HPE Scholarship Day Keynote Presentation: From Silos to Synergies: Bringing Education, Practice and Policy Together to Promote Person-Centred and Evidence-Informed Care with Aliki Thomas, PhD, OT

Our society is facing some of the biggest challenges of the last few decades. Workforce shortages, clinician burnout, an aging population, increased incidences of chronic diseases, shifting political contexts and a knowledge explosion characterized by a rapidly growing volume of research are among the challenges faced by many health care professionals (HCPs). Person-centered and evidence-informed care presupposes that HCPs have the internal and external resources to navigate, and when needed overcome, challenges that may jeopardize the care they provide patients. Though person-centered and evidence-informed care are priorities for clinicians, regulatory bodies, educational institutions and governments, historically these different sectors have operated in silos, with an ensuing lack of coordinated effort in optimizing care. In this presentation, the speaker will begin by highlighting how these diverse epistemic communities with their various institutional logics individually contribute to person-centered care while perpetuating silos that may negatively influence the nature and quality of healthcare services. Drawing from her own research and the literature on health professions education, implementation science and political science, the speaker will then propose ways in which the different sectors can work collaboratively to enhance person-centered and evidence-informed care.

Dr. Aliki Thomas is an occupational therapist, Associate Professor in the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy (SPOT), cross appointed scientist at McGill’s Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE) and researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR). She holds a Canada Research Chair in Education, Practice and Policy for Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC) and leads an internationally recognized research program that addresses the underutilization of scientific findings in practice. The goal of her research is to bring together key stakeholders from education, practice and health policy to synergistically co-develop, implement and test innovative strategies that will lead to equitable, person-centered and evidence-informed rehabilitation services. Dr. Thomas has published over 130 peer reviewed papers, 8 book chapters and several technical reports and has delivered 234 conference presentations and 78 invited talks, including 15 keynote addresses.

She has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Canadian Association of Medical Education Certificate of Merit Award, the Research and Scholarship Catalyst Award from the Institute of Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, and the Maude Abbott Prize, from the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, which recognizes outstanding female faculty members who excel in education, research or administration with a focus on the early career stage. To date, she has received over $1.6M in personal salary support, more than $5M in research funding as principal or co-principal investigator and more than $3.6M as co-investigator. As the founder and director of the Knowledge Exchange and Education in the Health Professions (K.E.E.P) lab, she has supervised 10 post-doctoral fellows, 7 PhD students and 4 master’s students in the areas of Health Sciences Education, evidence-based healthcare and knowledge translation.

Click here to register for Dr. Aliki Thomas’ workshop on Moving Evidence into Educational Practice and Policy: The Promise of Knowledge Translation (KT)

Registration encouraged, but not required. Zoom link will be sent prior to the session.

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Meeting ID: 886 4443 6918
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