Strengthening primary care through population-based research

Primary care includes the day-to-day services provided by family doctors, nurse practitioners, and other health care providers. High quality primary care that follows patients over time and coordinates specialist and hospital care is key to an effective and efficient health care system. Unfortunately, many Canadians struggle to get primary care where and when they need it, despite there being more family doctors per person than ever before.

My research program seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How can we make sure we have the right number of health care providers to meet the needs of Canadians now and in the future?
2. How can we efficiently organize delivery of primary care to meet the needs of patients? How do we improve access to effective care for underserved groups, including people managing both mental and physical health conditions and recent immigrants and refugees?

I analyse routinely collected data from health care delivery and look at the impact of policy changes using statistical models. I work in partnership with researchers who have complementary skills collecting information through interviews and focus groups. My research teams include patients, care providers, and people who plan health services.  This helps make sure we ask questions that matter and that research results will help change our health care system.