The Graduate Student Alliance for Global Health (GSAGH)
led by
Centre for International Health,
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Present
4th Bi-Annual GSAGH Symposium
Knowledge Translation
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
9:00am-1:00pm
East Common Room, Hart House
GSAGH was initiated at the UofT in 2009. It is an interdisciplinary group
led by graduate students and the Centre for International Health, Dalla
Lana School of Public Health. Our mission is to engage students with a
shared passion for global health and create leaders of tomorrow.
GSAGH also leads MAKE WORLD CHANGE: discussing issues of
environment, human rights, health, education, peace and conflict.
Information from www.cih.utoronto.ca / GSAGHUofT@gmail.com
Symposium Schedule
8:45-9:00am
Registration and coffee
9:00-9:05am
Welcome remarks by Beth Rachlis
9:10-10:00am
Key Note Speaker: Dr. Sharon Straus,
“Knowledge Translation”
Including Q & A and closing
10:00-11:15am
Panel discussion: Knowledge Translation
Presenters: Kirsten Sears, Erica Di Ruggiero, and
Dr. Hani Kim. (See descriptions) Including Q&A
11:15-11:45am
Case study and speaker: Dr. Mona Schrempf
Including Q&A
11:45 am
Break and light lunch
12:00-1:00pm
Round table discussions with
Student presentations (see description)
Table 1 Medical Science:
Olga Lastovetska, Olena Puzyeyeva and Waqas Khan
Table 2 Global health innovation:
Nicole Findlay, Dominque McMahon and Nadia Fazal
Table 3 Health and nutrition sciences:
Daniel Han, Sonica Singhal and Beth Rachlis
1:00pm-1:15pm
Closing Remarks:
Beth Rachlis and Christopher Klinger
Dr. Sharon Straus
“Knowledge Translation”
Dr. Sharon Straus is a geriatrician who received training in clinical epidemiology at the
University of Oxford and the University of Toronto (UofT). She is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the UofT; Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St.
Michael’s Hospital; the Director of Knowledge Translation for the Li Ka Shing Knowledge
Institute and the UofT; and the Division Director for Geriatric Medicine at the UofT. Her
research interests include knowledge translation and quality of care, the precision and accuracy of diagnostic tests, and mentorship. She was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research
Chair in Knowledge Translation and Quality of Care.
Kirsten Sears
“Knowledge Translation & Public Health: Using Research Evidence to Inform
Practice and Policy”
Kirsten Sears completed a Bachelor’s in health studies at the U of Waterloo and a Masters
of Health Sciences in Health Promotion at the UofT. Kirsten has previous experience work-
ing in a variety of provincial public health organizations focused on knowledge translation,
capacity building, program evaluation and health promotion. As a Knowledge Broker with
the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, Kirsten’s role is to facilitate,
oversee and manage the ongoing development and maintenance of the NCCMT network,
DialoguePH. DialoguePH is a network for public health professionals across Canada and
exists to support the sharing of methods, tools and experiences related to moving research
evidence into practice.
Erica Di Ruggiero
“Knowledge translation in the context of global health: a CIHR perspective”
Erica Di Ruggiero works part-time as Associate Director with the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research-Institute of Population and Public Health, which is based at the U of Ottawa. She collaborates with researchers and stakeholders to address population and public
health research priorities of national and international importance. She is a member of the
Global Health Research Initiative steering committee, which brings together representatives
from five federal departments and agencies spanning health research, policy and development. She is the president of the Canadian Public Health Association. She is also a parttime doctoral student (interdisciplinary stream) in the DLSPH at the UofT. Her research
interests include global labour standards, policy intervention research, and knowledge translation strategies in population and public health.
Dr. Hani Kim
“Host immune modulation as a novel strategy to treat malaria”
Dr. Hani Kim completed her PhD at the UofT in the LMP studying the biochemical and
molecular basis for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Her research experience is in immunology,
pharmacology and oncology, holding a Bachelor’s in Life Sciences and Master’s degree
in Pharmaceutical Science. Dr. Kim worked as Postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck
Institute of Immunobiology, Dept of Cellular and Molecular Immunology in Freiburg, Germany before becoming a postdoctoral fellow with the Dept. of Infectious Diseases at TGH.
Dr. Kim’s current research focuses the role of CD36, an important immune system protein,
in the body’s defense against malaria. CD36 performs its functions through a network of
proteins that interact with one another, and thus, the focus of Dr. Kim’s research is to better
understand this complex network, with the ultimate goal of finding novel ways to boost
the immune response to malaria.
Dr. Mona Schrempf
“Translation in Practice: Issues of hygiene, purity and pollution in Tibetan
women’s reproductive health experiences in China”
Dr. Mona Schrempf is a social and medical anthropologist specializing in the study of religion, ritual and oral history in Tibetan societies, the practice of Tibetan medicine and healing in China. Her recent research is on experiences of family planning among Tibetan
women and families in China as well as on medicine, religion and healing in Tibetan and
Tibetanized communities in China and the Himalaya. She is the author of numerous articles
and editor/ co-editor of several books, of which’Medicine Between Science and Religion:
Explorations on Tibetan Grounds’ (Berghahn 2010) has just been published. She is research
fellow at the Central Asian Seminar, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt
University of Berlin and presently sessional lecturer at the Department for the Study of
Religion, UofT, teaching on Tibetan medicine and ritual.
GSAGH Symposium Planning Committee
Beth Rachlis, PhD student, Division of Epidemiology,
Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), McLaughlin-Rotman Centre
for Global Health (MRC)
Christopher Klinger, PhD candidate, Dept.of Health Policy, Management
and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine
Lee-Anne Khuu MSc, PhD student, Institute of Medical Science (IMS),
Faculty of Medicine
Olena Puzyeyeva MD, PhD student, IMS, Faculty of Medicine
Sarah Higgins, PhD student, Department of Laboratory Medicine and
Pathobiology (LMP); MRC
Chloe MacDonald MSc, PhD student, IMS, MRC
Ilyse Darwish, MSc student, IMS, Faculty of Medicine, MRC
Andrew Kapoor, MSc. candidate, IMS, MRC
Alanna Adleman, MSc. student, IMS, Faculty of Medicine
Jenna Adleman MSc, Medical student, Faculty of Medicine
Patricia Rodriguez. MSc, LMP, MRC
Chris Jackman, Ph.D candidate, Graduate Centre for Study of Drama
Jenny Diep, MPH student, Health Promotion Program, DLSPH
Aria Ahmad, MSc. candidate, Department of Social and Administrative
Pharmacy, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
Priya Nadara, MPH student, Health Promotion Program, DLSPH
With Special Thanks to:
Judy Kopelow, Director of Strategic Initiatives,
Centre for International Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Elayna Fremes, Project Officer, Centre for International Health
GSAGH Collaborating Partners
Round Table Discussions
Table 1 Medical Science
Olga Lastovetska, Waqas Khan and Olena Puzyeyeva
Olga Lastovetska “Surveillance of extended spectrum cephalosporin- and
carbapenem- resistance in Escherichia coli from the Greater Toronto Area,
Ontario, Canada”
Olena Puzyeyeva “Anterior and Posterior Segment Vascular Changes Following Laser and Anti-VEGF treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy”.
Waqas Khan “Impact of calcium and iron on anemia in Bangledeshi children using a novel multi-nutrient powder (MNP) formulation”
Table 2 Global health innovation
Nicole Findlay, Dominque McMahon and Beth Rachlis
Nicole Findlay “ Traditional Medicine in Tanzania: Promise or problem?”
Dominque McMahon “Regenerative medicine in China, Brazil and India”
Nadia Fazal “Videoconference technology to connect health professionals”
Table 3 Health and nutrition sciences
Sonica Singhal, Daniel Han and Beth Rachlis
Sonica Singhal “Changes in social inequalities in male smoking-at
tributable mortablity in two European countries”
Daniel Han “Does socio-economic status still determine TB awareness?”
Beth Rachlis “Concept mapping with stakeholders to address patient defaulting from an antiretroviral therapy program in Malawi”