Want to better understand how the health and social systems work and how you can better advocate for changes that would improve these systems for you and your family? Enhance your knowledge with one of our free courses for citizens:
Finding and using research evidence: A guide for citizens
In this free online course, you’ll be provided with solutions to overcome the most commonly cited frustrations people have when trying to access research evidence. Prepared by the McMaster Health Forum with support from the Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit, the course is now available online as a set of eight videos:
Here are helpful resources that are drawn on in the course:
- Definitions for word and phrases used in the modules
- How to make sure health information is trustworthy
- Links to online sources mentioned in the modules
Don’t miss the most important resource for citizen-targeted evidence about healthy aging:
Understanding how to navigate the health system
Knowing how your health system works will better you to navigate the system, identify opportunities to make things better, and advocate for changes that you’d like to see. This free online course describes the 'building blocks' of Ontario’s health system as well as how those building blocks are used to provide care in the province in different ways (e.g., by sector, condition, treatment, population). While Ontario is the example, these principles are useful to understanding health systems other jurisdictions in Canada and internationally.
Prepared by the McMaster Health Forum with support from the Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit, the course is now available online as a set of six videos:
Here are helpful resources that are drawn on in the course:
- Free download of chapters from Ontario’s Health System: Key Insights for Engaged Citizens, Professional and Policymakers. The Ontario book is also helpful in understanding other health systems
Don’t miss the most important resource for citizen-targeted evidence about healthy aging:
Masterclass on patient-oriented research
The Forum’s masterclass was designed to prepare future champions for the conduct and use of patient-oriented research and future mentors to others becoming involved in the conduct and use of patient-oriented research. While we are not currently planning any sessions for the masterclass on patient-oriented research, you can access all of the course material to learn more about patient-oriented research.
Celebrating the visionary leadership of Dr. Susan Denburg, Executive Vice-Dean and Associate Vice-President Academic
The Forum would like to thank Dr. Susan Denburg, Executive Vice-Dean and Associate Vice-President Academic, for her unwavering support over the past 14 years as she as she steps down from her position. Her leadership and vision will be missed.
Over her 45-year career at McMaster, Dr. Denburg has been firmly committed to initiatives that enhance innovative interdisciplinary health-related research and education. She served as Director of Collaborations for Health, a University-wide multi-year initiative that inspired the creation of the McMaster Health Forum in 2009. She then worked with the provost to secure our office and dialogue space in Mills Memorial Library and championed the Forum within the University, opening many doors to collaborators who wouldn’t otherwise have found us.
Perhaps most importantly, she provided the Forum with strategic advice at every major juncture in our 14-year history, including the development and launch of:
- our stakeholder dialogue and citizen panel initiatives, which support collective problem-solving
- the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal, an easy-to-read, trustworthy source for healthy aging information
- the Rapid-Improvement Support and Exchange (RISE) program, supporting Ontario’s health-system transformation
- Health Systems Evidence and Social Systems Evidence, free tools to ensure policymakers and stakeholders have access to the best available synthesized research evidence
- the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-makers (COVID-END), which helped decision-makers to find and use the best available evidence to address the COVID-19 pandemic
- the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges, which is leading efforts to formalize and strengthen domestic evidence-support systems, enhance and leverage the global evidence architecture, and put evidence at the centre of everyday life.
She continues to oversee the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative, including the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal, and champions the University’s commitment to aging as an institutional priority.
“We, and I in particular, will be forever grateful for Dr. Denburg’s support,” said John Lavis, Director of the McMaster Health Forum. “Thanks to her, we have moved farther, faster than we would have thought possible at each stage in our development.”
Read more about Dr. Denburg’s contributions to McMaster in the message from Paul O’Byrne, Dean and Vice-President, Faculty of Health Sciences.
- McMaster Forum
