Innovation and Value-Added

Program Innovation

The Drug Safety and Effectiveness Cross-Disciplinary Training (DSECT) Program consists of three complementary foci:

1) Content-focused knowledge related to drug safety and effectiveness

2) Research methods knowledge specific to drug safety and effectiveness

3) Practical research skill-building specific to drug safety and effectiveness

A combination of individual and group activities will be facilitated by mentors and other program collaborators to foster uptake and success in both knowledge and skill development.

Impacts of Program Innovation

The primary innovations that this program is designed to produce include:

  • Trainees who are focussed in one area of study (e.g. basic, clinical, population health or health services), but who are also exposed to critical components from other areas of study so that they can better foster scientific diversity and enable collaboration with those from other disciplines
  • Trainees who are exposed to the spectrum of biosciences, clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, knowledge translation and health services evaluation/ technology assessment research methods in one program that is designed to create a hybrid researcher who can work collaboratively in multidisciplinary settings to address the issues of drug safety and effectiveness in the real world
  • Trainees who have improved their abilities to translate research findings into clinical and policy arenas by taking part in practical experiences
  • Novel experiences for mentors across scientific domains to foster innovation in research

All participants, in conjunction with their mentors, will develop an individualized learning plan that includes a training plan that links program competencies with tangible goals and associated timelines.

Value-added for trainees: "How will I benefit from taking part in this program?"

Although trainees will continue to develop expertise in their area of focus, this program will also offer an opportunity to engage in learning from other scientific domains, augmenting a typical graduate training experience. This experience in integrating different scientific domains will better prepare a trainee for participating in research and knowledge translation that addresses real-word problems.

Specific value-added characteristics include:

  • Ability to work effectively within the CIHR “interdisciplinary/cross-domain” approach to research
  • Experience and exposure in translating research into practice through interaction with health policy-makers
  • Knowledge and skills to pursue quality cross-domain research in medication use as a practicing health professional, academic researcher, pharmaceutical industry representative, or government policy-maker
  • Distinguished designation of “CIHR Strategic Training Fellow” on Curriculum Vitae