CIHR doctoral award opens window to mobilizing health systems research across Alberta

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Stephanie Brooks was working for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU) managing the Implementation Science Collaborative—a provincial multistakeholder, cross-sectoral health improvement initiative—when her supervisors suggested that her current research would make for a great graduate studies thesis program. 

With support from University of Alberta School of Public Health associate professor Kate Storey and Department of Medicine professor Sarah Davidson, Brooks submitted her proposal and was accepted as a graduate student in the School of Public Health in 2020. Today, Brooks is the recipient of the prestigious Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Award-Canada Graduate Scholarship. 

“I couldn’t be more excited,” says Brooks. “It really took a moment for it all to sink in what a difference and impact this award could make on my research over the next three years. It opens up a lot of opportunities for different research and knowledge-mobilization methods. It will help me share my findings with stakeholders and researchers in ways that wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have this funding.”

We sat down and spoke with Brooks about the impact the CIHR scholarship will have on her research and future plans as a researcher. 

Why did you choose to pursue graduate studies at the U of A School of Public Health?

I am a joint student within the School of Public Health and the Department of Medicine. I also work for AbSPORU, which is hosting a large-scale initiative called the Implementation Science Collaborative. It’s a novel approach for conducting embedded implementation research and supporting the implementation of evidence into health systems. When we started building this initiative I saw a really good research opportunity from a systems level to study exactly how we are going about this and what type of guidance we can write for these types of collaborations. I wrote a research proposal and my supervisors at AbSPORU were so supportive that they said I should make this into a PhD program.

I was accepted into the program at the beginning of 2020 and it felt right to be doing health systems research and supporting the health system, however, I could in the context of the pandemic.

What does your doctoral work examine?

I’m studying the Implementation Science Collaborative—a provincial initiative. It’s a multi-stake partnership that is working to embed implementation science into Alberta’s health system. More specifically, implementation science aims to study how to effectively and efficiently implement improvements and initiatives. 

I’ve been involved in this initiative since its conception in 2018, so my research is looking at how we build and operate the initiative over time. I’m looking at how the initiative was designed, how we approached partnership building and recruited people, how the initial operations went and how we adapt in the first few years of operation. 

There is an interest in Alberta and nationwide in establishing and strengthening learning health systems. These types of systems collect practice-based care data to create knowledge that informs changes to improve practice. Given its role is supporting successful change and improvement, implementation science is being increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of learning health systems. There is a lot of interest by health-care leaders to know how to incorporate this type of work into their own systems. I’m hoping to build some evidence and guidance for others to incorporate implementation-science support in their own systems in ways that meet their contexts and needs. 

What motivated you to pursue this research?

I am a knowledge-mobilization specialist first. My dedication to knowledge mobilization came from my commitment to reducing research waste. The amount of research waste that is conventional in health-care research has really bothered me, especially when this research can help improve a person’s health and well-being. Through my employment with AbSPORU, I learned more about the importance of implementation science and how it was connected to knowledge mobilization and supporting the uptake of evidence. Knowing how to implement evidence effectively and efficiently is so important. 

I was really inspired by the team I work with. We’re all working towards being able to provide the best care possible as soon as the evidence is strong enough to be put into practice. And this is the same as what learning health systems aim to achieve, but they look to create and use evidence not just for care practices, but policies and processes as well. I am trying to contribute to a health systems research movement that believes that systems can be managed and organized in ways that are informed by strong evidence. 

What do you hope to achieve by the end of three years with the help of this award?

Alberta is in a unique position where we are working in an established learning health system. These types of systems that integrate science and practice together are a growing interest for CIHR. The question now is how do we build up and strengthen different learning health system infrastructures and processes? My study focuses on implementation science within a learning health system, and in the next three years, I really want to be in a place where I can help build up and strengthen learning health systems capacities around change and uptake of evidence.  

What are your academic aspirations for the future?  

What excites me the most about learning health systems is that it brings together health practice and science in an integrated way. I am hoping to become a health systems researcher who is PhD trained and has the ability to conduct rigorous, real-world research in a health systems context to support that system’s needs. 

Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

I want the folks at AbSPORU to know how appreciative I am for their support in getting this research to where it is today and for their commitment to building up a cadre of highly qualified patient-oriented researchers. Because of their support, I was able to set up this project that is being recognized by CIHR as strong, exciting work.

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