JustIS in LHS Episode 1: Introduction with Stephanie Montesanti and Cory Bradley

Whose Knowledge Counts? Rethinking Implementation Science with Dr. Ejemai Eboreime

In this unforgettable episode of the Arts-Based Patient-Oriented Research For You series, hosts Candace Ramjohn and Minn-Nyoung Yoon speak with Dr. Andrea Furlan, about transforming complex health evidence into accessible YouTube content. Dr. Furlan is a physician-scientist. She is Professor in the Division of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, in the Department of Medicine of the University of Toronto. Andrea’s research focus is on the management of chronic pain. This includes diagnosis, treatment and education. She was the team leader who developed the Canadian Opioid Guideline in 2010, and she developed a tool and App to help physicians apply the guideline’s recommendations. She is Chair of “ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship”, a telementoring project that aims to teach clinicians in rural and underserved areas how to help patients with chronic pain to live a better life. Dr. Furlan shares how a simple idea to better educate her patients grew into a global platform reaching people in more than 140 countries. She reflects on overcoming fears about professional credibility, maintaining ethical boundaries, countering misinformation with trustworthy content, and measuring impact beyond academic publications. Through powerful stories from patients around the world, this conversation explores social media as a creative knowledge mobilization tool—and shows how clear, evidence-based communication can help patients understand chronic pain, support self-management, and participate more fully in their care. Dr. Furlan also offers practical and candid advice for researchers and healthcare professionals considering their own journey into digital education. Learn more about Dr. Furlan and her work: www.doctorandreafurlan.com/ www.youtube.com/c/DrAndreaFurlan

In this inspiring episode of LHS:STAT – Learning Health Systems: Speak Together, Act Together, host Candace Ramjohn welcomes Ingrid Nielssen, Patient Engagement Coordinator with the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit, for a thoughtful conversation about what it truly means to engage people with lived experience as partners in research. Together, they explore how arts-based approaches can transform patient-oriented research—not simply as creative outputs, but as intentional methods for building trust, strengthening relationships, honouring lived experience, and generating more meaningful evidence. Ingrid shares stories from the PaCER (Patient and Community Engagement Research) Program, reflections on co-designing research with Indigenous youth, and practical insights into creating equitable research environments where every voice is valued. The discussion moves beyond methods to examine the foundations of excellent research: trust, transparency, collaboration, humility, and curiosity. Listeners will hear why research is both a process and a product, how arts-based knowledge mobilization can make evidence more accessible, and why patient-oriented research is strongest when it embraces collective knowledge and multiple ways of knowing. Whether you are a researcher, patient partner, clinician, student, or knowledge mobilizer, this episode offers practical wisdom and powerful reflections on creating research that is not only rigorous, but deeply human. Join us for a conversation that reminds us that impactful research begins with relationships—and that when we create space for diverse perspectives, we create stronger science for everyone.

Evaluating Creativity: Arts-Based Approaches, Public Health, and Graphic Medicine with Dr. Oralia Gómez-Ramírez How do we know whether arts-based approaches are actually making a difference? In this episode of AB POR You (Arts-Based Patient-Oriented Research for You), host Candace Ramjohn speaks with Dr. Oralia Gómez-Ramírez, as they explore the intersection of evaluation, public health, creativity, and arts-based knowledge mobilization. Dr. Oralia Gómez-Ramírez, MA, PhD, Credentialed Evaluator (CE), is a sociocultural anthropologist, implementation and applied public health expert, and research methodologist currently working as an Evaluation Specialist at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). Through her practice, she strives to expand the evaluators’ traditional toolkit and enrich ways of doing public health evaluation by using arts- and creativity-based methods for different evaluative tasks and by fostering team-based, collaborative, and interdisciplinary-rich approaches. Drawing from her experience using photography, zines, creative writing, games, and comics in evaluation practice, Dr. Gómez-Ramírez challenges the assumption that arts-based approaches are inherently effective, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful evaluation, equity, context, and intentional design. She shares lessons learned from applying creative methods in public health settings, discusses the opportunities and challenges of evaluating arts-based initiatives, and reflects on the untapped potential of graphic medicine and comics as tools for research, communication, and learning. A thought-provoking conversation for researchers, evaluators, patient partners, knowledge mobilizers, and anyone interested in advancing arts-based approaches with both creativity and rigour. Learn more: - Personal website: www.oraliagr.com/ - Mereth Li-Volmer’s website showing comics usage in public health: publichealthinsider.com/author/phcomms/ - Marie-Eve Carrier-Moisan’s example of doctoral dissertation turned into graphic novel: Gringo Love - University of Toronto Press - Emily Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters: www.fantagraphics.com/collections/emil-ferris

Beyond the Myth of Perfect Policy Coherence: Wicked Problems, Values, and Learning in Complex Systems What if the policy coherence we so often strive for is not only unattainable, but potentially the wrong goal? In this thought-provoking episode in the JustIS in LHS series introduced by Denise Thomson, Associate Director of the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit Learning Health System Team, host Stephanie Montesanti, Co-Lead of the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit Learning Health System Team, engages with renowned policy scholar Professor Paul Cairney, University of Stirling, Scotland, to explore the realities of policymaking in complex systems. Together, they examine why wicked challenges such as climate change, health inequities, poverty, and Indigenous health continue to resist simple solutions despite widespread calls for integrated, whole-of-government approaches. The conversation unpacks the concept of perfect policy coherence, highlighting the tensions between values, politics, evidence, and institutional structures that shape policy decisions. Listeners will gain insights into policy learning, boundary spanning, democratic governance, and the role of values in advancing equity and meaningful change. This episode offers a compelling perspective for policymakers, researchers, implementation scientists, and health system leaders seeking to navigate complexity and create more equitable and responsive learning health systems. Listen now to explore why learning and adaptation—not perfect coherence—may be the key to lasting systems change.