“Despite the significant burden of mental health challenges among youth in Canada, only a minority access appropriate services. This is true even for the subset of youth who have particularly complex needs, as there are few evidence-based, implementable interventions designed for them. My research engages service users and providers to adapt interventions for youth with complex mental health needs and evaluate them. By considering implementation from the outset, we can connect youth with the treatment that best meets their needs earlier in the course of illness and improve their outcomes.” – Dr. Nicole Kozloff

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Nicole Kozloff as the recipient of the 2025 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Nicole Kozloff

Dr. Nicole Kozloff is a scientist, child and adolescent psychiatrist and the co-director of the Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Kozloff’s research aims to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of services for youth with complex mental health needs and their families. To date, she has been awarded over $14,000,000 in research funding as Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI. Having benefitted from support and guidance from mentors, she has contributed to several mentorship activities for junior psychiatrists and other scientists, and recently received the CIHR – CPA Glenda M. MacQueen Memorial Career Development Award for Women in Psychiatry.

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. Kozloff highlights the significance of salary support awards for physician researchers at the early career level.

“Thoughtfully designing research and authentically engaging with end users to improve our health system takes time, yet there are so few opportunities for salary support for early-career physician researchers. The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship is a rare example of an award that protects the time of physician researchers from the other demands of their busy careers. This allows physician researchers to apply their unique combination of clinical and scientific expertise to help bring research innovations to the real work.”

Fellowship Funds to be Used to Improve the Outcomes for Youth with Complex Mental Health Needs

A subset of Canadian youth has “complex” mental illness, with a major impact on functioning, extensive use of services, multiple mental or physical health conditions, or challenges related to the social determinants of health. For youth with psychosis, early psychosis intervention (EPI) programs are effective in research settings, but quality of care in real-world settings is inconsistent, and outcomes vary by the social determinants of health—they need structures and processes to support consistent, high-quality EPI service delivery, explicitly designed to address equity gaps. For youth with complex mental health needs other than psychosis, few well-articulated models of care exist, and promising practices are not always rigorously evaluated or spread beyond single settings—they need evidence-based, youth-friendly models informed by those with lived experience, addressing a broad range of needs, that can be implemented across different settings.

This Fellowship aims to implement the NAVIGATE model of coordinated specialty care, digitizing it to support training and uptake, incorporating processes to address the social determinants of health, and adapting it for youth with other complex mental health needs. These projects bring the evidence-based NAVIGATE model to the real world to improve outcomes for youth with the greatest mental health burden.

“Addressing youth mental health and reproductive health in an integrated way has the potential to reduce barriers to care and improve wellbeing. This work, supported by the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship, aims to improve sexual and reproductive healthcare for Ontario youth with psychosis, and improve mental healthcare for pregnant and postpartum youth.” – Dr. Lucy Barker

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Lucy Barker as the recipient of the 2025 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Lucy Barker

Dr. Lucy Barker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a Psychiatrist and an Early Career Scientist at Women’s College Hospital, and an Adjunct Scientist at ICES.

Dr. Barker’s research focuses on the intersection of reproductive and mental health, and equitable access to mental health services. Her current work specifically aims to improve reproductive mental health services for adolescents and transition-age youth.

Dr. Barker has demonstrated productivity as an early career Clinician-Scientist (including 43 journal article publications, 19 as a first or senior responsible author). She has received numerous awards for her research, including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award, two Pat Martens Memorial Student Prizes in Maternal and Child Health Research (Canadian Association of Health Services and Policy Research), and the Dr. Jack V. Tu Memorial Award for Excellence (IHPME). She has also taken on leadership roles to improve mentorship in the field of reproductive mental health.

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. Barker highlights the importance of salary support awards for physician researchers at the early career level.

“Salary support to conduct research and knowledge translation work is critical for early career physician researchers. The support provided by the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship will allow me time to conduct research, implement findings in clinical practice, supervise students, and engage with stakeholders including community partners and youth with lived experience. I am incredibly grateful for this support.”

Fellowship Funds to be Used to Improve Care for Youth in Ontario, Integrating Both Reproductive Health and Mental Health

Mental health problems and reproductive health are highly intertwined for youth. Youth who are pregnant or recently delivered a baby are at high risk of experiencing mental illness, and youth with psychosis have higher rates of abortion compared to their unaffected peers. Yet, services that incorporate both reproductive health and mental health for youth are lacking. This project aims to improve care that integrates both reproductive health and mental health for youth in Ontario.

The project has two overlapping components, both of which fill critical gaps in reproductive and mental health services for youth. In the first, Dr. Barker and her colleagues will use new knowledge from their research about the mental health of pregnant and postpartum Ontario youth to improve current services, and to implement and evaluate a new virtual therapy group for postpartum youth. In the second, Dr. Barker and her colleagues will implement and evaluate a sexual and reproductive health module they recently created for women, transgender, and non-binary youth receiving care within early psychosis intervention programs. Throughout, Dr. Barker and her colleagues will engage with youth with lived experience, community organizations, clinicians, and clinical and health systems leaders to incorporate diverse perspectives and maximize impact.

“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.

“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.

“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’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.

“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.

 “As a Child Psychiatrist, I see firsthand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health and the gaps that currently exist in mental health service delivery. Youth experience the highest rates of co-occurring substance health and mental health problems (“concurrent disorders”) compared to other age groups, yet many do not receive the integrated services they need. Through knowledge mobilization and capacity-building, my program of research aims to bridge these gaps. I will work with community organizations in Eastern Ontario to identify needs and disseminate knowledge to improve concurrent disorders care, develop an integrated substance health and mental health program at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and lead and contribute to national standards implementation for paediatric concurrent disorders. Most importantly, my time will be spent mobilizing and translating research evidence, moving knowledge into our daily practice to improve health outcomes for children and youth. I am delighted to receive this PSI Knowledge Translation Fellowship to start my early research career dedicated to improving services in child mental health.” – Dr. Tea Rosic

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Tea Rosic as the recipient of the 2023 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Tea Rosic

Dr. Tea Rosic is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Her research examines the impact and management of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (concurrent disorders). She has published 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts (11 first-authored) since 2016 and given 16 oral presentations in national and international settings.

Dr. Rosic has won numerous awards for her research, including several best poster and best paper awards, and additionally won awards for her clinical work (2019 Outstanding Resident Award, Hamilton Health Sciences) and for student mentorship (2018 Resident Mentor Award, McMaster). At CHEO, she was ranked first in the Children’s Hospital Academic Medical Organization (CHAMO) Fellowship Competition in 2020.

Dr. Rosic completed her medical training and Psychiatry residency at McMaster University, followed by a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. She is in her final year of PhD training in Health Research Methodology and in the Clinician Investigator Program at McMaster.

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.

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Synthesis, Dissemination, and Application of Evidence to Improve the Care of Youth with Concurrent Disorders

This Fellowship will allow Dr. Rosic, a Child Psychiatrist and researcher, to synthesize, disseminate and apply evidence to improve the care of youth who have both substance use and other mental health disorders.

Compared to other age groups, youth have the highest rates of co-occurring addiction and mental health problems, also known as “concurrent disorders.” Substance use is related to higher severity of other mental health symptoms and lower chances of receiving treatment. When concurrent disorders go untreated, youth are at risk of dropping out of school, having family conflicts, engaging in risky activities, and dying. There are gaps in our healthcare services in Ontario and in Canada that can be addressed through knowledge translation and capacity-building.

Dr. Rosic will work to mobilize knowledge and build capacity for assessment and treatment of youth concurrent disorders within Eastern Ontario and beyond. Her research program includes working with community organizations to identify needs and disseminate knowledge, developing a specialized child concurrent disorders program at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and leading and contributing to guideline development and national standards implementation for concurrent disorders care.

“Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are one of the top 10 reasons to visit a Canadian emergency department. Despite being so common, care is not standardized which has resulted in high treatment failure rates, overuse of intravenous antibiotics and unnecessary hospitalization. As a PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellow, I will be afforded the critical support necessary to use multimethod, multidisciplinary approaches to develop and implement a best practices checklist for the diagnosis and management of SSTIs in the emergency department setting. This will standardize management of these common infections with the potential to reduce treatment failure, intravenous antibiotic use, and hospitalization. With support from the PSI Foundation, Ontario will be positioned as a leader in improving the care of Canadians with SSTIs.” – Dr. Krishan Yadav

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Krishan Yadav as the recipient of the 2023 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Krishan Yadav

Dr. Krishan Yadav is an Associate Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute with a focused area of expertise in the management of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs; cellulitis; abscess) in the emergency department. He is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Ottawa. His research has been recognized nationally twice (in 2018 and 2022) with the Top New Investigator Abstract Award at the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians Annual Meeting. In 2020, he received the Junior Clinical Research Chair in Skin and Soft Tissue Infections at the University of Ottawa. To date, he has 52 publications in peer reviewed journals (12 as first author, 5 as senior author) and has 35 published abstracts at conference proceedings.

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.

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Development and Implementation of a Best Practices Checklist for Emergency Department Management of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are bacterial infections affecting the skin and underlying tissues. SSTIs are one of the top 10 most common reasons to visit an emergency department in Canada. Patients with SSTIs have pain, redness and swelling (i.e., cellulitis) or boggy painful red skin due to underlying pus (i.e., abscess). For abscesses, the treatment is a bedside surgical drainage procedure, and some patients are prescribed antibiotics. For cellulitis, patients are treated with antibiotics.

The current treatment of SSTIs in emergency departments is not standardized and up to 20% fail treatment. Existing guidelines are not designed for use in the emergency department setting. Dr. Yadav’s overall goal is to design and implement an evidence-based, user-friendly best practices checklist for diagnosis and management of SSTIs in the emergency department. He will use robust KT approaches to: (1) Create a best practices checklist with engagement of key stakeholders; (2) Assess barriers and facilitators to checklist use in the emergency department; and (3) Conduct a pilot implementation trial in three Ontario emergency departments. This work has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs by standardizing care and reducing unnecessary intravenous antibiotic use, minimizing treatment failures, and lowering hospitalization.

“As an anesthesiologist, I care for hundreds of patients preparing for, having, and recovering from surgery each year. While most benefit from their operation, many experience complications and struggle to recover their strength and function after surgery. Prehabilitation is an approach where we use the wait time before surgery to a patient’s advantage. We support them in completing evidence-based exercises, help to improve their nutrition and manage the stress of preparing for a major operation. The idea is that because they go to the operating room in better health, they are less likely to experience a complication and will have better recovery after surgery. With the support of the PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship, I will be able to work with my team, our patient partners, and collaborators to understand the most effective approaches to prehabilitation, and how to implement prehabilitation into routine care to the benefit of the hundreds of thousands of Ontarians who need surgery each year.” – Dr. Daniel McIsaac

PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Daniel McIsaac as the recipient of the 2023 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellowship.

About Dr. Daniel McIsaac

Dr. Daniel McIsaac is an Associate Professor and Anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is also a Scientist at the Clinical Epidemiology Program of Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). To date, Dr. McIsaac has published more than 160 peer-reviewed papers and secured over $10 million in peer-reviewed research funding. He currently holds six Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grants as principal applicant, four of which focus on prehabilitation.

Dr. Daniel McIsaac’s Research Program

More than 300,000 Ontarians have major surgery each year. These patients, their physicians, and health system leaders have made it clear that they desire access to effective prehabilitation so that Ontarians who need surgery can improve their health before their operation to avoid complications and enhance recovery after surgery. Dr. McIsaac’s research aims to implement routine prehabilitation, an approach that supports and motivates patients in exercising and improving their nutrition in preparation for surgery, in Ontario’s healthcare system. Working with his team, patient partners, and collaborators, Dr. McIsaac’s program focuses on developing practical and effective prehabilitation programs and evaluating them in real-world settings. His overarching objective is to translate the findings of these real-world experiments into routine care to the benefit of surgical patients in Ontario.

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 clinician investigator 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.

Fellowship Funds to be Used for Translating Prehabilitation Evidence into Practice to Improve Surgical Recovery in Ontario

In Ontario, more than 300,000 people have major surgery each year, such as joint replacement, heart bypass, or cancer operations. While more than 98 of every 100 patients survive their operation, recovery after surgery can be very difficult. This is because major complications such as bleeding, infections, heart attacks, weakness and/or loss of one’s ability to complete day-to-day activities happen to about 1 in 5 people who have surgery.

Prehabilitation means doing exercise, improving diet, and receiving structured motivational care before surgery to improve a person’s recovery after surgery. Patients in Ontario and across the world are keen to have access to prehabilitation, as it makes sense that this approach would lead to better recovery after surgery.

Unfortunately, the science supporting prehabilitation’s impact is still at an early stage. For Ontarians to benefit from prehabilitation, patients, clinicians, and scientists must work in partnership to understand what types of prehabilitation work best, test strategies to deliver prehabilitation across the province, and develop plans to move prehabilitation into day-to-day care for all Ontario surgical patients. Dr. McIsaac proposes to lead such work, building on partnerships and expertise already in place to deliver effective prehabilitation to Ontarians.