Donna Ciliska is a professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University. Dr. Ciliska has developed educational materials and led workshops and courses for skill development in evidence-informed practice for all levels of learners. She participated in and led several systematic reviews, and is involved in research related to knowledge translation. Donna has mentored students from the undergraduate to post-doctoral level and has authored several papers and books, and for 12 years was an editor of the journal Evidence-Based Nursing.

Pamela Forsyth, MHSc, RD, completed her nutrition degree at the University of Guelph, her community nutrition internship in Saskatchewan, and the MHSc program in Health Promotion at the University of Toronto. She has worked in public health for 17 years, eight of which were in senior management. She has worked in a variety of areas, including community nutrition, health promotion, health communications and equal access. Much of the work that Pam has done over the years has focused on the development of programs and systems that improve the accessibility, transfer and update of timely, relevant, and evidence-based information whether for public health practitioners, the community at large, or specific community groups.

Luanne Jamieson, HBA, MA, comes to the NCCMT with primary and secondary data analysis experience in quantitative methodology. She is currently on secondment from Hamilton Public Health Services where she evaluates programs provided to the community through mixed-methods research as a Program Evaluation Coordinator. Luanne has an Honours BA in Psychology and a MA in Applied Health Sciences, both from Brock University. Her primary research interests include mental and sexual health, in addition to the social determinants of health. While at the NCCMT, Luanne is responsible for the Registry of Knowledge Translation Methods and Tools for Public Health.

As communications coordinator, Jeannie Mackintosh is responsible for establishing and maintaining accuracy and consistency in the written, electronic and visual representation of the NCCMT. Her goal is to ensure that the publications and presentations created by the NCCMT are appealing and user-friendly. Previously, she has worked as a university communications officer, community health centre project coordinator, event planner and freelance writer. Jeannie studied fine art at the Ontario College of Art and Design and has a post-graduate certificate in Public Relations from Niagara College.

Jackie Muresan is a Registered Nurse who recently completed her Masters in Nursing at McMaster University in the Fall of 2008. After graduating from the BScN programme at McMaster University in 2003, Jackie began her career at the Hospital for Sick Children on a pediatric general surgery unit. In 2004, Jackie moved on to a role as a public health nurse in the Communicable Disease Division at the Region of Peel. While working on her Masters degree, Jackie’s primary area of interest was knowledge translation in public health. Jackie completed a clinical practicum at the NCCMT in the Fall of 2007 as part of her graduate studies, and she has contributed to a systematic review conducted by the Effective Public Health Practice Project. Jackie continues to work on a casual basis for Peel Health as a prenatal educator in their Family Health Division, in addition to her part-time role as Research Coordinator at the NCCMT.

When Leslea Peirson joined the NCCMT in August 2007, her primary responsibility was to coordinate the conceptualization and development of the NCCMT’s Registry of Public Health Knowledge Translation Methods and Tools. In September 2008, she began a two-year postdoctoral fellowship awarded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Leslea’s program focusing on research and skill development in evidence-informed decision-making and knowledge translation in public health takes place in two primary training environments: a regional public health department in Ontario (Peel Public Health) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Drs. Donna Ciliska and Maureen Dobbins provide academic supervision; Dr. David Mowat and Ms. Barbara Medlar are her decision-making mentors.

Anita Kothari, PhD, is an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, and holds a Career Scientist Award from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. Anita has an on-going interest in the use of research for practice and policy-making. In particular, she is interested in the ways that linkages between users and producers of research, and networks, can encourage research utilization in community-based organizations.

Susan Jack, RN, PhD is an Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Associate Member, Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University. In 2009-2010, Susan has led and tutored professional development workshops for public health professionals on the topics of critical appraisal, evidence-informed decision-making and the utility of qualitative research evidence in public health decision-making. Annually, she also tutors in the Evidence-Informed Decision-Making Workshops offered through the Canadian Centre for Evidence-Based Nursing, School of Nursing, McMaster University. Dr. Jack’s program of research is focused on 1) the development and evaluation of public health interventions to address family violence and 2) qualitative explorations of factors influencing research utilization in different contexts. As one of the co-principal investigators of the Canadian Nurse-Family Partnership pilot program, Dr. Jack is very excited to be putting many of the primary principles of knowledge transfer and exchange into practice, from working closely and collaboratively with decision-maker partners at Hamilton Public Health Services to design and implement the evaluation of the pilot, to implementing an evidence-based public health intervention with known effectiveness for preventing child abuse and neglect and improving important maternal child health outcomes to synthesizing and disseminating research evidence to share with Provincial level policy makers! In collaboration with the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, Dr. Jack along with Dr. Maureen Dobbins (McMaster), Dr. Chris Furgal (Trent), and Ms. Sandy Brooks (McMaster) conducted an environmental scan to describe the knowledge transfer and exchange processes used by environmental health decision-makers and researchers to address issues of interest to Aboriginal communities.

Cristina Catallo, RN PhD, is currently working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow under the supervision of Dr. John Lavis. Funded by the European Observatory for Health Policy and Systems, Cristina’s fellowship involves a series of projects related to knowledge-brokering approaches being used in the European region. These projects are collectively called the BRIDGE study (Brokering knowledge and Research Information to support the Development and Governance of health systems in Europe). Her program of research relates to clinical and policy decision-making and evidence use in women’s health and public health. She completed her PhD in Nursing at McMaster University where she carried out a mixed-methods study that explored women’s decision-making regarding the disclosure of intimate partner violence in urban emergency departments. Cristina also teaches in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. She has worked with the NCCMT on the online registry that provides public health decision-makers with quality-appraised research syntheses related to knowledge-translation activities. Cristina has worked as a nursing consultant for public health issues with the Ontario Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care, Children and Youth Services, and Health Promotion.