Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Notes from the Field - Emily Freeman



-job title:

Research Coordinator-McMaster University: (here in Canada universities are non-profits like the US)-

-responsibilities:

to coordinate research projects within the school of nursing, to make sure we are always applying for grants for funding (which we never have enough of), staying accountable, answering questions from supervisors all the way to study participants, writing reports, journal articles, etc.

-challenges:

the main challenge has been the change in government within Ontario and Canada...every time we get a new government, priorities change, and it is hard to work on projects (sometimes for a year at a time, in which LOTS of money was put into the project, only to have it pulled by the new government).

For my last project a medical procedure that was the standard of care in the US (and UK and NZ) since 2003 was being debated in Ontario...even though all the evidence was clear AND it was clear it would HELP women tremendously, they still wanted to debate it...in the end, they concluded there was not enough evidence and didn't bring it to the Province. That was a huge challenge.

-cool things about the job:

getting to influence research priorities and policies at the Federal and Provincial level, all the cool people we meet, but the best and most satisfying is knowing, on some level what we do may influence someone's life, hopefully for the better.

Thank you to Emily! ecfreeman@gmail.com

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