We are excited to have brought on board two new postdoctoral fellows who are developing projects that address different implementation science priorities.
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Implementation Science
PhD in Health Economics, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Supervisor: Dr. Erica DiRuggiero
Advisory Committee: Dr. Paula Braitstein, Dr. Shaza Fadel, Dr. Diego Bassani
Research interests: policy implementation, global policy agenda-setting for health, health systems, access to care, social determinants of health, inequity
In a nutshell, I try to understand why good research doesn’t translate into good policy. Why is evidence not reaching policymakers, and/or why is it not being implemented? Why don’t people in power use evidence to make decisions? I’m also interested in helping decision-makers to use evidence in health care delivery. For example, if the evidence shows that community health worker’s attrition rate decreases with regular training sessions, how can this be factored into organizational policies across different workplaces?
Right now, I’m looking at the financing of vaccination programs through implantation science and equity lenses, and the resilience of health systems to absorb the current shocks and disruptions. I have a particular interest in the delivery of maternal health services in sub-Saharan Africa, so I’m studying the resiliency of these systems during COVID.
I’m loving this experience as part of a research cluster. Different cluster members have different expertise. With my demographic background, I’m very into research methods, quantitative and qualitative techniques, and mixed methods. Someone from pharmacy brings in very different expertise. All researchers have blind spots: While I focus on social or structural determinants of health, someone else can bring in a biological focus. This complexity makes the research and perspective broader, and more useful for decision-making.
DLSPH is like a dream to me. Everyone is working from home now so I’m not able to immerse myself in the social aspect of things but working with my mentors has been a great experience.
I really do enjoy the support I get from my supervisor and co-supervisors as well – this level of support is very rare!
Postdoctoral Fellow in Implementation Science
PhD in health policy and systems research, National University of Singapore
Supervisor: Dr. Xiaolin Wei
Advisory Committee: Dr. Sara Allin, Dr. Lincoln Lau
Research interests: infectious disease policy and control, especially TB and COVID-19; health systems; program evaluation; evidence-based policymaking
When COVID-19 began to spread in China, I started working with a group of front-line doctors to study factors associated with prolonged hospitalization among COVID patients. We collected demographic information, medical histories, symptoms and test results. We found prolonged hospitalization was related to diabetes and bilateral pneumonia, and this was some of the early evidence that explores factors influencing COVID management. DLSPH Prof. Xiaolin Wei read my research on strategies to promote research uptake by health policymakers and recruited me for this fellowship. We both share a strong interest in TB and global health, so it was perfect.
I was supposed to come to Canada after the holidays, but my application for a work permit was delayed due to the pandemic, so I’m still in Singapore for now. I did my undergraduate and master’s degrees in the U.S. but I’ve never been to Toronto. I’m hoping to be there by the end of February!
I’m really looking forward to studying COVID in the North American context. I’ve had experience in the clinical aspect, but at DLSPH I’ll focus on the community context. I learned from China that how we engage community in the COVID response is a big element. I’m interested in how misinformation and unclear information contribute to non-compliance with COVID-related public health measures among people. As well, the lack of public trust in North America is so different from Asia, so that will be fascinating to see up close. In the past public health research was siloed, it will be very inspiring to establish connections with other areas, such as communications — trying to find out how social media has influenced people’s perspectives on COVID and their attitudes towards COVID vaccination. This interests me a lot.