Shamara Baidoobonso

Shamara Baidoobonso, PhD, is the Provincial Epidemiologist for Prince Edward Island. She provides leadership, and scientific and strategic direction to the Chief Public Health Office and Department of Health and Wellness on matters related to health data, health surveillance, and health research. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University. Dr. Baidoobonso has broad and deep experience in using scientific evidence and engaging diverse public voices in health policy decision-making at the provincial level. In addition to practical experience in this area, she also provides guidance on conducting this work in applied settings. Dr. Baidoobonso also remains actively engaged in research, volunteer, and advisory roles focused on addressing HIV and social determinants of health in Black and socially marginalized communities. Over the years, she has received multiple scholarships and awards in recognition of both her academic and community work, including a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Her passions are equity and inclusiveness, evidence-informed decision-making, and lifelong learning.

Kevin Woo

Dr. Kevin Woo is an Associate Professor at Queen’s University, School of Nursing, School of Rehabilitation therapy in Kingston, Ontario. He teaches and provides supervision for both undergraduate and graduate students in the Healthcare Quality program, Aging and Health program, as well as the Nursing Science programs. He is recognized as a national expert in wound care and has served on a number of expert panels and advisory boards to develop the Best Practice recommendations. He received the Journal of Wound Care Best Diabetic Foot Ulcer Intervention Award in 2018 for his contribution to advance diabetic foot care and Journal of Wound Care Professional Education Award in 2017. He is a member of the Education Committee of the Canadian Frailty Network. A recipient of the Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation (2014-19) and the International Association for the Study of Pain Early Career Research Award (2012-13), Dr. Woo has a range of research interests, including enhancing chronic disease self-management, developing quality benchmarks for wound management, and implementing best practices for difficult-to-heal wounds. He has authored or co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications, books, book chapters, white papers and proceedings. Kevin is the web editor for the Advances in Skin and Wound Care website (http://journals.lww.com/aswcjournal), author of Polit & Beck Canadian Essentials of Nursing Research, co-editor of Chronic Wound Care, A Clinical Source Book for Healthcare Professionals, 5th edition. https://nursing.queensu.ca/woo

Samantha Seaton

Samantha Seaton is a PhD student with research expertise in knowledge translation in occupational therapy and the deadoption of low value practices in rehabilitation. Since commencing my doctoral studies, she has received the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), as well as internal departmental awards (Gwen Bell Award; University of Toronto Fellowship Awards). She has presented at provincial and national conferences on the topic of deadoption, attended KT Canada’s Summer Institute, and has been invited to speak at a webinar for clinicians of Alberta Health Services.

Christopher Klinger

Christopher is a Research Scientist with Pallium Canada, a national non-profit evidence-based organization focused on building professional and community capacity to help improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care in Canada. His research interests are in health systems and policy, with a focus on hospice palliative/end-of-life care. He also chairs the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly’s (NICE) End-of-Life Issues Theme Team, a knowledge transfer network dedicated to enhance the care of older adults both in Canada and abroad, and the Quality End-of-Life Care Coalition of Canada’s (QELCCC) Research and Knowledge Translation Committee, a group of national stakeholder organizations concerned about quality end-of-life care. Furthermore, Christopher is a Sessional Instructor with the Translational Research Program (TRP) at the University of Toronto and a frequent presenter at aging, hospice palliative care and public administration conferences.

Jennifer Watt

Dr. Jennifer Watt (MD, PhD, FRCPC) is a geriatrician and clinician-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital – Unity Health Toronto. She completed medical school at the University of Ottawa, residency in geriatric medicine at the University of Toronto, and a PhD in clinical epidemiology and health care research at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral thesis used knowledge synthesis and observational study methods to describe the comparative efficacy and safety of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions in older adults with dementia. She received awards for her doctoral thesis including the 2019 Thomas & Edna Naylor Memorial Award for the best paper by a graduate trainee completing their thesis at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and a CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research 2019 Rising Star Award. As an early career investigator, she studies the comparative efficacy and safety of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions in older adults.

Jessie McGowan

Dr. Jessie McGowan, MLIS, PhD, AHIP, has more than 25 years’ experience working in information science and management. She has an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Ottawa in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health. She is an Associate Editor with the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), the Canadian Medical Association Journal Open (CMAJ-Open), and the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (JCE). She is also a Collaborator at the Ottawa WHO Collaborating Center.
Dr. McGowan collaborates both nationally and internationally with health researchers on projects, grants, and international committees. She has extensive practical experience in hospital administration, information access and management strategies. She has been involved with the Cochrane Collaboration since 1995 and is a co-convener of their Information Retrieval Methods Group. She is an author of PRESS: Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies Guideline Statement, published in by CADTH and the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

Ian Graham

Ian Graham, PhD, FCAHS, FNYAM, FRSC is a Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Practice-Changing Research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. From 2006 to 2012 he was seconded to the position of Vice President of Knowledge Translation at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. His research program focuses on understanding how engaging patients and other stakeholders in the research process (known as integrated knowledge translation) works and the impact it produces. He is co-originator of the Ottawa Model of Research Use; the Practice Guideline Evaluation and Adaptation Cycle; the Knowledge to Action framework; CAN-Implement, and a founding member of the international ADAPTE collaboration.

Annette McKinnon

Annette McKinnon is an active and engaged patient and a member of the Steering Committee of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (CAPA), Sjogrens Canada, and the Arthritis Patient Advisory Board of Arthritis Research Canada. Starting with a blog and a social media presence (@anetto), she has become involved with research teams and is a founding member of the Patient Advisors Network, a community of practice for patient and family caregiver advisors. Her term as a public member of the Council of the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario ended in 2019, and she is now a public advisor on the committee revising the upcoming CAOT textbook, Enabling Occupation III.

Erna Snelgrove-Clarke

Dr. Erna Snelgrove-Clarke is the Vice Dean (Health Sciences) and Director of the School of Nursing, Queen’s University. She is the CIHR Embedded Clinical Researcher in the Maternal Newborn Program at the IWK Health Centre and her program of research focuses on the identification of successful strategies for improving use of evidence in maternal newborn practices. Dr. Snelgrove-Clarke explores the transfer of knowledge through multiple methodologies, concentrating on the relationships of health care professionals, organizations, and decision-makers; including patient participation and voice. Areas of interest include women’s pain, obesity, breastfeeding, pregnancy, fetal health surveillance, practice development, and person centered practice.

Catherine Yu

Catherine Yu is a Staff Endocrinologist at St. Michaels Hospital, Associate Professor of Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Associate Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. After completing her undergraduate and postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the University of Toronto, she then completed a MHSc in Public Health. Her research focus is on the care of the patient with diabetes in the context of a health care team, revolving around the role of integrative health informatics tools, patient and clinician education and behaviour change, shared decision-making and medical humanities in improving quality of care. She has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on several CIHR-funded projects. In addition, she is the past co-Chair of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Dissemination and Implementation Committee of Diabetes Canada, where-in she has developed evidence-based and innovative strategies to put guidelines into practice across Canada.