Forum’s Queen Elizabeth Scholars in Strengthening Health Systems: Australia 2016

The McMaster Health Forum is pleased to announce its second group of recipients of Queen Elizabeth Scholarships in Strengthening Health Systems: Ben Li, Christopher Galano, and Alexandra Kilian. All three will be travelling to Australia to complete their internships and build on their knowledge of health systems and policy.

Outgoing Intern: Ben Li
As part of this scholarship, Li will complete an internship with the New South Wales Ministry of Health in Sydney, Australia where he will learn more about, and contribute to, health policy decision-making and implementation. His work with the Forum will allow him to better understand how to analyze the impact of health policies on populations and find ways to optimize their ability to improve health outcomes. Li is currently an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University.

Outgoing Interns: Christopher Galano and Alexandra Kilian
Both Galano and Kilian will be travelling to Sydney, Australia this May to begin their internships at the Sax Institute – an Australian leader in promoting the use of research evidence in health policy.

“We are excited to continue our collaboration with the McMaster Health Forum and to be part of this effort to build a network of young leaders committed to driving the use of research in policies, programs and services,” said Sax Institute CEO Professor Sally Redman. “We look forward to welcoming Christopher and Alexandra.”

Galano hopes to integrate and build upon knowledge from his previous experiences to contribute to health systems strengthening abroad and he is excited to learn more about, and be involved with, knowledge translation and the use of research evidence to inform policy decision-making. Galano is currently an MSc student in the Global Health program at McMaster University. 

Kilian is eager to learn about the advocacy and research methods related to health systems strengthening, and to consider the challenges and processes of knowledge translation between disciplines that work within and outside of health systems. She is currently an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University.

Through the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship program, the Forum will participate in activating a dynamic community of young global leaders across the Commonwealth to create lasting impacts on health systems both at home and abroad through cross-cultural exchanges encompassing international education, discovery and inquiry, and professional experiences.

The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) is managed through a unique partnership of Universities Canada, the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF), Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) and Canadian universities. This program is made possible with financial support from the Government of Canada, provincial governments and the private sector.

To stay connected with our QEScholars, follow @MacHealthForum on Twitter and visit the #QEScholars tagboard page.

Read more about the QES Scholarship in Strengthening Health Systems offered by the Forum.
Read more about the QES program at Universities Canada.

QES scholars - Ben, Alex and Chris