About the Knowledge Institute

Harpreet Bassi is the Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Communications. Prior to joining Niagara Health, she served as the Director of Policy for Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. With more than 20 years experience in the health sector, Harpreet has also held key leadership positions at Health Quality Ontario, Cancer Care Ontario, The Centre for Effective Practice and The Change Foundation. She has a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science (Western University), a Masters of Public Administration (Queens) and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (University of Toronto). She also holds an Adjunct Faculty position with the School of Health Sciences at Western University and has taught courses on health policy and leadership. Harpreet also sits on the Board of Public Health Ontario.

Dr. Jennifer Tsang (she/her), MD, PhD, FRCPC, ABOM, obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree with the highest GPA (Gold Medalist) of her class from the University of Toronto in 1999. She then completed her Doctorate of Medicine Degree (Cum Laude) at the University of Ottawa in 2003. She returned to Toronto where she completed her residency training in Internal Medicine in 2006 followed by fellowship training in Adult Critical Care Medicine in 2008. While working as an adult critical care physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, she completed her PhD study at the University of Toronto in the field of molecular biology to understand the biology of sepsis. In 2013, she joined Niagara Health as an adult critical care physician and in 2015, she was appointed as the Physician Research Lead. In 2020, she received designation as an American Board of Obesity Medicine Diplomate for the provision of specialized care to patients with obesity in Southern Ontario. She is currently the Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute; an Associated Professor in the Department of Medicine, McMaster University; and the Regional Deputy Research Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program, McMaster University. She founded the Critical Care Research Program at Niagara Health, a program that was recognized by Health Standards Organization as a Leading Practice and ranked #3 in Canada in patient enrollment. She has over 45 peer-reviewed research publications and over $50 million in competitive Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant funding as Principal Applicant and Co-Applicant. She received the McMaster University Department of Medicine Early Career Research Award in 2015, Canadian Critical Care Trials Group Early Career Research Award in 2018 and the McMaster University Department of Medicine Mid-Career Research Award in 2020.

Her academic work focuses on health research transformation in Canada by increasing research capacity in community hospitals across Canada. She is active in expanding clinical trials to Niagara Health and other community hospitals across Canada and is co-investigator of over 20 multicentre clinical trials. She is heavily involved at the provincial level and national level. At the provincial level, she sits on the planning committee of the Critical Care Services Ontario’s Critical Care Clinical Practice Rounds. She also sits on the Ontario Hospital Association’s Hospital-Based Coordination Working Group with a vision to develop a fully integrated health research and healthcare delivery system across Ontario. At the national level, she is the co-founder and co-chair of the Canadian Community ICU Research Network and the co-chair of the COVID-19 Network of Clinical Trials Networks Community Acute and Critical Care Working Group with the mandate to provide financial support and mentorship to community hospitals in developing research programs. She is also active in educating and equipping health and research professionals in a broad range of research methodologies through supervising graduate students and through her involvement as a steering committee member and mentor of the innovative CIHR-funded Life-Threatening Illness National Group (LifTING) Research Training Platform with the mandate to address the lack of translation of new scientific knowledge into improved healthcare practices and the ongoing health inequities despite significant advances in health sciences. Outside of her clinical and academic work, she serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Quest Community Health Centre in Niagara.

Elaina Orlando, MPH PhD is the Research Manager at the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Brock University. Elaina holds a PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Toronto and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Waterloo. Elaina started her career as a public health epidemiologist before transitioning to acute care where she has worked in quality improvement and patient safety as well as leading the integrated home and community care and discharge planning teams prior to assuming her current role overseeing the day-to-day operations of the research portfolio at Niagara Health. Elaina is a mixed methods researcher with qualitative expertise in case study methodology and qualitative description. She has collaborated on qualitative research studies across multiple healthcare settings, exploring diverse concepts, including physician engagement, patient safety and acceptable risk, community hospital capacity building, nursing staff retention and experiences of patients and caregivers with alternate level of care designations. 

Jessica Thompson is the Research Administrative Assistant at Niagara Health. Jessica started her career as an administrative assistant in the private sector and transitioned into a marketing role with a focus on graphic design. As research administrative assistant, Jessica is responsible for daily administrative tasks, including monitoring databases and managing calendars. Jessica also develops graphics for the NHKI, including tables and charts, reports and visuals used both internally and externally.

Kian Rego - NHKI Research Co-ordinator

Fatima Sheikh is a PhD candidate at McMaster University with research focused on the role of social determinants of health (SDoH) in critical care. She is also a Health Equity Specialist at Hamilton Health Sciences. Her current research aims to investigate the effects of SDoH on the incidence and outcomes of sepsis; and develop knowledge of the effects of SDoH on healthcare to inform health policy, responsible use of evidence and equitable healthcare practices. Ultimately, Fatima's interest lies in understanding how SDoH affect disease incidence and outcomes, and their implications on individuals accessing care, healthcare systems, and policies, using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research designs. 

Heather O'Grady completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Her research interests are focused on knowledge translation and patient-engaged research in the context of critical illness. Heather has training in qualitative research and, during her PhD, completed a mixed methods study to develop and pilot test an infographic to support patients and families during the research consent process. 

• Advisory Committee

  The NHKI Advisory Committee provides strategic oversight and support of knowledge generation and knowledge mobilization initiatives of the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute. The Committee supports the Executive Director and Chief Scientist in optimizing collaboration and communication among interested and affected parties. The NHKI Advisory Committee will ensure strategic alignment of all activities against the vision, purpose and values of Niagara Health, and will monitor progress on implementation of the deliverables.

  Membership

  • Harpreet Bassi, Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Communications, and Interim Executive Sponsor
  • Dr. Jennifer Tsang, Co-Chair, Executive Director and Chief Scientist, Niagara Health
  • Linda Boich, Executive Vice-President, Patient Experience and Integrated Care, Niagara Health
  • Harpreet Bassi, Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Communications, Niagara Health
  • Sonali Kohli, Executive Vice-President, Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer, Niagara Health
  • Charity Beland, Manager, Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation, Niagara Health
  • Hedy McGarrell, Patient Partner, Niagara Health
  • Denise Kennedy, Patient Partner, Niagara Health
  • Dr. Jonathan Bramson, Vice-Dean, Research, McMaster University
  • Dr. Amanda Bell, Regional Assistant Dean, Niagara Regional Campus, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine
  • Tim Kenyon, Vice-President, Research, Brock University
  • Marc Nantel, Vice-President, Research, Innovations & Strategic Enterprises
  • Dr. Linda Lee, Co-chair, NHKI Research Committee

  Research Subcommittee

  Membership

• Dr. Linda Lee, Co-Chair*, Physician Lead, Oncology Research Program 

• Dr. Jennifer Tsang, Co-Chair, Executive Director & Chief Scientist 
• Dr. Natalia Pinilla, Physician Lead, Cardiology Research Program
• Dr. Natasha Ovtcharenko, Physician Lead, Critical Care Medicine Research Program 
• Dr. Stephenson Strobel, Physician Lead, Emergency Medicine Research Program (EMRON) 
• Dr. Mohammad Refaei, Physician Lead, Hematology/Transfusion Medicine Research Program 
• Dr. Danielle de Sa Boasquevisque, Physician Lead, Neurology Research Program 
• Dr. Blair Leonard, Physician Lead, Thrombosis Research Program 
• Elaina Orlando, Research Manager 
• Kian Rego, Health Research Co-ordinator 
• Virginia Pullar, Manager, Enterprise Analytics 
• Chetan Jariwala, Manager, Laboratory 
• TBD, Manager, Diagnostic Imaging 
• Christopher Henderson, Manager, LMS, Library, Policy, and Student Resources 
• Laura Coons, Research Pharmacy Technician 
  
  *Annual Rotation