Honours and Awards

Dr. Whitney Berta Wins 2003 CIHR Poster Presentation Prize

Co-PIs Dr. Whitney Berta, HPME Assistant Professor and Dr. Gary Teare, HPME Assistant Professor, and team tied for third prize in the second round of poster presentations at the Canadian Institute of Health Research's (CIHR) Institute of Health Services and Policy Research National Symposium held in Montreal Quebec on November 22 to 24th 2003. Their presentation was entitled "Factors that Impact the Transfer of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Long-Term Care Facilities in Ontario" and is funded by CIHR's Knowledge Translation Strategy initiative.

Co-investigators included Erin Gilbart (HPME PhD candidate), Liane Soberman-Ginsburg (Assistant Professor with York University's School of Health Policy and Management), Louise Lemieux-Charles PhD (Associate Professor and Chair, HPME), Dave Davis MD (Professor with HPME and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Associate Dean of Continuing Education, Medicine), and Susan Rappolt (Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy).

The symposium brought together leading Canadian researchers, young investigators, health care system policy-makers and managers, and interested members of the public to discuss the important roles of health services and policy research in finding solutions to Canada's most pressing health care system and service delivery issues.

Dr. Jan Barnsley Receives Primary Health Care Transition Fund Award

Jan Barnsley (PI), Whitney Berta, Jeff Bloom, Rhonda Cockerill, Liisa Jaakkimainen, Raymond Pong, Yves Talbot and Eugene Vayda, members of the Primary Care Performance Indicator Project (PCPIP), were awarded $866,600 over three years from the Ontario Primary Health Care Transition Fund for their study "Using Performance Indicators and Benchmarks in Primary Health Care".

Building on their previous work, this study includes measurement and improvement of clinical care and practice management in family practices. It consists of three components:

• First, data collection techniques and instruments developed in their previous work will be used to assess performance in a random sample of 48 practices in Ontario. Data will be collected from chart review, key interviews and direct observation. Study participants will include nurse practitioners and family physicians in solo and group practice, in selected regions in Ontario.
• Second, the results based on the primary data will be compared to data contained in the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and Ontario Drug Benefit databases.
• Finally , information on practice management and organization will be compared to practice profiles developed from Ontario data in the National Family Physician Survey. Participating practices will receive feedback on their practice results and be invited to take part in a regional workshop to discuss study results, the specific indicators, and the use of the indicators as performance benchmarks.

Dr. Andreas Laupacis elected Chairman

Dr. Laupacis, HPME Professor, was elected chairman of the Advisory Board of the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre at the 2003 annual meeting in November. Since September 2000, he has been president and CEO of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

Dr. Angela Cheung Receives PSI Foundation Grant for SARS Research

Drs. Stephen Hwang and Chaim Bell, (Co-PIs), and co-investigators Drs. Angela Cheung and Rahim Moineddin have been awarded a grant of $38,000 from the Physicians' Services Incorporated (PSI) Foundation for their project entitled "The Effect of the Ontario Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Outbreak on Population Mortality".

Dr. Maria Bacchus Appointed Program Medical Director at UHN

Dr. Maria Bacchus, Associate Professor in HPME and the Department of Medicine, was appointed as Program Medical Director for the Community and Population Health Program of the University Health Network, effective August 1, 2003. Dr. Bacchus has remained as Head of the Division of General Internal Medicine for the UHN/MSH Department of Medicine.

Joseph Mapa the New Ontario Regent for ACHE

Joseph Mapa, Adjunct Faculty in HPME and President and CEO of Mount Sinai Hospital, was elected to the Council of Regents of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) as Regent for the Province of Ontario. ACHE is the premier professional society for healthcare executives with over 30,000 members around the world including 150 members in Ontario. As well, Mr. Mapa has been nominated as the Vice-Chair Elect of the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE). CCHSE is the Canadian professional association for healthcare executives with 3,000 members nation-wide. Joseph will serve a two-year term as Vice-Chair and then a two-year term as Chair.

CIHR Funding Decisions October 2003

Analysis of 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey on Mental Health and Well Being Operating Grants Competition Results:

**names in bold type are associated with HPME as core faculty, and cross-appointed and status-only members

Dewa C (PI), Gnam W, Goldner E, Koehoorn M, Lin E. Psychiatric disorders, chronic physical conditions, workplace stress and disability in the Canadian working population. $38,389 over 1 year (operating)

CIHR Funding Decisions November 2003

CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) Request for Applications Results:

**names in bold type are associated with HPME as core faculty, and cross-appointed and status-only members

Cheung A (PI), Grynpas M, Waldman S. The Clinical Utility of the Mechanical Response Tissue Analyzer Device for Determining Bone Fragility. $261,138 over 3 years (operating)

Bombardier C (PI), Eysenback G, Jadad A, Milgram P. A demonstration project of electronic patient generated data for point of care reporting in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. $92,125.00 over 2 years (operating)

CIHR Funding Decisions January 2004

In the January 2004 results of the CIHR September 2003 Open Competition, the University of Toronto and affiliated research institutes captured $48.8M of grant funding. Of the 278 grants submitted, 109 were approved - representing a 39% success rate. This is 9% higher than the University of Toronto success rate for the June 2003 competition and 16% above the national success rate of 23%. The following faculty received grants in this competition:

Alter DA (PI), Austin PC (PI), Irvine MJ, Morgan CD, Mustard CA, Naylor CD, Tu JV, Wheaton B. Socioeconomic status and outcomes after acute myocardial infarction. $70,552 over 3 years (operating)

Hawker GA (PI), Badley EM, Davis AM, Gignac MA, Gordon AS, Lou WW, Naglie G, Romans SE. Determinants and consequences of pain and fatigue in osteoarthritis (OA) using a biopsychosocial approach. $102,356 over 5 years (operating) $800 (equipment)

Morrison LJ (PI), Kiss AJ, Long J, Sherbino JD, Szalai JP, Verbeek PR, Vermeulen MJ. Termination of resuscitation in the prehospital environment with defibrillator only paramedics -prospective validation of a clinical decision rule. $67,570 over 2 years (operating)

Stukel T (PI), Aschull MJ (PI), Alter DA, Guttmann A, Jackson PM, Laupacis A, Manuel DG, Schwartz B, Zwarenstein MF. Determining the population health impact of the healthcare system response to the SARS Outbreak. $81,870 over 2 years (operating)

Tannock IF (PI), Vardy JL (PI). Cognitive function and fatigue in cancer patients after chemotherapy: A longitudinal controlled study in colorectal cancer patients. $73,039 over 1 year (operating)

Bell CM (PI), Bajcar J, Bierman AS, Mamdani MM, Urbach DR. Discontinuity of chronic medications in hospitalized elders. $21,679 over 2 years

Laporte A (PI), Berta WB (PI), Anderson M, Valdmanis VG. Operational efficiencies of long-term care facilities in Canada. $83,331 over 3 years (operating)

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In the January 2004 results of the CIHR Institute Strategic Initiatives and Priority Competitions - Operating Grants, HPME faculty received grants in two categories:

1. Advancing Theories, Frameworks, Methods and Measurement in Health Services & Policy, Population and Public Health Research and Knowledge Translation:
   
   Bell CM (PI), Bajcar J, Bierman AS, Mamdani MM, Urbach DR. Discontinuity of chronic medications in hospitalized elders. $21,679 over 2 years (operating)
   
   Cote P (PI), Beaton DE, Bombardier C, Carroll LJ, Cassidy JD, Hogg-Johnson S. The relationship between impairment, activity limitations, participation restriction and markers of recovery in individuals with musculoskeletal disorders: A validation study of two conceptual frameworks. $36,237 over 2 years (operating) $2,106 (equipment)
   
   
2. Institute of Aging
   
   Ungar W (PI), Feldman BM, Marshall DA, Willan AR, Wright JG. A conceptual framework for outcome measurement in children: Consequences for health economic evaluation and decision making. $74,909 over 3 years (operating)

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