Sara Shearkhani

Dr. Sara Shearkhani is an Evaluation and Equity Scientist at Michael Garron Hospital, where she applies her expertise to drive improvements in health systems and promote equitable care. She successfully completed her CIHR Health System Impact Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2022 at East Toronto Health Partners (East Toronto Ontario Health Team), solidifying her leadership in integrated care innovation.

Dr. Shearkhani holds a PhD in Health Services Research (specializing in Outcomes and Evaluation) from IHPM and a Master’s in Economics. During her PhD, she was a Fellow at the Health System Performance Network (HSPN) and the Canadian Frailty Network, focusing on the healthcare utilization and associated costs of family caregivers. Recognized as a changemaker, she was named one of Ontario’s Faces of Change in 2014 and honored with the Canada Cares Award in 2017.

Her research centers on leveraging evaluation techniques to foster learning health systems within integrated care settings and advancing equity for resource-constrained communities.

Research Interests:

• Integrated care
• Learning health systems
• Equity in health outcomes for marginalized populations
• Healthcare utilization and cost
• Community-focused research

Approach:

• Mixed-methods research

Opportunities:
Dr. Shearkhani is currently accepting Master’s students with a passion for learning quantitative methods, cost-effectiveness analyses, and qualitative research.

Current projects:

1. Title: A Quantitative Evaluation of An Integrated Care Approach to Address Capacity Issues at a Community Hospital Funded by: TD Community Health Solutions Grant. The Michael Garron Hospital Foundation Approach: Quantitative/Matching/Regression
2. Title: Advancing an Equity-first Research Agenda in an East Toronto Ontario Health Team Funded by: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Approach: Mixed Methods/ Survey/Focus group/ Co-design
3. Title: A Formative Evaluation: Utilizing Community Health Ambassadors to Create a Health and Equity Database in East Toronto Funded by: Michael Garron Hospital and East Efforts Approach: Mixed Methods/ Survey/Focus group/ Co-design
4. Title: Using Neighborhood Equity Heatmaps to Identify High Users of MGH’s Emergency Department: A Data-Driven, Collaborative Decision-Making Practice to Reduce Health Inequities in East Toronto Funded by: TD Community Health Solutions Grant. The Michael Garron Hospital Foundation Approach: Mixed Methods/ Equity Heatmap/ Co-design
5. Title: Advancing population health by exploring health equity data collection and use in an integrated care setting: A case Study of East Toronto Health Partners Funded by: TD Community Health Solutions Grant. The Michael Garron Hospital Foundation Approach: Qualitative/Interviews
6. In the works: Inequities in cancer screening; Inequities and immigrants’ health