Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Research at Public Health Ontario (PHO)

Posted June 11, 2017

My placement at PHO began May 1^st and brought about a lot of change. Although PHO’s main office is located in downtown Toronto, my placement was located in one of their largest regional office located in Ottawa, ON. Having never been to Ottawa, it was quite the learning curve for me! But it really has been such a pleasant experience so far. The picture is from our Ottawa office BBQ.

Incident Management Systems for Outbreak Control

Posted June 5, 2017

It seems like just yesterday I was writing my first blog post after only a week of work here at UHN. Time is going incredibly quickly, and with every week that passes, I am left with one less week in which to complete my project. Since my first post, my project has materialized into something intimidatingly nebulous and overwhelmingly interesting. Though it does not involve research, my project requires an intimate knowledge of outbreak management, basic infection control procedures, and emergency preparedness/response.

My first weeks at the Public Health Agency of Canada

Posted June 5, 2017

I am completing my practicum placement at the Public Health Agency of Canada's Risk Sciences Division, located in Guelph, Ontario. Although I will be involved in a number of activities and projects, the main focus of my practicum will involve conducting a scoping review of importation and predictive models of vector-borne diseases and pathogens. This will include aspects of protocol development, relevance screening of articles, analysis, and manuscript or report writing.

Cancer Care Ontario – My time so far with the Cancer Surveillance and Registry Team

Posted June 2, 2017

I am completing my practicum at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) in the Cancer Surveillance and Registry department. While I’ll be participating in a number of Surveillance-related activities, the main focus of my practicum will be to evaluate the CCO SEER*Stat Package – Release 10. The CCO SEER*Stat package contains the SEER*Stat software, which was originally developed by the National Cancer Institute in the United States, and de-identified data from the Ontario Cancer Registry.

Shannon Brown wins the CPHAZ Student Presentation Award

Posted May 30, 2017

The MPH Program was well-represented at the 10th Annual Centre for Public Health and Zoonses (CPHAZ) Symposium this month, with faculty, students, and alumni sharing their public health research findings. MPH alumni, and now PhD students, Angie Bosman and Courtney Primeau, gave posters and oral presentations on antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance, respectively.

Welcome to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC for short)

Posted May 29, 2017

On May 1^st I began my practicum placement at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Public Health Risk Science Division, located in Guelph, Ontario. More specifically, I became a part of the Knowledge Synthesis team – individuals who work to identify, synthesize, and translate scientific information and tools to better assess public health risk.

Diving into refugee health at the Bruyère Research Institute

Posted May 24, 2017

Greetings from the Bruyère Research Institute! The first few weeks have been a flurry of excitement and learning opportunities as I settle into my new position. Here at BRI I am involved in two major projects: The first is a WHO funded project which focuses on the use of home-based medical records to improve maternal and child health outcomes. The second is collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) which focuses on the development of screening guidelines for infectious diseases in migrant and refugee populations.

Infectious Disease, Dental & Sexual Health Division at the Region of Waterloo

Posted May 17, 2017

I am completing my practicum at the Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services, under the Infectious Disease, Dental and Sexual Health Division (IDS), as a Health Promotion Research Analyst. As mentioned by my supervisor during my orientation, it is an interesting and exciting time to be working in this division. The Region of Waterloo, as well as many other regions in Canada, is experiencing an overwhelming and growing opioid overdose crisis. In reaction, the IDS division is focusing their efforts on enhancing its harm reduction efforts.

My First Week in the Dominican Republic

Posted May 10, 2017

Maternal Nutrition in Southwestern Uganda – Making Connections

Posted May 9, 2017

For my practicum project, I have come to Uganda to conduct research on maternal health, focusing on that of the Batwa in Southwestern Uganda. The project will examine how national recommendations for nutritional antenatal care are being implemented at the community level by health care facilities (Bwindi Community Hospital) to elicit understanding and compliance in the women receiving care.