Family & Community Medicine - OHSP Post-Doctoral Fellow
Location: The Department of Family and Community Medicine
Closing date: March 31, 2025
Preferred start date: May 31, 2025
Organization Description:
The Office of Health System Partnerships (OHSP) in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto is currently accepting applicants for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship. The OHSP is a solutions workshop within the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), the largest department of family and community medicine in the world and home to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care.
The OHSP brings together a world-class team of researchers and system leaders in academic family medicine and primary care, clinicians, patients, and community partners. We draw on the collective expertise of 2,000+ academic family physicians, researchers, health system leaders, clinicians, learners, patients, and community partners to find evidence-informed, pragmatic solutions to strengthen primary care and improve the health of our communities.
The OHSP’s leadership team is deeply embedded in the health system, bringing together local, provincial, national, and global expertise, and a deep understanding of primary care practice and policy.
The OHSP engages in health system leadership, policy development and strategic advice, focused research and analysis on urgent health system problems, evidence-based interventions, advocacy and public engagement – always based in evidence.
Examples of the kinds of projects the Post-Doctoral Fellow might be involved in could include:
Local:
- Supporting projects in Ontario Health Toronto Region, where OHSP plays a primary care leadership role, (1) to identify evidence-informed ways to improve attachment to primary care by re-thinking team organization, team roles and the use of technologies such as AI Scribes; and (2) to support the developmental evaluation of organizing primary care for an integrated system such us through the establishment of primary care networks
Provincial/National:
- Supporting policy paper development to advance public discourse about primary care access through districting models
- Working with colleagues in other provinces to complete scoping reviews on models of physician compensation and their effects
International and Global:
- Seeking out grants and supporting projects to enhance primary care capacity in low- and middle- income countries
- Supporting DFCM participation in a quality improvement learning collaborative with relevant US- based health systems to improve primary care
The Post-Doctoral Fellow will be on the frontlines of exciting new approaches to improve the quintuple aim. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to gain experience and expand their professional network through collaboration with investigators from a range of disciplines and through frequent meetings with local, provincial, and national health system leaders. Opportunities for professional development include publications, presentations at scientific conferences, involvement in grant writing, participation in methodological design of evaluation projects, exposure to new methodological approaches, leadership and networking, and interaction with a wide range health system partners. Fellows will be expected to be involved in multiple projects including, but not limited to:
- Leading rigorous knowledge syntheses, including scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and systematic reviews, and present results to clinicians, patient representatives, and policy-makers
- Leading the co-design and/or program evaluation of interventions aiming to improve primary care, informed by methods from implementation science
- Write program reviews and academic papers for publication
The Fellow will be supervised by the Scientific Lead of the OHSP and the Chair of the DFCM and will have the opportunity to work with other senior leaders within the department and across the health care system.
Length: 1 year, full-time. Supervised under Dr. Noah Ivers
Renumeration: $70,000 annually
Role involves:
The Post-Doctoral Fellow will be on the frontlines of exciting new approaches to improve the quintuple aim. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to gain experience and expand their professional network through collaboration with investigators from a range of disciplines and through frequent meetings with local, provincial, and national health system leaders. Opportunities for professional development include publications, presentations at scientific conferences, involvement in grant writing, participation in methodological design of evaluation projects, exposure to new methodological approaches, leadership and networking, and interaction with a wide range health system partners. Fellows will be expected to be involved in multiple projects including, but not limited to:
- Leading rigorous knowledge syntheses, including scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and systematic reviews, and present results to clinicians, patient representatives, and policy-makers
- Leading the co-design and/or program evaluation of interventions aiming to improve primary care, informed by methods from implementation science
- Write program reviews and academic papers for publication
The Fellow will be supervised by the Scientific Lead of the OHSP and the Chair of the DFCM and will have the opportunity to work with other senior leaders within the department and across the health care system.
Required qualifications:
Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to apply, provided they meet all Canadian immigration requirements. A successful fellow is expected to be physically located in Toronto, Canada for the duration of the fellowship. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
International candidates need to have completed their PhD prior to their start date, while Canadian citizens and permanent residents are required to have completed their PhD within 6 months of their start date.
Educational Qualifications:
Successful completion of a PhD degree in Health Systems and/or Primary Care, or another relevant discipline obtained within 5 years.
We are seeking a talented individual with ambitions to advance their career by capitalizing on involvement in a range of multi-disciplinary, collaborative health system improvement projects.
Other qualifications and experience:
- Experience with applied health services research required
- Experience with research syntheses (e.g., scoping reviews, systematic reviews) required
- Familiarity with frameworks and theories from implementation science preferred
- Experience conducting qualitative interviews with a variety of participants, including health care providers, health care leaders, and care recipients
- Experience with qualitative data analysis strategies, including various types of thematic analyses, qualitative description, and/or the framework method
- Strong understanding of Ontario healthcare system
- Ability to manage complex projects, including stakeholder management
- Flexible, creative thinker
To apply:
Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to apply, provided they meet all Canadian immigration requirements. A successful fellow is expected to be physically located in Toronto, Canada for the duration of the fellowship. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
All individuals interested in this position must submit their application via email to:
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Office of Health System Partnerships dfcm.ohsp@utoronto.ca
Email subject line: PDF Application OHSP
Please include the following:
1. Cover letter summarizing your research interests, career plans, research goals, and when you would be available to begin
2. Current CV
3. Names and e-mails of two references (current/former supervisors)
Application Deadline: March 31, 2025