The Executive Committee is the primary governing body of the IKT Research Network. It is supported by the Advisory Committee and the thematic sub-committees (Science; Impact; Training; and Engagement and Dissemination). Members of these committees will be called upon to provide content expertise on an ad hoc basis. Experts outside these committees may also be called upon when specialized knowledge or experience is needed.
Executive Committee
Ian Graham
Dr. Ian Graham is the Director of the IKTRN and a Senior Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor in the department of Epidemiology & Community Medicine, of the University of Ottawa. From 2006-2012 he was on an interchange with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research where he held the position of Vice-President of the Knowledge Translation and Public Outreach. Dr. Graham obtained a Ph.D. in medical sociology from McGill University. His research focuses on knowledge translation (the process of research use) and conducting applied research on strategies to increase implementation of evidence-informed practice. He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles and is co-editor of Knowledge Translation in Health Care (2009) and Evaluating the Impact of Implementing Evidence-based Practice (2010). Ian was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his “leadership contributions to CIHR and for changing the way research knowledge is used and demonstrating to funding agencies around the world how to move knowledge into action.” In 2015, Dr. Graham was awarded a seven-year CIHR Foundation Grant that became the Integrated Knowledge Translation Research Network.
Anita Kothari
Anita Kothari, Deputy Director of the IKTRN, is a Professor in the School of Health Studies at the University of Western Ontario. She has two main areas of research expertise. First, her work focuses on developing a greater understanding of knowledge translation (KT) in community-based organizations and identifying the factors that influence the successful implementation of KT initiatives into practice. She involves multiple community members, researchers, and government agencies at all stages of the research process. That is, she facilitates partnerships and develops capacity in ways that will result in research findings that can be applied. Kothari’s second area of research expertise is in public health systems research. Specifically, she addresses the needs of socially excluded and marginalized populations by studying how public health programs are organized and delivered in communities. She is a free bird, a rogue academic, so do not ask her to follow word limits or any other formatting guidelines.
Chris McCutcheon
Chris McCutcheon is a knowledge translation expert who specializes in IKT and health services and policy research. He is currently the manager of the Integrated Knowledge Translation Research Network at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. For close to a decade he designed and managed applied research programs for the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and authored several of their dissemination products. From 2007 to 2010 Chris worked for the Knowledge Translation portfolio of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). While at CIHR, Chris managed IKT research programs, such as Partnerships for Health System Improvement and the Knowledge Synthesis grants. He also designed and piloted Evidence on Tap, CIHR’s first research program designed to produce rapid and relevant research for health-system decision makers. Chris holds a master’s degree in Social and Political Thought from York University.
Advisory Committee
Susan Law
Dr. Susan Law is Director of Research and Scientist at the Trillium Institute for Better Health, Mississauga, and Associate Professor at IHPME, University of Toronto. She leads the Canadian Health Experiences initiative as part of an international collaboration that focuses on personal narratives of health and illness, using qualitative research and video recording (see: www.healthexperiences.ca; www.dipexinternational.org). Susan is also involved in research on Indigenous and global health, health services research, knowledge translation, and patient engagement. She has an MHSc in health administration (University of Toronto) and a PhD from LSHTM (University of London UK).
Gayle Scarrow
Gayle Scarrow is the Director, Knowledge Translation at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR). She leads the development, implementation, evaluation and ongoing management of MSFHR’s knowledge translation plan for the purpose of fostering and accelerating the impact of health research in BC and beyond. She has held numerous roles in health care and health research for the past 30 years.