Bio: John N. Lavis, a 2001-02 Canadian Associate of The Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellows Program, holds the Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer and Uptake, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and member of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University. Lavis is also a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health and a Liberty Health Scholar at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. His principal research interests include knowledge transfer and uptake in public policy-making environments; the social determinants of health; especially the links between labour-market experiences and health; the funding, organization, and delivery of health care; and disability compensation systems. He coordinates a course at McMaster on the social determinants of health and he co-directs the Educational Initiative in Health Economics and Health Policy Analysis for Health Professionals in Training with Professor Greg Stoddart at McMaster. He supervises the Knowledge Transfer Programme of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis and he is the inaugural chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Health Policy and Systems Management grants review Committee. He is the president of Fife House Foundation, a not-for-profit agency that provides 90 percent of the supportive housing available to people living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto, and he chairs the Task Force for Secure and Affordable Housing for People Living with HIV/AIDS. Dr. Lavis holds an M.D. from Queen's University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Project: How do Canadian Research Organizations Transfer Research Knowledge to Decision-Makers?
Description: Lavis explored the extent to which Canadian research organizations transfer research knowledge to decision-makers, and how this aligns with current evidence on effective knowledge transfer. He surveyed the directors of applied research organizations in Canada to assess their current practices in knowledge transfer to decision-makers, including on: what is transferred, to whom and by whom, how is it transferred, and with what effects.