The Institute for Better Health (IBH) was established to pioneer a new kind of research and innovation that discovers novel ways to improve health care and the health of the community, resulting in better outcomes and experiences. As the research and innovation engine for THP and the local system, IBH is a critical enabler for shaping a healthier community through the application of scientific expertise, innovative thinking and partnerships.
Read MoreThis year, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a once in a generation event that is challenging and impacting our organization, patients and the community. Research and innovation at THP has a key role to play in understanding, addressing and mitigating the unique challenges presented by the pandemic. During this unprecedented time, researchers and innovators across the organization have quickly mobilized to create new and scalable learnings that can be used to better inform decision-making to manage the current pandemic and provide insights on future prevention and improvements in health outcomes for the community.
Prior to COVID-19, the Institute had an incredible year and we are tremendously proud of the growth of research and innovation activities across the organization. We have increased our number of THP-led projects by 10% across the organization and grown our number of externally collaborating institutions by 43%, demonstrating that we truly are better together. It has also been a landmark year for the submission and success of external grants and awards. IBH scientists submitted a total of 39 funding applications with a 54% success rate, which includes 3 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grants, generating a total of $2.78 million in in external funding.
To build capacity for research and innovation across THP, we are growing our scientific expertise and creating infrastructure to develop innovative solutions to improve community health. This past year, we established the inaugural Dr. Mathias Gysler Research Chair in Patient and Family Centred Care in collaboration with the University of Toronto, and expanded our faculty to include 52 Investigators from across the organization and 13 Affiliate Scientists. In addition, THP Solutions and the Canadian Accessible (CAN) Health Network were launched to support innovations that will help our community and other communities across the country.
Without the continued support of our staff, patients, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, learners, volunteers and donor community, these accomplishments would not be possible. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to research and innovation activities across THP.
Robert Reid, MD, PhD
Chief Scientist, Institute for Better Health
Senior Vice-President, Science, Trillium Health PartnersSimone Harrington
Vice-President, Institute for Better Health
By the Numbers
Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic Through Research and Innovation
The COVID-19 pandemic is a once in a generation event that is challenging and impacting our system and community. To address these challenges, researchers and innovators across THP are leading over 30 projects and clinical trials to explore novel COVID-19 models, treatment, testing and prevention to improve health outcomes for the community and beyond. Among the clinical trials at THP, IBH Investigator Dr. Christopher Graham (Infectious Disease Specialist at THP) is leading two clinical trials: the Canadian Treatments for COVID-19 (CATCO), the Canadian arm of a global collaboration by the World Health Organization to test potential treatments for COVID-19, and CONCOR-1 which is determining if plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 reduces the risk of intubation or death in patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospital. Principal Investigator, Dr. Benjamin Fine (Radiologist at THP, Physician Lead at the Operational Analytics Lab at THP, IBH Affiliate Scientist) and Co-Principal Investigator, Laura Rosella (Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics and IBH Scientist) and an interdisciplinary team of experts from THP and the University of Toronto in software development, modeling, machine learning and data visualization recently received a Toronto COVID-19 Action Fund award to build a real-time open source COVID-19 collaborative data and analytics hub in Ontario (HowsMyFlattening.ca). The project team will work closely with THP, other hospitals and public health agencies to understand data needs like COVID-19 testing and workforce planning to produce rapid, crowd-sourced responses from a group of over 100 contributors from academia and industry that will inform decision-making to support pandemic planning for the community.
Key Milestones
Building capacity to support family and patient-centred care
Trillium Health Partners (THP) is committed to exploring novel ways of delivering the highest quality care that is centered around patients and families to support their needs. This past year, IBH welcomed Kerry Kuluski (MSW, PhD) as the inaugural Dr. Mathias Gysler Research Chair in Patient and Family Centred Care in partnership with Trillium Health Partners Foundation and University of Toronto (U of T). This Chair is named in honour of Dr. Mathias Gysler, a nationally renowned obstetrician, gynecologist, fertility expert and former Medical Chief of Staff of Credit Valley Hospital who dedicated himself to improving the care experience for women and families across the world, both in hospitals and communities. In her role, Dr. Kuluski will grow a research program to co-design and evaluate solutions that will support the advancement of patient-centred outcomes and address equity challenges in underrepresented populations to improve experiences, outcomes and the integration of health services. Her work includes the largest patient and caregiver study on delayed hospital discharge (also known as alternate level of care) in Canada and leadership on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) study to implement person-centred community-based primary health in Ontario, Quebec and New Zealand. She is also developing a course on Patient Engagement at U of T in partnership with patient, caregiver and community partners and faculty to train the next generation of researchers. Most recently, Dr. Kuluski has partnered with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement to understand how the patient and family-centred care landscape has evolved in the era of COVID-19 through engagements with leading health care organizations across Canada. Dr. Kuluski joins our existing Research Chairs, Dr. Walter Wodchis (PhD), Research Chair of Implementation and Evaluation Science and Dr. Joan Murphy, Dr. Michael King Surgical Oncology Research Chair.
Creating the infrastructure to develop innovative solutions to improve community health
Innovation lies at the heart of THP’s ability to create a new kind of health care for a healthier community. Throughout its history, THP has consistently introduced new ideas, both small and large, that have collectively delivered significant improvements to the health of our community. Earlier this year, the Canadian Accessible (CAN) Health Network was launched to address health challenges and create national growth in medical technology. As a lead partner in Ontario, the Institute for Better Health (IBH) will work with a combination of hospitals, home care agencies and private institutions to identify and commercialize medical technologies that address hospital and community health needs. Along with IBH, Marketed Services and Partnership Projects, CAN Health will sit under the newly formed THP Solutions, which is led by Dr. Dante Morra (Chief of Staff at THP, President of THP Solutions, Lead of CAN Health Network). To continue to grow innovation across the organization, THP solutions was launched earlier this year to bring together areas across the hospital to better enable and support the creation of new and scalable ideas to improve health for our community and beyond.
Engaging in discussions with our community to support a healthier tomorrow
The Institute for Better Health (IBH) aims to engage, learn and share critical issues, challenges and cutting-edge developments in health research and innovation from unique perspectives across the system and community through interactive events and discussions. In December 2019, IBH hosted its Second Annual Hazel McCallion Endowed Lecture in Shaping Healthier Communities at the University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus. Judy Faulkner (Chief Executive Officer of Epic), world renowned heath information technology (IT) innovator, gave the lecture and shared her thoughts on the culture and management behind Epic, the state of health IT and her vision for the future. Following Judy’s talk, there was an engaging discussion by panelists Francine Buchanan (Research Patient and Family Engagement Coordinator at The Hospital for Sick Children), Alexandra Greenhill (Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Careteam Technologies Inc.) and Chris Hayes (Chief Medical Information Officer at Trillium Health Partners). In May 2019, IBH hosted its First Annual “unconference” in partnership with Machine Learning for Health (ML4H) to engage machine learning researchers, physicians and clinical scientists to define important issues in the field of machine learning, form collaborations and enable junior researchers to launch new initiatives. The event had the honour of hosting 2018 Turing Award recipient Geoffrey Hinton (Chief Scientific Adviser at Vector Institute) and Dr. Peter Laussen (Chief of Department of Critical Care Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children).
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