Stephanie Montesanti, PhD, MA, BA (honours)

Area of Study / Keywords

health policy health systems health services research primary health care integrated care Indigenous health

---

About

My applied health policy and systems research (HPSR) program generates actionable evidence regarding innovations, policies, and system solutions for people-centred integrated care. I hold a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Health System Integration at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, advancing research on integrated service delivery approaches across primary healthcare, community, and hospital services. My research is driven by a concern for health equity, community-driven approaches to integration, and partnerships and collaborations for improving health. This has involved conceptual and empirical work on issues of co-designed care, innovations in Indigenous primary healthcare models, building the capacity and capability of the community-based workforce, and policy development for health system transformation.

I have built and sustained a strong research program at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health via the Collaborative Applied Research for Equity in Health Policy and Systems (CARE) Lab (https://www.careresearchlab.ca/). Our team conducts solution-oriented research through health systems science, implementation science, social innovation, and transdisciplinary collaboration. The CARE lab is advancing innovative research in Canada on two multi-year funded research initiatives under the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)’s Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) and the Indigenous Healthy Life Trajectory Initiative (I-HeLTI). The Indigenous Primary Healthcare and Policy Research (IPHCPR) Network in Alberta was established with funding from the NEIHR program to promote a renewed and transformed primary healthcare system to achieve Indigenous health equity through primary healthcare and policy research. Our I-HeLTI study brings together 23 Indigenous communities across the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia who are leading the research to gather community-derived health and well-being information from community-based programs co-designed and implemented in Indigenous communities with research partners to optimize child development beginning in early life.

I am passionate about supporting and increasing our collective understanding of how Canadians can meaningfully and effectively engage in shaping the future of healthcare in Canada. In Alberta, I am a founding member of IMAGINE Citizens Collaborating for Health, a grassroots citizen-led group that supports citizen, patient, and community engagement in health system transformation.

I am also the Academic Lead for the Learning Health System (LHS) Team at the Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) SUPPORT Unit. The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit is among 10 SPOR SUPPORT Units across Canada, providing specialized services, expertise, training, and resources to increase Alberta’s capacity for patient-oriented research. 

Degrees and Fellowships

I have a PhD in Health Policy and a Graduate Diploma Certificate in Health Services and Policy Research from McMaster University, and a Master's degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Toronto. I completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. I have broad health sector experience in both Ontario and Alberta, working in government and non-profit organizations on complex public health and health system issues, including mental health, domestic violence, and Indigenous health.

PhD (Health Policy), McMaster University, 2013

MA (Medical Anthropology), University of Toronto, 2008

BA (honours), University of Toronto, 2006

Diploma Certificate in Health Services and Policy Research, 2012

Post-doctoral fellowship, University of Calgary, 2015

---

Research

My research expertise includes policy intervention and analysis; the design and evaluation of public and community engagement processes to inform health services planning and health system decision making; the determinants of health policy change; and knowledge synthesis (including rapid qualitative insights to support timely, equity-sensitive evidence support)

Some of my current funded research projects include:

• Mobilizing knowledge on intimate partner violence (IPV) screening programs in acute trauma care service in Alberta
• Improving the clinical care of Indigenous patients with complexity using a Hub-and-Spoke Model of Care in Alberta Primary Care Networks (PCNs) (funded under the CIHR Strengthening the Health Workforce for System Transformation Team Grant)
• A comparative policy analysis study across four provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec) to examine macro (provincial) and meso (health authority) level policies that facilitate the development, implementation and sustainability of team-based primary healthcare models with a focus on complex patients. The project involves patient partners and health system decision-makers (Co-Principal Investigator)
• A 5-year CIHR Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) grant to establish the Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research (IPHCPR) Network in Alberta to promote a renewed and transformed primary health care (PHC) system to achieve Indigenous health equity (Co-Principal Investigator)
• A CIHR Indigenous Healthy Life Trajectory Initiative (I-HeLTI) study to support research on the development, implementation, testing and evaluation of Indigenous-focused early interventions (preconception, pregnancy, infancy and early childhood) designed to improve health outcomes in later life for Indigenous communities (Principal Investigator)
• CIHR COVID-19 research on the use of e-mental health solutions to address domestic and family violence in Alberta (Principal Investigator)
• CIHR COVID-19 in Mental Health and Substance Use Knowledge Synthesis Operating Grant "Mobilizing Knowledge on the Use of Virtual Care Interventions to Reach Individuals Experiencing or At-risk of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault" (Principal Investigator; Co-PIs: Dr. Peter Silverstone and Prof Lana Wells)

Current Graduate Students:

Tara Azimi, PhD Student (Public Health)

Stephanie Reardon, Phd Student (Health Policy Research)

Erynne Sjoblom, PhD Student (Epidemiology)

Elliott Young, Phd Student (Health Policy Research)

Past Graduate Students:

Taylor Gill, MSc (Health Promotion)

Danika Goveas, MSc Student (Epidemiology)

Caillie Pritchard, MPH Student (Health Promotion)

Vicki Loader, MPH Student (Health Policy & Management)

Samantha Roan, MPH Student (Health Policy & Management)

Websites:

Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research Network (IPHCPR)

Centre for Health Communities

CARE Research Lab

---

Teaching

Instructor: Health Policy and Health Systems Research Methods, School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Instructor, Foundations of Health Promotion, Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS), Mwanza, Tanzania 

Academic Mentor, Health System Improvement Fellowship, School of Public Health

Instructor, SPH530: This is Public Health

Instructor, SPH500: Introduction to Health Policy and Management

Currently accepting MSc, MPH and PhD students

SPH 500 - Health Policy and Systems Research

This is a specialization course focused on developing and deepening participants' understanding of critical policy issues affecting health and health services in a comparative perspective. The course will primarily review health policy in the context of Canadian populations and systems. This course also introduces students to the field of health policy analysis and teaches relevant concepts and methods that will provide students with basic skills required to conduct health policy research for the purposes of informing or explaining health policy development, to be critical consumers of health policy research and media coverage of health policy issues.

---

Browse more courses taught by Stephanie Montesanti

20180430 to 20200430

Principal Applicant

This project is carried out in partnership with the Métis Nation of Alberta. Funding is provided by Alberta Health Services (Valuing Mental Health Integration and Innovation). 

---

Nominated Principal Applicant. Funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)

---

Started: 20180706

Nominated Principal Applicant. Project funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research

Raelene Marceau, Kathleen Hunter, Tammy O'Rourke

2020 May; 21 (2)

---

Stephanie Montesanti, Ardene Robinson-Vollman, Lee Green

2018 August; 19 (144)

---

Severin Kabakama, Sospatro Ngallaba, Richard Musto, Stephanie Montesanti, Eveline Konje, Coleman Kishamawe

2016 September; 93

---

Montesanti SR, Thurston WE.

Case Studies in One Health: Solving Complex Problems in a Changing World.

---

Abelson J, Montesanti SR, Li K, Gauvin FP, Martin E.

Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF).

---

Lavis JN, Montesanti SR

McMaster Health Forum.

---

Montesanti SR, Lavis JN, Wilson M.

McMaster Health Forum.

---

Montesanti SR

Vis-a-Vis: Explorations in Anthropology. 11 (1):90-106

---

Montesanti SR, Nduagu E. Tam CL, Smits, J. Thurston W.E., Draper D.,Gerlach G, Gates I

Nature. 513 (172)

---

Henderson, R., Montesanti, S., Crowshoe, L., Leduc, C.

Health Policy. 122

---

Montesanti, S.

BMC Women's Health. (In Press)

---

Donald J. Philippon, Stephanie Montesanti, Tania Stafinski

Healthcare Management Forum. 31 (2):62-65

---

Montesanti SR, Abelson J, Lavis JN, Dunn JR

Social Science & Medicine. 142