VHA’s Junior Research Development Program helps us find and reward the most promising young research scientists each year. Through this program, VHA co-funds three graduate students studying topics related to each of our research priority areas:

(1) supporting people with cognitive impairment
(2) caring for children with medical complexities at home
(3) clinical and health service delivery in the community

We received a flurry of applications this year and are pleased to announce our 2018 winners.

Joseph Donia is a Master’s student specializing in health policy at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on understanding core assumptions that underpin patient and public involvement in health care improvement and innovation. His research aims to advance practice that is more inclusive, responsible and better able to act on the collective needs of clients, families and caregivers. His project, Patient and public involvement in health care improvement projects involving design, will “offer health care actors a tool for deploying ethical and inclusive involvement methods for innovation,” says Joseph.

Husayn Marani is in his second year of doctoral studies at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto where he is studying Health Services Research with an emphasis on Health Policy. His research interests include social care, social health protection, and caregiver welfare. His dissertation explores the costs of caring incurred by family caregivers of people living with dementia in Canadian communities.

Joanne Tay is a Registered Nurse with a background in pediatric nursing, who is pursuing her PhD in Nursing at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto. Her research interest is to understand the family’s experience when living with an ill child. Her study, Exploring the healthy siblings’ coping and adjustment trajectory in children with a life-threatening condition, aims to lay the foundation to develop interventions which could best support these families. “Every family member plays an important role in caring for a child with complex medical needs. The family members’ experiences affect the quality of care provided to the ill child at home. Exploring factors that affect their experience can help inform future interventions to improve the family’s overall experience,” says Joanne.