabetes Medications

SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2s) and GLP1 analogues (GLP1s) are prescription medications for patients with type 2 diabetes proven to reduce the risk of heart failure, kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, and death. Even in patients without diabetes, these medications reduce the risk of heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, and in patients with obesity, GLP1s can reduce body weight by up to 15%. However, these medications are not being prescribed to patients as often as one might expect, considering their impressive benefits. The aim of this project is to improve the uptake of SGLT2s and GLP1s for adults with and without diabetes in Ontario. Slow adoption is common for new treatments, and a dedicated effort to understand why prescribing rates are low is the first step to making a change. Dr. Fralick and his team will speak with doctors and other healthcare providers in both urban and rural areas of Ontario to understand their perceptions of these medications, and what barriers might exist to prescribing them. Based on these insights, they will pursue various approaches to improve prescribing, including reports that show doctors how their prescribing rates compare to their colleagues, freely accessible prescribing tools for doctors, educational materials, dedicated presentations, and a twice-monthly newsletter.

Dr. Carolyn Snider: 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship Recipient

Dr. Carolyn Snider’s research and outreach programs in Ontario’s emergency departments are addressing the profound impact of social determinants on health. By focusing on initiatives for vulnerable populations, her work shows promise in improving health outcomes and optimizing healthcare use in the region, emphasizing the need to redefine the role of outreach workers in healthcare. Through her PSI fellowship, Dr. Snider aims to refine these programs, secure sustainable funding, and establish a healthcare environment where ED outreach workers are recognized as essential for delivering patient care and achieving long-term health improvements for Ontarians.

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Carolyn Snider as the recipient of the 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Carolyn Snider

Dr. Carolyn Snider is an Emergency Physician and Clinician Scientist at Unity Health Toronto. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, and is cross-appointed to the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (IHPME). To date, Dr. Snider has published more than 42 papers and secured over $8 million in competitive research funding (over $2.5 million as principal investigator). Her work focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating approaches in providing more equitable emergency department care for those experiencing marginalization.

About the PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship

The PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a mid-career physician researcher in Ontario, who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high impact knowledge translation research. The total amount of the award is $400,000 over two or three years, with the sponsoring institution providing matching funding, contributing to 50% of the total award.

PSI acknowledges that mid-career can be a challenging time for physician researchers. During this phase, there are often additional academic roles and responsibilities including committee work, leadership positions, and mentoring of junior investigators, while clinical work continues. PSI recognizes the importance in supporting this phase of an investigator’s trajectory.

Dr. Snider is well-positioned to leverage the dedicated time afforded by this fellowship, combining her early research discoveries and leadership expertise to advance her research and apply it effectively within the field of emergency medicine. This highlights the significance of mid-career salary support for physician-researchers in maintaining their research momentum and translating their findings into practical applications.

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Redefining the Role of Emergency Department Outreach Workers in Healthcare

Ontario’s emergency departments (EDs) often reveal the profound effects of social issues on health. Dr. Carolyn Snider, a leading emergency medicine physician and researcher, has dedicated her career to creating outreach programs that tackle these social determinants to enhance healthcare in Ontario. These programs, including new ED outreach initiatives for youth affected by violence and people experiencing homelessness (PEH), are showing promising signs of improving health outcomes and optimizing healthcare use.

Dr. Snider’s work emphasizes the necessity of redefining the role of outreach workers in healthcare from “nice-to-have” to essential, backed by careful evaluation and alignment with Ontario’s healthcare performance metrics. With homelessness rising in Ontario alongside increasing violence among youth, the burden on the healthcare system is intensifying. Dr. Snider’s follows the Knowledge-To-Action (KTA) framework to translate research into action.

Dr. Snider’s PSI fellowship aims to refine these outreach programs for Ontario, demonstrate their benefits, develop scalable models, and secure ongoing funding. Through this work, she strives to establish a healthcare environment where ED outreach workers are recognized as vital to delivering patient care and achieving sustainable health outcomes across Ontario.

Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamorthy: 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellowship Recipient

“Our research program plans to undertake knowledge translation of the Canadian Syncope Pathway at 16 hospitals across Canada, evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation strategies; develop and implement a prehospital syncope risk tool for diversion of very-low risk patients from the emergency department to alternate care pathways, and to develop and implement an artificial intelligence algorithm to semi-automate emergency department syncope care. By undertaking the above research and knowledge translation activities, our aim to improve the health of Ontarians by enhancing patient safety while reducing healthcare cost by improving effectiveness. Our studies will provide a template for developing and implementing practice recommendations/guidelines for common emergency conditions and incorporating technological advances such as artificial intelligence and remote monitoring of patients to improve the health of Ontarians.” – Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy as the recipient of the 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy

Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy is a Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. He is also an Emergency Physician at The Ottawa Hospital and a Senior Scientist within the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). To date, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and secured over $6 million in peer-reviewed research funding as principal investigator. Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy’s research program focuses on robust risk-stratification and health services delivery of emergency department syncope.

About the PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship

The PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a mid-career physician researcher in Ontario, who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high impact knowledge translation research. The total amount of the award is $400,000 over two or three years, with the sponsoring institution providing matching funding, contributing to 50% of the total award.

PSI acknowledges that mid-career can be a challenging time for physician researchers. During this phase, there are often additional academic roles and responsibilities including committee work, leadership positions, and mentoring of junior investigators, while clinical work continues. PSI recognizes the importance in supporting this phase of an investigator’s trajectory.

Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy highlights the importance of salary support awards for physician researchers at the mid-career level.

“During the early career phase, several organizations including the researchers’ home institutions provide support to start a research program. Unfortunately, currently no support is available for mid-career physician researchers except from PSI. This support at the mid-career level is critical to translate all the research findings from the early career stage into day-to-day clinical practice. Support at the mid-career and senior career level will improve the health of the population (Ontarians), and prominence at global stage. More importantly, it will help the researcher lead system level changes to impact healthcare and train the next generation of researchers for delivering world class care to Ontarians and Canadians. ”

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Optimizing Management of Patients with Syncope

Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy’s research focuses on health systems improvement, specifically development and implementation of tools to reduce resource utilization through robust risk-stratification while improving patient safety. The focus is on the ‘Optimal Management of patients with syncope’.

Syncope (fainting) is a common with 160,000 patients visiting Canadian emergency departments (ED) annually. About 16,000 (10%) will have serious underlying problems (blood clots in the lung, bleeding) and/or will die within 30 days. One-third/half of these conditions will not be evident during the ED visit. Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy and his team developed a robust tool, the Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) and are embarking on its knowledge translation (KT, i.e. raising physicians’ awareness and facilitating its use). With input from stakeholders including KT experts and patients, they developed practice recommendations, the Canadian Syncope Pathway, identified barriers/facilitators for implementation, and through user-centered design workshops, they identified strategies and developed educational materials for implementation.

During the fellowship, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy will complete a multi-centre trial to implement the Pathway and evaluate how evidence-based implementation strategies supported its uptake in practice. Additionally, two-thirds of patients with syncope arrive to the ED by ambulance. They plan to validate and implement a paramedic tool for identifying very-low-risk patients for diversion from the ED. Finally, the research team plans to develop and implement an artificial intelligence algorithm to semi-automate ED syncope care.

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