Medical Student Program Stream

Supervisor: Dr. Ambreen Sayani 

Project Description: 

Smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiometabolic disease progression, and lung cancer. For individuals already living with cardiometabolic conditions, smoking complicates disease management and contributes to poorer outcomes. This project will co-design an equity-oriented Model of Care that addresses the interconnected health risks of smoking, cardiometabolic disease, and lung cancer. 

Using qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling from Peel will explore patient, provider, and system perspectives on gaps, needs, and opportunities for integrated support. Findings will be synthesized through a participatory co-design process to develop core components of the Model of Care. 

The resulting model will be integrated within the STOP (Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients) program to strengthen how smoking cessation services are delivered in primary care and community settings. Expected outcomes include enhanced engagement, improved quit rates, and a more coordinated approach to cardiometabolic and lung cancer risk reduction. 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Collaborating with the Investigator and other relevant partners involved in the project 

• Prepare detailed notes of all interactions with participants 

• Assist in the analysis of qualitative data (interviews) and the interpretation of results 

• Assist team members with preparing materials for meetings, presentations, and publications 

Supervisor: Dr. Calvin Ke 

Project Description: 

Background: Young-onset type 2 diabetes (YOD) is an aggressive form of type 2 diabetes that affects young adults aged <40 years. We are developing PATHWAYS as a multi-component integrated tool within the electronic medical record to transform self-management education for young adults with type 2 diabetes (earlydiabetes.ca).  

Objective: PATHWAYS aims to transform self-management by improving knowledge, health beliefs, self-efficacy, and behavioural intentions through visualizations, motivational messaging, resource linkage, and decision-support.  

Design and Setting: PATHWAYS is being developed at the Diabetes Management Centre, Trillium Health Partners. The student will contribute to one or more components involving co-design workshops, surveys, and/or interviews with culturally diverse young adults living with type 2 diabetes.  

Main Measures, Outcomes: Depending on the component, outcomes include changes in health beliefs and behavioural intentions (validated scales), usability, accessibility, credibility, and emotional response scores.  

Analysis and Research Type: Community-engaged and mixed-methods research integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches. 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Engage closely with young adult participants (e.g., recruitment, follow-up)  

• Coordinate project activities to ensure smooth implementation  

• Support the development of research protocols (e.g., interview guides, survey instruments)  

• Assist with data collection activities, e.g., facilitating focus groups, feasibility testing, etc.  

• Support data management, analysis, and interpretation  

• Share your ideas and work alongside the dynamic and supportive research team at EARLY Diabetes (earlydiabetes.ca) passionate about transforming diabetes care  

• Engage with community partners  

• Communicate impact by preparing reports for a community audience, a presentation summarizing the work, and a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal 

Supervisor: Dr. Dianne Fierheller 

Project Description: 

The goal of this project will focus on co-design, pilot implementation, and evaluation of an intervention tentatively called the Belonging Through Movement program that will reflect the diverse interests of youth by providing opportunities in sports, dance, creative movement, wellness practices and outdoor activities. In Phase 2, youth will guide decisions about activity selection, cultural elements, and family involvement. Funding for Phase 2 will ensure that this program is grounded in youth priorities and positioned for future implementation and scale. 

Project Objectives 

1. Establish a multi-stakeholder Community Advisory Board (CAB) and hire Peer Research Assistants (PRAs) with lived/living experience to guide all Phase 2 activities.  

2. Co-design a diverse, accessible, and culturally relevant physical activity program with youth in Peel Region to enhance their sense of belonging and connection.  

3. Co-implement and co-evaluate the program's feasibility, acceptability, and initial impact indicators among youth living in Peel Region. 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Support and actively participate in community advisory board meetings, including taking notes, preparing presentation materials and co-facilitating 

• Developing participant recruitment materials and engaging in the study’s participant recruitment process 

• Co-facilitating Hackathon and co-design sessions 

• Assisting with data analysis and manuscript writing 

• Support research team on other items as they arise 

Supervisor: Dr. Ghazal Fazli 

Project Description: 

The prevalence of diabetes (T2D) in Peel Region is notably higher than the provincial average, with some communities reaching up to 20% compared to 10% for Ontario. Identifying high-risk populations early is critical to delay onset and progression of diabetes, and future cardiovascular disease (CVD). A substantial body of evidence shows that prediabetes is a major risk factor for CVD. These associations are amplified in the presence of socioeconomic disadvantages for equity-seeking populations living in Peel Region. Hence, the combined effects of cardiometabolic and socioeconomic disadvantages on CVD and all-cause mortality remains unknown.  

Thus, the objectives of this research are to:  

1. Examine the association between prediabetes status and CVD risk;  

2. Investigate whether these relationships vary by population characteristics (age group, gender, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and ethnic origin). 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Conduct literature reviews on current evidence for the topic  

• Assist in developing research questions, hypotheses, or objectives  

• Support the analyses and interpretation of the findings  

• Prepare presentations for team and internal/external partners  

• Prepare manuscript for peer-reviewed publication 

Supervisor: Dr. Ian Zenlea 

Project Description: 

This community-based project addresses the high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) among South Asian (SA) and Black, African, and Caribbean (BAC) families in Peel Region. Developed in partnership with community organizations, individuals with lived experience, researchers, and health professionals, the program uses a family-centered, culturally tailored health and wellness coaching model to promote prevention and healthy living. The intervention will be launched at two community partner sites serving SA and BAC communities, ensuring accessibility and cultural relevance. Its effectiveness and implementation will be evaluated through a pilot Type 2 Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation randomized controlled trial using mixed methods. We will recruit 140 family dyads (caregiver and youth) randomized to intervention or control groups. The intervention includes an educational workbook plus coaching delivered in active (frequent) and sustained (less frequent) phases; the control group receives only the workbook. Findings will inform scalable strategies for T2D prevention across diverse communities 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Actively participate in meetings, including taking notes, preparing presentation materials and co-facilitating 

• Preparing fidelity checklists  

• Assisting with data collection, data analysis and report writing 

• Gain understanding of health and wellness coaching models for chronic disease prevention  

• Mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative) design and analysis  

• Reporting and presenting preliminary findings to diverse audiences 

• Supporting research team with administrative and logistical tasks, as needed 

Supervisor: Dr. Laura Chiavaroli 

Project Description: 

Background/Objective: Certain ethnic populations have an elevated risk of diabetes. The Portfolio Diet Program is a validated digital tool to translate the Portfolio Diet as recommended by Diabetes Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society for diabetes and cardiovascular risk reduction. To enhance the education and engagement component, a 16-session online Portfolio Diet Curriculum was developed integrating behaviour change theory and learning theory. To ensure its acceptability and cultural relevance, assessment in an ethnically diverse community at elevated risk of type 2 diabetes is needed.   

 Methods: 30 adults (equally of South/SouthEast Asian, African/Carribean, Hispanic) from Peel will be recruited to complete a 28d virtual evaluation of the Portfolio Diet Curriculum. An electronic questionnaire will evaluate perceived acceptability, knowledge acquisition, and quality (Mobile Application Rating Scale [uMARS]) and 90-minute focus groups will further explore experiences. Quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively, with subgroup analyses to explore differences by sex, gender and social determinants of health, and qualitative data will be analyzed thematically. 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Work alongside our team to participate in conducting the quality assurance evaluation, including:  

  • participant recruitment and coordination  
  • conducting focus groups  
  • collecting data  
  • performing quantitative and qualitative analyses   
  • critical interpretation of results  
  • writing of the report forming the basis of a manuscript  

• Contribute towards the publication of the work   

•  Attend weekly project meetings with the large team engaged in this project where they will present progress and challenges  

• Supported daily by a PhD graduate student as they will work together on daily activities 

Supervisor: Dr. Terence Tang 

Project Description: 

Background: Lifestyle medicine is an emerging and evolving field where practitioners work with patients to modify lifestyle factors in addition to medications to prevent, manage, and reverse chronic diseases (include diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions). These lifestyle interventions focus on diet, physical activity, sleep, stress management, avoidance of substances, and positive social connections. OHIP covered Lifestyle Medicine clinics have emerged in Ontario including in Peel Region. It is unclear about the current reach and impact of these clinics.  

Objective: To understand the reach and impact of Lifestyle Medicine clinics in Peel Region, and their potential role within the health system.  

Methods:  First, we will identify Lifestyle Medicine clinics in Peel Region through web searches and key informants. Then, we will conduct a qualitative study (semi-structured interviews) with clinicians and staff at identified clinics (recruited via email or telephone).  The interviews will understand the clinicians’ and staff’s perspectives of current reach (e.g. who is being served, access barriers, volumes) and impacts (prevention, management, reversal of chronic diseases).  The perceived roles of Lifestyle Medicine clinics in the health system will also be explored.  

Anticipated Outcomes: As Lifestyle Medicine can be seen as working at the micro (individual patient) level, we intend to use results of this work to engage interested parties in the meso and macro levels (e.g. Ontario Health Team, public health) to explore its role in the broader health system context. 

For more information about Lifestyle Medicine: 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32981575/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37806726/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38304165/ 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Conduct web searches and connect with key informants to map Lifestyle medicine clinics in the Peel Region  

• Involve in recruitment of potential study participants (e.g. email or making phone calls)  

• Conduct qualitative interviews with staff and clinicians. Using a semi-structured approach, the interviews will ask participants about their experiences with the Lifestyle Medicine clinics, their perceived reach, impacts, and any learnings to take away.  

• Student will participate in coding of the qualitative data generated as well as in analysis with an analysis team  

• Student will participate in preparation of knowledge translation activities (paper, conference presentations, interested parties engagement) 

Supervisor: Dr. Vasanti Malik 

Project Description: 

Background: Healthful diets are essential for preventing and managing type 2 diabetes (T2D). With the rise in food insecurity, a well-known barrier to healthy eating, food banks can support clients not only through food provision but also by providing nutrition knowledge. We previously developed an evidence-based nutrition education video for T2D prevention at Seva Food Bank in Mississauga. As client volume grows, we intend to extend its reach by translating the video into an infographic, an effective tool for large-scale health promotion.  

Objective: To translate an evidence-based nutrition education video into an infographic and assess its impact on food selection among clients at Seva. 

Methods: The infographic will be co-designed with community partners and persons with lived experience. Client food selection will be documented for 2 weeks pre-and-post implementation of the infographic through photos and categorized by nutritional quality. Clients will also complete a survey. Data will be analyzed quantitatively. 

Student tasks and responsibilities: 

• Help translate existing evidence-based nutrition education video into an infographic 

• Share infographic with existing project advisory group of community partners and persons with lived experience (Seva client living with T2D) for feedback in a virtual meeting and integrate feedback  

• Evaluate impact of the infographic on client food selection by taking photos of client shopping carts (including nutrition labels) for 2 weeks (90-100 shopping carts) before and for 2 weeks after implementation of the infographic at Seva 

• Help categorize selected foods according to nutritional quality using a nutrient profiling tool  

• Analyze results to compare nutritional quality of selected foods before and after implementation of the infographic using Excel 

• Summarize results, prepare data visualizations and participate in manuscript writing 

• Work alongside other students on the team and attend weekly team meetings to discuss progress and challenges with additional meetings as needed