Harrison Niznick, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Harrison’s interest in health policy, international development, and the health impacts of climate change stems from his work in Costa Rica, Kenya, Panama and Tanzania. He hopes to channel these interests as a Forum Fellow by promoting student discussion and debate about the future of Canadian healthcare, improving Canadian Aboriginal health systems, and overcoming water-borne disease in developing countries. He also plans to advance his interest in mediation and policy development by contributing to the planning of a series of stakeholder dialogues. Harrison is in the fourth year of the Arts and Science (Honours) program with a specialization in economics. He is writing his thesis in health economics. He served as events coordinator of the McMaster Health Forum’s Student Subcommittee in 2010-2011, helping to organize workshops, a global health speaker series, and a debate on the changing role of evidence-based medicine. Harrison founded the McMaster chapter of Net Impact, a San Francisco based NGO focusing on sustainable-business, and has pursued clinical research on HIV/AIDS transmitted drug resistance.

Ariela Rozenek, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ariela’s principal interests include the use of research evidence to improve the healthcare provided to individuals and communities. Her semester of field work in a rural community in Ghana fostered a unique appreciation for the need for evidence-informed policymaking and implementation. As a Forum Fellow, Ariela plans to develop a sound understanding of the intricacies involved in shaping health policy, and will explore the use of social media vehicles to tap into the potential of the student community in helping to advance the Forum’s work in addressing health policy challenges. She is a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) program. She previously worked on a pediatric neurology study at McMaster Children’s Hospital, to further her understanding of the impact of quality of life research on health care, before deciding to specialize in global health studies.

Margherita Cina, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Margherita, a third-year student in the Arts and Science program at McMaster, is focusing her academic interests on knowledge translation and the application of research findings to create effective policies to improve population health. She began her Forum fellowship with a two-month internship at the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, which is housed within the World Health Organization office in Geneva, Switzerland. She worked on a scoping review to identify and provide a preliminary synthesis of what is known about mentorship programs for policymakers. Margherita previously worked at the Program in Policy Decision-making, assisting with a research project evaluating knowledge translation platforms in low- and middle-income countries. She is now contributing to the work of the Forum in various capacities.

Justin Neves, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Justin is pursuing a specialization in global health through his studies at McMaster, and has a particular interest in public health issues. He is in his third year of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) program, and undertaking field work in Kenya for the fall semester. He is working to advance his knowledge on the complexities of access to healthcare, which includes looking at the social, economical and cultural factors that influence whether and how citizens access healthcare. Justin’s experience as a fellow and his role on the Forum’s student subcommittee has provided valuable insight into the organization of various health systems, including health financing, human resource development and other key factors that affect health policy and its implementation. He is also active with the McMaster Student Union.

Ahmad AlKhatib, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
During his fellowship, Ahmad focused on developing his understanding of the role of knowledge translation (KT) practices in facilitating the uptake of health systems evidence by policymakers at both regional and national levels. In particular, Ahmad was involved in the evidence synthesis and planning for two stakeholder dialogues, on enhancing patient transitions from treatment in regional cancer centers and on addressing health and emerging global issues in Canada. As part of his fellowship, Ahmad completed an internship at the World Health Organization in the Department of Knowledge Management and Sharing, where he participated in research on the role of KT strategies in facilitating the uptake of implementation research by policymakers in low- and middle-income countries. This work was published in the journal of Health Research Policy and Systems. Ahmad is now completing his medical education at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. He hopes to use the KT knowledge and skills acquired during his fellowship to aid in current efforts to bridge gaps between evidence and medical practice.

Theresa Tang, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
With a keen interest in both healthcare and business, Theresa will use her experience as a Forum Fellow to pursue an understanding of unmet needs in the healthcare system, consider the future of healthcare, and engage in activities to foster innovative solutions to health challenges. As a fourth year student of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program, and as a summer employee with the McMaster Health Forum, Theresa has gained insight into many health-focused initiatives while emphasizing collaborative problem solving. Last summer, she travelled to Morocco to volunteer in the area of improving rural education in small villages, which intensified her desire to learn more about improving healthcare systems internationally. Theresa also has a strong interest in electronic communication, and will use her experience in managing projects and bringing ideas to fruition, to enhance her learning opportunities, particularly in regards to electronic health records. She recently developed an integrated academic event communications system for McMaster University, where she called on her passion for networking to successfully bring together the support of key stakeholders within the University. As a Forum Fellow she will be involved in synthesizing research evidence that can inform deliberations and decision-making on particular issues by healthcare system stakeholders.

Ameya Bopardikar, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ameya's interests lie in supporting the development of tools for knowledge translation, and he has a wide variety of health-related experiences from many international contexts. As a Forum Fellow he was involved in developing an issue brief for a stakeholder dialogue on the engagement of civil society organizations in health systems. Ameya continued his international experience at the World Health Organization with the Evidence-Informed Policy Networks (EVIPNet) program, where he was involved with the development of a new relationship between EVIPNet and the Micronutrition department. After graduating from McMaster University’s Bachelor of Health Sciences program, Ameya entered the medical school at the University of Toronto, and is involved in health systems as a LEAD Scholar. He has worked on projects that support models of care for the aging population in Ontario, and has worked with the University Health Network – Mount Sinai Hospital’s Division of Geriatrics, in understanding models of emergency avoidance, and developing and testing tools for family physicians to address the needs of frail homebound adults. More recently, he was involved with the Centre for Health Market Innovations in developing their framework for performance measurement in health.

Ben McCutchen, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Having grown up in rural Ontario, Ben's research interests include the impact of policies aimed at improving primary healthcare in rural and remote areas. As a Forum Fellow, during his final year of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program, Ben was involved in the preparation of evidence and issue briefs for stakeholder dialogues on chronic pain management and on the involvement of civil society in supporting research use in health systems. He also did an internship at the World Health Organization in Geneva, where he was involved with the monitoring, evaluation and strategic planning for EVIPnet, a social and collaborative network that promotes the systematic use of health research evidence in policymaking. Now completing his final year at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, his current research interests include the role of Family Health Teams in preventing urgent care usage, and the role of risk assessment in outpatient psychiatric populations.

Steven Hoffman, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Steven Hoffman hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of health law, social policy and global health governance. He is currently pursuing degrees in law (JD) and international relations (MA) at the University of Toronto and until recently served as a Project Manager with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a former president of Canada's National Health Sciences Students' Association, founding Steering Committee Member of the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, and was recently elected for a three-year term to the Board of Directors of the International Association for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice. Steven has published several papers and presented at various international forums on teamwork in healthcare and continues to advise WHO in this area. He recently had a paper published in Healthcare Policy that identified the need for WHO and the World Bank to improve their use of, or at least their reporting of their use of, research evidence. He graduated summa cum laude from McMaster University's B.H.Sc. (Hons) program and teaches a Forum-sponsored undergraduate course at the University on global health advocacy.

Tyler Law, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tyler Law's research interests include health policy and health systems organization, knowledge translation and global health. He is currently a second year medical student at Queen's University, having recently completed a B.H.Sc. at McMaster. He worked as an intern at WHO headquarters in Geneva, at the Alliance for Health Systems Research. Through contacts he met there, he went on to complete another internship at the UK Department of Health in London. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the National Health Science Students' Association (NaHSSA), and is focused on completing his medical studies.

Andrew Cheung, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
As a forum fellow, Andrew Cheung worked with John Lavis in evaluating the Evidence-Informed Policy Networks (EVIPNet), an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO). During his internship at WHO, he worked with the EVIPNet team to map the context of EVIPNet's African jurisdictions and assisted in designing an e-learning module on knowledge-translation for WHO personnel. After obtaining a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at McMaster University, Andrew began studying towards a medical degree at the University of Ottawa. He is now in his final year of the program. In Ottawa, he has been involved in thrombosis and patient safety/quality improvement research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Recently, he has started working on 2 Minute Medicine (http://www.2minutemedicine.com), a new collaborative effort involving medical students from across North America with the goal of providing detailed summaries of the latest, high-impact health research.

Lindsay Fleming, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Lindsay, a Forum/CHEPA fellow, is in her fourth year of the B.H.Sc. (Hons) program at McMaster University with a minor in French. Under the supervision of John Lavis, Lindsay assisted in the development of the framework for the Forum's exciting simulations course, which will be offered to fourth year students in the winter of 2010. She has completed an internship at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, working in the Research Unit of the Health Systems Planning and Research Branch. As an intern, she worked on developing a comprehensive contact database of the ministry's major stakeholders, which will allow policymakers to retrieve information about Canadian researchers' areas of expertise. Once completed, this database will encourage and further enable evidence-supported policymaking. Lindsay is hoping to pursue international health and governance in her future educational endeavours.

Ali Hamandi, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ali's research interests lie in the areas of knowledge transfer in policymaking processes and refugee heath. Under the supervision of John N. Lavis, Ali was involved in a scoping study of approaches to brokering knowledge and research information. As his interest in public health grew, Ali pursued an internship at the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Cairo, Egypt. As an intern, Ali's work was mostly dedicated towards the expansion of WHO's Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) to the Middle East. Ali also acts as a legal advisor to refugee groups in North Africa, and in his spare time he enjoys running and contemporary art. Ali is completing his final year of the B.H.Sc. Program at McMaster University.