CIHR Training Grant

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CIHR Training Grant

• Building Research Training Capacity to Understand
  and Improve the Health of Inner City Populations
• November 20, 2001

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Parameters

• Start with CFI partners
• 300,000 per year for up to 6 years
• 70 spent on students
• Transdisciplinary focus
• Key feedback
• more social science
• Need national connections

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Key Issues

• Rationale/Objectives
• Mentors
• Innovation
• Transdisciplinary approach
• Curriculum
• Recruitment/Tracking/Evaluation
• Partnerships/Collaborations and Institutional
  Support

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Rationale/Objectives

• Main objective?
• Build capacity for inner city/urban health
  research
• Build capacity for transdisciplinary research
• Consider partner needs, strategic grant writing

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Mentors

• SMH
• homelessness, population health, HIV/AIDS, mental
  health, nutrition, chronic disease, environment,
  large databases analysis, economic analysis
• PHS
• biostatistics, qualitative analysis, health
  promotion, epidemiology, disability, HIV/AIDS,
  addictions, population health, occupational and
  environmental health
• Arts and Science
• sociology, geography, psychology, anthropology,
  economics
• Social Work
• urban studies, social support

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Innovation

• Unique living laboratory
• Cross-cutting area 4 CIHR pillars, almost all
  Institutes
• Excellent topics and populations for
  transdisciplinary research
• Involvement of policy makers and community
• Novel curricular materials and processes

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Transdisciplinary Approach

• Need to break down training, research silos
• Need to respect disciplinary depth, yet provide
  familiarity and respect for role of other
  disciplines
• Groups working together on different aspects of a
  social/health problem
• Need to model this with students

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Curriculum (A)

• New program
• Collaborative Program in Urban Health?
• Collaborative Program in Inner City Health?
• Other?
• Similar to Aging and Lifecourse, Bioethics
• Attract students from all faculties
• Give diploma, certificate

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Curriculum (B)

• Courses
• Level I course urban marginalization, social
  constructs and structures, burden of illness,
  setting priorities, social policy and health,
  effectiveness and efficiency of interventions,
  monitoring and evaluation
• Level II course appropriate methodologies for
  urban/inner city health student case-based group
  assignments with resource people and
  presentations, response/input by faculty,
  community, policy makers

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Curriculum (C)

• Additional elements
• Bi-weekly student/faculty workshops on practical
  proposal and report writing
• Electronic classrooms, web-casting, video-
  conferencing, web-based course material and
  trainee communication
• Twice annual symposia with presentations
• Inter-urban student and faculty exchange

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Curriculum (D)

• Innovations
• Co-mentorship of projects, theses, dissertations
• Co-directorship of courses
• Community and policy locations for sessions
• Active role for community and policy makers
• Present in class, respond to presentations
• Advise on projects and final papers
• Optional placements

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Recruitment/Tracking/Evaluation

• Recruitment
• e-mail lists, journal ads
• Self-assessment
• criteria for success transdisciplinary grants,
  publications, projects
• advisory committee national experts, set
  standards, inform curriculum, disseminate
  curriculum and materials
• Program committee student, community, policy
  representation

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Partnerships, Collaborations

• Canadian sites
• Vancouver Palepu, Schecter
• Montreal Tamblyn?
• Winnipeg Roos, Black?
• Policy makers
• Local, municipal, provincial, federal
• Community
• SETO, West End Alliance, CAPs, others

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Your Comments, Ideas, Suggestions