Congratulations to Nicole Mfoafo-M’Carthy, DPhil in Translational Health Sciences candidate, on being awarded the highly competitive Doctoral Foreign Study Award (DFSA) from the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR).
The Doctoral Foreign Study Award (DFSA) supports high-calibre students engaged in doctoral programmes in all academic disciplines who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field abroad (outside of Canada). This award:
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provides recognition and funding to students early in their academic research career, giving them an opportunity to gain research experience while abroad (outside of Canada)
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provides a reliable supply of highly skilled and qualified researchers
Nicole, a Rhodes Scholar and member of the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (IRIHS) group, was selected for her innovative research examining how patients and staff navigate transitions of care within integrated health care systems. Her DPhil research particularly focuses on the role of remote and virtual technologies in shaping how care is organised and delivered in an Integrated Neighborhood Team. These teams aim to bring ‘care close to home’ by combining a wide range of health and social services including virtual wards, hospital-at-home and access to social support. The DFSA award will provide crucial support for Nicole's project.
Nicole commented on the significance of the award:
‘As a Ghanaian Canadian international student studying at Oxford, I am always considering the implications and transferability of my research to the Canadian healthcare landscape. The committee recognised the value of my research and my commitment to improving access to care locally and more broadly using an interdisciplinary approach. As a future clinician-scientist, I am excited to work at the intersection of research, policy and on-the-ground care. The support from this award is crucial for my DPhil project, and I am thankful to the Canadian Institute of Health Research for this opportunity.’
By focusing on transitions of care, Nicole intends to highlight the complexity of care organisation, including how patients and practitioners collaborate to adopt and use health technologies in integrated care systems.
Natassia Brenman, Jackie van Dael and Sara Shaw are Nicole’s supervisors. On behalf of Nicole’s supervisory team, Sara Shaw expressed her pride in Nicole’s achievement:
‘We’re delighted for Nicole that she’s secured this award. As always with these funding streams, it’s highly competitive so it’s a real achievement, and it gives Nicole such a firm foundation to progress her research on transitions of care.’
Following the completion of her DPhil, Nicole will return to the University of Toronto’s Temerty School of Medicine to finish her medical degree.
Find out more about the DPhil in Translational Health Sciences.