Kerry Kuluski

Kerry is a Professor and Affiliated Scientist at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She holds the inaugural Dr. Mathias Gysler Research Chair in Patient & Family Centred Care at the Institute for Better Health at Trillium Health Partners. She is an Applied Health Systems Researcher and a Social Worker by training. She received her PhD in Health Services and Policy Research from the University of Toronto followed by a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford. At the U of T she supervises graduate students and teaches a foundational course on Patient and Caregiver Engagement in Research. She is the Associate Editor of Health Expectations, a leading international journal on public and patient participation.

• Kerry’s research provides insight into what matters most to patients with complex care needs and their caregivers. She works in partnership with patients and caregivers to learn what works (and what doesn’t work) in care delivery, with the goal of improving care processes and experiences.
• Her research on the attributes of person centred care has been used to inform the design of practice guidelines (for Ontario health teams), teaching tools (Masterclass on integrated care) and measurement tools (for Ontario’s homecare sector).
• Her program of research on caregiving is providing insight on how best to identify, support and include caregivers (family and friends of people with care needs) in the health care system.
• At Trillium Health Partners she is working with hospital operations to advance how patient experience data are collected and used in practice to inform quality improvement activities.
• Her mixed methods research is providing insight on how to support people to age at home as long as possible and avoid hospitalization and long-term care.
• In partnership with faculty, community partners, students and caregivers, Kerry designed IHPMEs first course on patient and caregiver engagement in research.

Professional Interests: Patient and Caregiver Experience, Patient and Caregiver Engagement, Homecare, Long-term Care, Aging, Family Caregiving, Care Transitions, Health Systems Research, Health Care Quality, Co-design

Research Interests: Kerry studies the health care experiences of patients and their caregivers with specific attention to people who have complex, ongoing care needs. The contexts of her research include primary health care, homecare, hospital care, delayed hospital discharge and transitions between care settings. She uses multi and mixed methods, including co-design to understand what is required for care services to be person centred.

Current Major Research Projects:

• Building Capacity in Health Systems with and for Caregivers
• Setting the Balance of Care for Older Adults at Risk of Hospitalization and Delayed Discharge
• Leaving the Hospital with Nowhere to Go: The Impact of Rapid Hospital Transitions during COVID
• Optimizing care journeys for adults with hip fractures and complexity: A mixed-methods case study