A CIHR Strategic Training Program in HIV/AIDS Health Research

UWW Summer Learning Institute

• More than 30 presenters and facilitators from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the US

• Over 50 participants that came from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador

UWW Summer Learning Institute

• Our goal was to engage participants in a discussion on critical issues and interdisciplinary approaches in the social sciences and population health areas

• To elucidate new ways for collaboration• To begin to learn how to speak each other's language• To respectfully disagree while working together

toward a common purpose• To find a common ground to go forward

Huge Thank You to the SLI Committee

• Michael Orsini (Chair), Barry Adam, Eric Mykhalovskiy, Cathy Worthington, Rose Jolly, Jacqueline Gahagan, Susan Kirkland, Bob Hogg

• And the incredible event organizers – Mark Ragan, Sarah Rubenstein, Tom Fleming, Roxanne Ali, Lori Chambers, Melanie Mayoh

A CIHR Strategic Training Program in HIV/AIDS Health Research

Major Aims and Objectives -1

• ESTABLISH A NATIONAL TRAINING NETWORK:– Coordinate a Canada-wide network of highly

skilled and productive faculty, policy makers and community members

– create a culture of interdisciplinary collaborative research

– Provide innovative mentoring and training environment for health researchers interested in HIV/AIDS.

Major Aims and Objectives - 2• BUILD AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING MODEL

AND APPROACH:– Support interdisciplinary teams of trainees working

with interdisciplinary teams of investigators– Make ethos of interdisciplinary respect and

collaboration, and modeling of interdisciplinary methodology trans-generational

– Give trainees access to mentorship in disciplines / expertise that exceed a single or small supervisory team, unlimited by geography.

Major Aims and Objectives - 3

• BROADEN CONTENT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES:– Develop and provide reading courses, seminars,

discussion groups and summer learning institutes– Enhance traditional didactic graduate and post-

doctoral training opportunities, with specific foci on• social justice and the social determinants of health,• community-based research,• grant-writing• ethical conduct of research, related ethical and legal issues• domestic and global issues.

Major Aims and Objectives - 4

• OFFER PRACTICAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES:– Provide opportunities for field-based mentoring, practicums and

internships in academic, policy and practice (community) settings

– Allow trainees to gain practical experience working with researchers, scientists, policy makers and front-line providers

– Identify relevant research questions / develop research projects– Learn KTE techniques and approaches to move research

evidence into action– Support professional development.

Major Aims and Objectives - 5

• MONITOR AND EVALUATE SUCCESS OF UWW:– Track and evaluate the development and impact

of UWW on trainees, faculty and the field– Survey trainees and mentors/review activities

annually for continuous quality improvement (e.g., refining curriculum, identifying most effective ways to provide mentoring/education, providing incentives for interdisciplinary work).

Proposed Curriculum• The goal is to

– provide training in methodologies, techniques and theories that students will not receive within their own disciplines and at current institutions

– actively develop and promote interdisciplinary approaches to HIV research.

• Curriculum content to reflect expertise required in each sector.• Information to be organized and delivered in different ways to

meet the needs of Masters / PhD students and fellows.• Faculty/mentors to develop lectures/learning modules/learning

experiences, which will form an interdisciplinary curriculum.

Full Curriculum: 6 Elements1. All funded trainees will participate in 6-part Multi-Disciplinary Ethics in

Health Research Seminar on ethical conduct of research2. All funded trainees will participate in a 2-part course that will consist of

lectures/seminars on the basic science of HIV, HIV epidemiology / surveillance.

3. A 6-part series of professional skills modules / lectures will be developed by Faculty on1. capacity development and community-based research2. working with practitioners and policy makers3. KTE and communication4. teamwork, project management, grant writing and peer review.

Full Curriculum: 6 Elements4. Faculty to develop individual lectures/seminars/discussion groups on topics

that strategically support trainees’ learning needs.5. All funded trainees will participate in Summer Learning Institute: each SLI

will explore current policy / practice issues topics in depth, including needs of priority populations.

6. All funded trainees will participate in an intensive research training practicum / internship for 2-4 months to learn about new research methods, approaches and interview techniques (can take place in academic setting, community-based AIDS service agency or policy environment).

Innovations1. Service learning - ensure that new researchers coming into the

field are exposed to learning opportunities beyond the didactic paradigm traditionally found in academic and institutional settings. Service learning, practica and placements will be a critical and innovative feature of the program.

2. Greater (and meaningful) involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS.

3. Access to Population Health Cohort Databases. To promote collaborative, interdisciplinary training and research, UWW will support teams of mentors and trainees.

4. Exposure to career options.

Approaches1. Using Technology/Distance Learning. To reach all students

involved, all lectures, seminars, and discussion groups will be videotaped and available on-line and via webinars, discussion groups and distance learning (and archived once presented).

2. Balancing on-line and face-to-face learning. Given students’ stated preference for face-to-face learning and networking, we will develop both on-line and face-to-face (where possible) seminar courses and services. Each year, UWW will organize learning institutes with OHTN.

3. Provide funding support for at least 10-12 students a year; however, there are many more students interested in our interdisciplinary curriculum.

Approaches4. Leveraging other networking and learning opportunities. Use

existing HIV-related networks and events to provide learning opportunities and venues for students to showcase their work. (e.g., CAHR and OHTN research conferences)

5. Offering a non-credit certificate. Because of the complexity of getting approval to offer a credit course from so many different universities, we propose to offer a non-credit certificate.

CIHR Centre for REACH in HIV/AIDS(Research Evidence Into Action

For Community Health)

Major Objectives -1

• BUILD AND SUPPORT NATIONAL CENTRE TO FOSTER INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH– Support interdisciplinary teams of academic

faculty, community members and policy-makers– Promote collaborative health research– Capitalize on our diversity of approaches and

conceptual models.

Major Objectives -2• FOSTER MEANINGFUL AND COLLABORATIVE

RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS– between researchers and research end-users, such as

community-based organizations, people living with HIV, knowledge brokers, policy makers, public and voluntary sector, program administrators, and clinical and public health practitioners

– Partner to set research priorities– Provide expert advice to research teams to enrich and

contextualize the scope and impact of their initiatives.

Major Objectives -3• ESTABLISH A NATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING

NETWORK: – Support and coordinate a Canada-wide network of

highly skilled and productive faculty, policy makers and community members working in HIV/AIDS

– Create a culture of interdisciplinary collaborative research

– Provide innovative mentoring and training environment for new researchers including community-based researchers.

Major Objectives -4• SUPPORT STRATEGIC POPULATION HEALTH AND

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH PROGRAMS TO BROADEN THEIR IMPACTS ON PRIORITY POPULATIONS LOCALLY AND IN OTHER REGIONS IN CANADA – Take a collaborative approach to establishing research

priorities– Maximize potential of existing cohorts and databases to

address social science, population health and health services questions

– Secure research funding through other funding research opportunities (e.g., CIHR, NIH).

Major Objectives -5

• FOSTER AND SUPPORT THE TRANSLATION AND EXCHANGE OF RESEARCH EVIDENCE – Increase the impact of research on policy,

programs and practice – Make KTE processes and strategies effective and

responsive to the needs of people with and affected by HIV in their local environments and regions across the country.

Major Objectives -6

• ADDRESS ABORIGINAL POPULATION-SPECIFIC HIV/AIDS RESEARCH AND KTE NEEDS. – Build on its ongoing cohort and research studies– Establish a formal partnership to work

collaboratively with the National Aboriginal Centre for HIV/AIDS Research.

Platform for Strategic Research to Enhance the Health of Individuals and Communities

1. REACH will provide a platform / environment for strategic research designed to enhance the health (i.e., reduce risk, enhance resilience) of communities disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.

2. Working in interdisciplinary teams, we will develop the capacity to engage diverse communities, synergize and apply interdisciplinary methodologies, conduct intervention research, and develop KTE strategies.

3. REACH will provide infrastructure support to build rigorous regional, inter-regional, inter-sectoral and national programs of research focused in three thematic areas.

Three Main Thematic AIMS

1. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMS AND THE FACTORS DRIVING THE EPIDEMIC

2. FINDING INNOVATIVE AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS3. MOVING RESEARCH EVIDENCE INTO ACTION

Capacity Building Initiatives in REACH1. INTERDISCIPLINARY METHODOLOGIES. Enable members

to develop interdisciplinary methodologies to address specific challenges in HIV/AIDS research.

2. HARNESSING THE POWER OF LONGITUDINAL HIV COHORTS AND HEALTH SERVICES DATABASES. Harness the power of existing cohorts and health services databases and encourage teams to use the databases and data linkages as a platform for start-up projects (linked to existing/support new cohorts), and to develop the skills to use this type of data in their work.

Capacity Building Initiatives in REACH3. INTERVENTION RESEARCH. For HIV interventions to contribute to

Canada’s goals of reducing new infections and improving the health of people with HIV, at least two conceptually separate decisions must be considered: (1) which or whether a new intervention should be chosen or adopted, given existing information, and (2) whether additional research is needed to inform this choice in the future.

4. POLICY ANALYSIS. Create capacity for innovative, interdisciplinary, and empirically-grounded policy analysis. An important aim of REACH is to lay down the building blocks for a clearinghouse of HIV-related policy knowledge that takes account of its complexity.

5. KTE. Our approach to knowledge translation will be based on informed, goal-driven interactions to create context-specific useable knowledge.

REACH Networking and Partnership Priorities1. ENGAGING COMMUNITY, CONDUCTING COMMUNITY-BASED

RESEARCH AND OPERATIONALIZING GIPA2. DEVELOPING SERVICE LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS3. CONNECTING WITH NETWORKS OF CLINICAL AND BASIC

SCIENTISTS4. LINKS WITH THE CIHR CENTRE IN ABORIGINAL HEALTH & HIV5. LINKS WITH THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM6. LINKS WITH RESEARCH IN COUNTRIES WITH COMPARABLE

EPIDEMICS AND HEALTH SYSTEMS7. LINKS WITH GLOBAL HIV RESEARCH INITIATIVES

Networking Mechanisms to Build and Support National Collaborative Research

1. FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS2. CONSULTATIONS, THINK TANKS, SYMPOSIUMS AND

RESEARCH SUMMITS3. START-UP GRANTS4. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS