Linkage Tool for the Reimagining Acute Care Initiative

To achieve the goals and objectives of the Reimagining Acute Care Initiative, introduced in the ICRH Institute Research Priority Plan 2024-2034, strong connections and collaborations must be made across research fields, disciplines, sectors and phases along the care continuum, as well as between existing and emerging research teams. One of the ways CIHR is supporting the development of such connections is through this linkage tool.

This linkage tool is designed to facilitate partnerships between researchers of different career stages and knowledge users (e.g., practitioners, health-care providers/administrators, community-based organizations, persons with lived/living experience, policy/decision makers, Indigenous right-holders, etc.) to improve outcomes for conditions within ICRH’s mandate (heart, brain [stroke], lung, blood, blood vessels, sleep and critical care). In addition, this tool will help connect researchers from different research pillars (i.e., biomedical, clinical, health systems and population health), as well as partners delivering care at different phases along the care continuum (i.e., pre-acute, acute and post-acute care phases) and working on different fields of research related to ICRH’s mandate and complementary fields of research.

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IMPORTANT: To be included in the linkage tool, please complete this short form. Your information will be added to the table below during the next update.

The table below shows information submitted by researchers, knowledge users or others that are interested in partnering and developing collaborations as part of the Reimagining Acute Care Initiative.

Information is posted in the language in which it was submitted. It is provided on a voluntary basis and in no way confers any advantages in the evaluation and/or funding of applications.

The table will usually be updated weekly, until September 28, 2028, and regularly thereafter.

Contact Information: Full name Email address Name of community, institution, organization or other Province or Territory Phone number (optional) Website address (optional)	Role(s)	Pillar(s) of research	Phase(s) on care continuum	Field(s) of research	Additional Information
Reza Farivar reza.farivar@mcgill.ca McGill University and the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre Quebec	Mid-career researcher	Biomedical, Other: Fundamental Research and Engineering	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Critical care, Sleep	My lab has developed a comprehensive data capture system for the ICU, which includes patient facial expression and body movements. I am looking for critical care professionals and researchers interested in leveraging high-frequency timeseries data for effective testing of pathology hypotheses, real-time estimation of complex parameters using computational models, and sense-making from data complexity for relating the massive data from a patient's stay in the ICU to other professionals responsible for post-acute care, including family.
Alexandra King alexandra.king@uwaterloo.ca Mitewekan ᒥᑌᐍᑲᐣ (Cree, with a rough English equivalent of "the spirit behind the heartbeat") Ontario	Mid-career researcher, Practitioner/Physician, Person with lived or living experience, Indigenous right-holder	Health Services, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health, Other: Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing	Pre-acute care, Post-acute care, Other : Strong focus on prevention and health/wellness promotion	Heart, Brain (stroke) Sleep, Other: Privileging Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, while creating and maintaining ethical space to employ Etuaptmumk (Two-eyed Seeing) so we can learn how to bring together the best of Indigenous and Western ways to improve heart and brain health and wellness for First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous peoples. Indigenous research philosophies and methodologies, including Indigenous data sovereignty and governance, as well as Indigenous inherent rights in addtion to the context of AI, digital technologies and neurotechnology.	We are interested in working with anyone who is Indigenous or who seeks to be a good ally/partner. Particular expertise in prevention, health/wellness promotion, palliative and end of life care, AI, digital technologies and neurotechnologies are most welcome.
Andrew Pinto andrew.pinto@utoronto.ca Upstream Lab & University of Toronto Ontario	Mid-career researcher, Practitioner/Physician, Healthcare provider/administrator	Clinical, Health Services, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Pre-acute care, Post-acute care	Heart Additionnal context: We are assembling a team to focus on improving pre-acute care for people who experience acute cardiac events that lead to ICU admission, and improving post-acute care. We aim to explore ways to improve pre-acute care and improve post-acute care. We leverage our past work using AI in primary care, our strong focus on health equity and social determinants, and our access to data.	We see academic collaborators, particularly in AI/data science with experience in working with messy, real-world EMR data linked to other datasets. We also seek collaborators focused on cardiac care and improving outcomes. Welcome trainees and early career academics.
Jenna Reynolds jreynolds@asthma.ca Asthma Canada Ontario 4167874050	Community-based organization/NGO staff, Person with lived or living experience	Clinical, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Lung	Asthma Canada is committed to advancing research toward a future without asthma by accelerating asthma research by focusing on the following key themes: The Impact of Social and Environmental Factors on People Living with Asthma Understanding the Causes, Diagnosis, Prevention, and Comorbidities of Asthma Advancing Treatments and Symptom Management for Asthma. Our Research Commitments Empower individuals with lived experience with asthma to actively participate in research. Increase research funding to strengthen our partnership with the asthma research community. Expand our understanding of asthma across the lifespan, addressing its complex causes, management, and the impact of environmental, social, and other health determinants. Ensure that knowledge translation is a mandatory component of all funded research projects.
Eilean McKenzie-Matwiy emckenzie-matwiy@lung.ca Canadian Lung Association Ontario 2048038586	Community-based organization/NGO staff	Other: Support for researchers through grants, support for PPWLE through programs and services, gov't advocacy	Other: interested in all aspects of research to improve QoL for people with respiratory diseases and exposure to environmental pollution, smoke	Lung, Critical care, Sleep	The mission of the Canadian Lung Association is to support research programs that will improve the quality of life for people living with respiratory disease, their care givers, and to prevent the development of respiratory conditions in the future. We do this by partnering with other organizations, researchers, and institutions to create new knowledge about lung health, diagnosis, treatment, symptom management, and exposure to air pollution, wildfire smoke, and climate change. We support research in all lung diseases including, but not limited to, asthma, COPD, ILD, PF, sleep apnea, assisted breathing (ICU and mechanical ventilation).
Mengqi Liu mengqi.liu2@mail.mcgill.ca Mengqi Liu Ontario	Early career researcher	Biomedical, Health Services	Pre-acute care, Acute care	Heart, Brain (stroke), Blood	I am seeking to build a collaborative cardiovascular innovation network that connects electrophysiologists, cardiologists working in digital cardiovascular care and remote monitoring, researchers, and physician entrepreneurs. The challenges I am most interested in addressing include earlier identification of cardiovascular risk, stronger follow-up for complex patients, more effective remote monitoring, and reducing avoidable acute care use. I would like to establish partnerships that support translational research, pilot programs, and practical innovation initiatives.
William Beaubien-Souligny william.beaubien-souligny.med@ssss.gouv.qc.ca CR CHUM Québec 514 890 800 012 759	Early career researcher, Practitioner/Physician	Clinical	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Critical care, Other: Insuffisance rénale Context: Échographie au chevet, gestion volémique, insuffisance cardiaque, thérapies de remplacement rénal	Je suis intéressé aux projets visant à limiter le risque d'insuffisance rénale aigue chez les personnes hospitalisées. J'ai un intérêt à propos des stratégies permettant une approche de précision incluant l'échographie au chevet afin de guider les interventions.
Anthony Kaul anthony.kaul@clouddx.com Cloud Diagnostics Canada ULC. Québec 6047878167	Other: Clinical Trial Technology Advisory. Currently providing the platform for decentralized clinical trials for 7 concurrent RCTs in Canada Ranging from single site 30 patient cohorts to multi-national, multi-site 20,000 patient trials. In-kind contributor, KOL and digital health, virtual care expertise.	Recherche clinique, Recherche sur les facteurs sociaux, culturels et environnementaux qui influent sur la santé des populations, Other: Digital Health & Virtual Care	Pre-acute care, Post-acute care , Other: Community Care initiatives, LTC@Home, ALC bed-day reduction, Chronic Care Management, Paliative Care, Mental Health.	Heart, Lung, Other: Oncology (Car-t Specifically), Perioperative Medicine, H@H. Context: Technology is no longer peripheral to clinical research—it is embedded within the protocol itself. It enables continuous data capture, real-world follow-up, and sustained patient engagement beyond the study site, fundamentally reshaping how trials are designed and executed. As a result, digital health and remote monitoring expertise are no longer optional. Research teams must include leaders who understand how to operationalize technology within protocols to ensure data quality, patient adherence, and scalable execution.	Interested in establishing linkages with clinical researchers, health systems, and academic partners who are seeking to do more with constrained resources by embedding technology into trial design from the outset. Our focus is on partnering early—at the protocol development stage—to ensure that best practices in remote data capture, patient engagement, and virtual follow-up are built directly into the study, rather than added later. This includes collaboration with investigators, methodologists, and digital health experts to design protocols that are both scientifically rigorous and operationally scalable. The challenge we see across acute care research is increasing complexity and cost, combined with limited capacity for in-person follow-up. We are particularly interested in collaborations that address these pressures by leveraging technology to improve data continuity, patient adherence, and efficiency without increasing burden on clinical teams. Desired partnerships would bring together clinical KOLs, trialists, digital health experts, and health system operators to co-develop next-generation research models—where continuous, real-world data and remote interactions are integral to the protocol. The outcome we seek is a more cost-effective, patient-centered, and scalable approach to acute care research, where technology enables higher quality data and broader participation while helping research teams extend their reach without proportionally increasing resources.
Asmahan AbuArish asmahan.abuarish@usask.ca University of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan 1306966565	Early career researcher	Biomedical	Other: We investigate the cellular mechanisms responsible for disease development	Lung Context: As a biomedical researcher, I am interested in investigating the deficient molecular mechanisms in the airways of people living with diseases such as cystic fibrosis or COPD. This will help to identify the molecular factor(s) responsible for the deficiency in cellular responses to inflammatory triggers or inability to eradicate infections. The goal is to then restore the responsible factor(s) alongside using modulator therapies to reestablish homeostatic responses.	Accessing human airway epithelial tissue (tracheal, bronchial, bronchiolar) from cystic fibrosis and COPD donors will advance our goal of identifying the molecular factor(s) responsible for the deficiency in airway epithelial responses to inflammatory triggers and restoring these responses in the most relevant disease model.
Trang Bui tqtbui@usask.ca University of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan	Early career researcher	Other: I am a statistician and I am interested in developing new quantitative or ML/AI methods for varios data types and structure, and I am interested in acute care data.	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Lung, Brain (stroke), Blood, Blood vessels, Critical care, Sleep	I would like to meet with domain-knowledge researchers with acute-care or healthcare research data and questions. I am currently interested in image data, but I am open to other types of data as well. I hope to connect with more researchers and have collaborations on grant applications and research.
Benita Hosseini benita.hosseini@utoronto.ca University of Toronto Ontario	Early career researcher	Clinical, Health Services, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Pre-acute care	Lung	Pre-acute care or acute care for patients with asthma
Anne-Marie Guerguerian anne-marie.guerguerian@sickkids.ca The Hospital for Sick Children, Research Institute Ontario 416-358-1218	Senior researcher, Practitioner/Physician	Biomedical, Clinical, Health Services	Acute care	Heart, Lung, Brain (stroke), Blood, Blood vessels, Critical care Context: Pediatric critical care	Community clinicians, patient representatives from remote communities that are unable to receive care in their region
Tieghan Killackey tieghan.killackey@utoronto.ca University of Toronto/University Health Network Ontario	Early career researcher, Healthcare provider/administrator	Clinical, Health Services, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart Context: I am an early-career cardiac nurse researcher with expertise in qualitative and mixed methods. My program of research aims to improve patient and family experiences with transitions in cardiovascular care across the lifespan, with a focus on enhancing patient autonomy and self-management using technology. Transitions that I work on include transitions across health systems (e.g., pediatric to adult care), transitions across settings (e.g., hospital to home/community), transitions in care (e.g., peri-operative transitions) as well as transitions in disease state (e.g., active management to symptom management). I would be happy to engage with teams that are looking to incorporate a patient-oriented research approach or qualitative health research methodology into their projects.	I am an early career researcher looking to establish a network of collaborators in the acute care cardiovascular care space. I am especially interested in the challenges of young adults with cardiovascular disease and their experiences within the acute care setting.
Karlene Haubrich karleneguy@gmail.com Alberta Health Services Alberta	Early career researcher, Healthcare provider/administrator, Community-based organization/NGO staff	Clinical	Pre-acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Lung	Unknown
Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy vthirug@ohri.ca Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Ontario	Mid-career researcher, Practitioner/Physician, Healthcare provider/administrator	Clinical, Health services, Other: AI, Big data	Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Blood vessels Context: Acute chest pain management Acute syncope management	Have access to big data, including unstructured and imaging data. Looking for researchers who have access to similar data to develop AI models
Tetyana Kendzerska tkendzerska@toh.ca The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute/ University of Ottawa Ontario	Practitioner/Physician, Mid-career researcher	Clinical, Health Services, Social, Cultural, and Population Health	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Lung, Brain (stroke), Sleep	The primary aim of our project is to identify and describe barriers to and facilitators for the evaluation and management of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in hospitalized adults with complex comorbidities (cardio, and cerebravascular as well as pulmonary), from the perspectives of both patients and health care professionals involved in SDB diagnosis/treatment during hospitalization (physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and sleep technologists). As a secondary aim, we aim to explore changes in patient-reported sleep-related quality of life following inpatient sleep testing (PSG or HSAT) and, when applicable, the initiation of therapy, thereby providing contextual evidence to inform future cost-effectiveness and implementation analyses. We are interested in collaborating on overlapping projects, potentially as a substudy within the larger umbrella project.
Sami SEDRAOUI sami.sedraoui@mail.mcgill.ca RI-MUHC Québec	Early career researcher	Biomedical, Clinical, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Critical care, Other: Respiratory and limb muscles	My project through the Catalyst Grant : Reimagining acute care, is to built a multidisciplinary partnership between different researchers working in different research areas but converging for one major objective: Improving the health of vulnerable youth population through physical activity.
Swati Mehta swati.mehta@uwindsor.ca University of Windsor Ontario	Early career researcher, Healthcare provider/administrator	Clinical, Health services	Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Brain (stroke), Critical care	Project Rationale: Hospital-associated deconditioning is a major contributor to prolonged hospitalization, particularly among older adults and patients with complex medical conditions. At Erie Shores HealthCare (ESHC), internal data indicate that over half of patients exceed expected length of stay, contributing to substantial excess bed days. A key driver of this issue is limited access to mobility support outside of daytime rehabilitation hours, particularly in rural and community hospital settings where expanding physiotherapy staffing is not feasible. There is a critical need for scalable, low-resource models that support patient mobility throughout the full hospitalization period. Research Goals / Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and potential impact of a hybrid, student-supported mobility model designed to extend mobility support into evenings and weekends. Specifically, the objectives are to: (1) assess feasibility of implementing an after-hours mobility model embedded within routine care
Paul McBeth Paul.McBeth@AHS.ca University of Calgary Alberta 587-284-0272	Mid-career researcher, Practitioner/Physician, Healthcare provider/administrator, IA and computational expert	Biomedical, Clinical, Health services	Acute care	Heart, Blood, Blood vessels Critical care	Linkages with engineering for large data set analysis.
Lynne Moore lynne.moore@fmed.ulaval.ca Université Laval Québec 5813081350	Mid-career researcher	Health services	Acute care	Brain (stroke), Blood, Blood vessels, Critical care Context: I work on improving structures, processes and outcomes of care for trauma populations	For our program of research, we are looking for partners with AI expertise and national database housing organisations.
Wesley Birrer wesley.birrer@mail.mcgill.ca McGill University Quebec 1(514) 922-5538	Early career researcher, Practitioner/Physician	Clinical	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Blood vessels, Critical care	Linkage between cardiac MRI imaging and AI.
Eric Wong eric.wong@utoronto.ca St. Michael's Hospital Ontario 289-208-7728	Practitioner/Physician, Early career researcher	Clinical, Health Services	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Brain (stroke), Other: Geriatric Medicine	outpatient geriatric clinic providers
Ping Luo ping.luo@algomau.ca Algoma University Ontario 437-970-6283	Early career researcher, IA and computational expert	Biomedical, Other: Computational biology	Pre-acute care, Acute care	Blood, Lung Additional context: I specialize in AI and computational biology for precision medicine. My research focuses on developing graph-based models for analyzing circulating biomarkers (cfDNA) to enable early detection and treatment monitoring in circulatory diseases and lung health.	I am interested in building partnerships with clinical investigators and diagnostic labs to translate advanced computational methods into real-world acute care applications. My work focuses on deep learning, multi-omics integration, and graph-based models for relational inference. Key Challenge A major bottleneck in computational biology is the gap between model development and real-world clinical deployment. Methods that perform well in controlled settings often struggle with the complexity, variability, and noise of clinical data. Addressing this requires close collaboration with domain experts and access to clinically grounded datasets. Collaboration Goals I seek multidisciplinary collaborations to: Adapt NGS analysis pipelines, including LLM-powered agentic systems, for automated and scalable genomic interpretation in acute care settings Apply graph-based models to capture complex relationships between multi-omic biomarkers and clinical phenotypes, particularly in circulatory and respiratory health Validate computational methods using real-world clinical data and workflows Expected Outcomes These collaborations aim to move beyond theoretical performance toward clinically validated, AI-driven tools that deliver actionable insights in real time, improving the speed and accuracy of diagnosis in pre-acute and acute care settings.
Angela Crawley acrawley@ohri.ca Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) Ontario 613-218-9255 Canadian Biobank Alliance	Mid-career researcher	Biomedical, Clinical	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care, Other: Chronic diseases	Other: Disease agnostic for biobank
Stefan Edginton stefan.edginton@ucalgary.ca University of Calgary Alberta	Early career researcher, Practitioner/Physician	Clinical, Health Services	Acute care, Post-acute care	Heart, Lung, Critical care Additional context: Critical care, cardiac surgery, cardiovascular critical care	We are looking at building relationships across the country of people working in cardiovascular intensive care units and/or people with lived experience as patients or family members
Sheharyar Raza sheharyar.raza@blood.ca Canadian Blood Services Ontario 4168359126	Early career researcher, Practitioner/Physician	Clinical, Health Services	Pre-acute care, Acute care, Post-acute care	Blood Additional context: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, AI, Transfusion, Blood Donation, Hematology	Blood Donation Blood Shortages Blood Utilization Sickle Cell Disease Massive Hemorrhage Big Data Data Fragmentation Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning
Corey Furnival corey@healingbeyonddiagnosis.ca Healing Beyond Diagnosis Initiative Ontario 613-585-7009 Healing Beyond Diagnosis	Community-based organization/NGO staff, Person with lived or living experience	Health Services, Social, Cultural, Environmental and Population Health	Acute care, Post-acute care	Brain (stroke), Other: Acquired brain injury (ABI/TBI), chronic illness and life-changing health conditions, with a focus on caregivers, families and post-acute transitions. Additional context: HBDI focuses on the human and caregiver experience surrounding acute and post-acute care, particularly the transition from hospital or rehabilitation to home and community. Areas of interest include caregiver preparedness, discharge planning, continuity of support, health-system navigation, identity and emotional adjustment, rural access, and gaps experienced after life-changing diagnoses or injuries. Our work is cross-diagnosis, with particular experience and interest in ABI/TBI and neurological injury.	Healing Beyond Diagnosis Initiative (HBDI) is seeking research, healthcare and academic partners interested in improving the transition from acute care to home and community. Our focus includes caregiver preparedness, discharge planning, continuity of support, health-system navigation, rural access, and the emotional and identity impacts that can follow life-changing illness or injury. We are particularly interested in collaborations that examine gaps experienced by patients and caregivers after discharge, including whether families feel prepared for the caregiving role and whether appropriate community supports are identified and accessible. HBDI can contribute community-based programming, lived/living experience, caregiver perspectives, frontline insight and opportunities for community engagement. We are interested in evaluation, implementation research, knowledge translation and collaborative research that can produce practical improvements in patient and caregiver outcomes across the acute-to-community transition.

Date modified:: 2026-09-04

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Linkage Tool for the Reimagining Acute Care Initiative

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