Research Report
Drs. Dan Lizotte, Amanda Terry and Keith Thompson were part of the exciting lineup of events and activities during this year’s Schulich Homecoming held September 26th - 28th, 2025. Dr. Sarah Gallagher, Director of the Western Institute for Earth and Space Exploration hosted an event that highlighted technology based health innovations relevant to remote care. Groups of alumni toured the Western Space Mission Control Facility and were shown examples of these technologies.
In the photo below, Drs. Lizotte and Thompson are demonstrating the use of an artificial intelligence tool called an AI scribe, which transcribes the conversation between a practitioner and a patient and summarizes the visit into a structured note.
Drs. Dan Lizotte and Keith Thompson
Faculty News
As the 2025 Dr. Ian McWhinney Lecturer, Dr. Moira Stewart delivered a very successful and well-received presentation to a large in-person and on-line audience with attendees from around the world. Dr. Stewart’s lecture was entitled Intellect, Emotion, Action and Evidence. As part of the McWhinney Lecture Series day, Dr. Stewart met with members of the Department of Family Medicine’s Research Committee, providing inspiration and motivation to continue to ask and answer questions most relevant to the practice of family medicine, and to do so within collaborative interdisciplinary research teams.
Dr. Judith Belle Brown, pictured with her hosts Drs. Rika Kato and Tesshu Kusaba (an MClSc graduate), where she presented the Keynote Address at the 16th Annual Conference of the Japan Primary Care Association in Sapporo, Japan in June. Dr. Brown was also a Visiting Professor at two interdisciplinary family practice teaching sites, both in rural locations, one in Sarabetsu, Hokkaido, and the other near Nagahama, Shiga, Japan. The focus of her work and teaching was the patient-centered clinical method which is widely endorsed in Japan.
Drs. Rika Kato, Judith Belle Brown, Tesshu Kusaba
The Centre for Studies in Family Medicine would like to congratulate Dr. Robert J. Petrella, who has been elected as a 2025 fellow to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS).
The CAHS Fellowship recognizes members of the Canadian health sciences community on the basis of their demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies, commitment to advancing health sciences, and evidence of contributions to advance inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility in Canada.
“I am honoured to be recognized by the CAHS, which acknowledges my research and impact to support chronic disease prevention among Canadians, especially for populations that are harder to reach and are at higher risk,” says Dr. Petrella. “It is also important to me to recognize the excellence and scholarship of my research team, many trainees and colleagues at UBC, Western University, and abroad who have truly embraced an interprofessional team-based context in establishing evidence needed to implement innovative solutions for complex health disparities.
“Much of the foundation for my research was laid while I was at Western University, and I have also had the privilege to build and grow new research perspectives and opportunities at UBC,” he continues. “I am particularly grateful for the early influence of Drs. Brian Hennen (at Western University) and Carol Herbert (at both Western University and UBC), who both encouraged me to pursue a research career in family medicine, which I have found to be professionally and personally fulfilling.”
For Further Details: https://cahs-acss.ca/2025-elected-fellows/ & https://familypractice.ubc.ca/robert-petrella-cahs/
Unnur Brown Leadership Award in Health Policy
The Department of Family Medicine is once again pleased to invite applications for the Unnur Brown Leadership Award in Health Policy. The Award Criteria and Application Form can be found on the CSFM Website/News .
The following Schulich Medicine students are eligible to apply for research support through this award:
- Undergraduate students in year 4 (post clinical clerkship year) in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program
- Residents in Family Medicine
- Graduate students in the Master of Clinical Science - Family Medicine program
Please note, the deadline to receive applications has been extended to 11:59pm on October 31st. Should you have any questions, please contact Kim Champion, Administrative Assistant (Research Dissemination & Office Coordinator), Centre for Studies in Family Medicine kim.champion@schulich.uwo.ca.
CSFM Brown Bag Lunch Seminar
Please join us for the CSFM Brown Bag Lunch Seminar series. The November seminar will feature Dr. Bridget Ryan discussing her work in the area of Virtual Visits in Primary Care.
This seminar is online and scheduled for November 12th, 2025, from 12-noon to 1:00 p.m.
The upcoming December seminar will feature Dr. Maria Mathews’ work in the area of co-management of patients with chronic illnesses.
Please contact Leslie.meredith@schulich.uwo.ca if you would like to be sent the Zoom invitation.
Experiences from COVID-19 Pandemic
Dr. Maria Mathews and team are looking to preserve your experiences and the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic response and incorporate them into a future Middlesex London region pandemic preparedness plan.
This is an online priority setting exercise (three rounds) that would take approx. 30 mins total over a few weeks. The first survey will be open until the end of October. You will be asked to rate the importance of potential primary care pandemic supports.
Participants must live or work in the city of London or Middlesex County, and be:
- primary care providers (such as family physicians, primary care focused nurse practitioners and primary care focused RNs/RPNs),
- primary care/health system leaders or managers, or
- public health policymakers who are involved in pandemic preparedness and planning efforts in the London – Middlesex region.
Please click this link to review the letter of information and consent and respond to the survey if interested https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6niYqbp20lJOSNM or scan the QR code for access to the survey.
TUTOR-PHC Call for Applications 2026
We are currently recruiting for the 2026-2027 cohort of fellows and the call for applications has now begun. We request faculty members to reach out to their graduate students, professional organizations, colleagues and contacts.
Applications for TUTOR-PHC are open to graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, early and mid-career clinicians, and decision makers in primary health care.
What is the program?
TUTOR-PHC is a one-year, pan-Canadian interdisciplinary research capacity building program that has been training primary health care researchers and decision-makers from family medicine, nursing, psychology, epidemiology, social work, occupational therapy, education, policy and many other disciplines since 2003.
Why apply?
- Primary health care research training
- Valuable feedback on your own primary health care research
- Mentorship from experienced interdisciplinary primary health care researchers and decision-makers
- Interdisciplinary team experience
Program fees
Each trainee will be responsible for a $3,000 CND (plus appl tax) program fee – which includes accommodation / travel to the Symposium
When is the deadline to apply?
December 12, 2025
For more information, please go to the website at: https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/tutorphc/
Contact Project Coordinator, Priya Garg (tutor@uwo.ca) if you are interested in applying.
Please feel free to share this with potential candidates or those that may be interested in this program.
Presentations
Petrella R, Gavarkovs A, Blunt W, Majoni M, Styffe C, Gill D. Effects of lifestyle counselling elective on learning, well-being, and career choice among medical students. World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) World Conference 2025. Lisbon, Portugal. September 17-21, 2025. (Oral Presentation)
The Trillium Primary Health Care Research Day was held in person at the Sheraton Centre Toronto on October 17th, 2025. Faculty members of the Department of Family Medicine, and their students, presented their research via oral and poster sessions as follows:
Oral Presentation: Brown JB, Thorpe C, George C, “Primary Care Networks in Ontario: A Qualitative Exploration”
Oral Presentation: Garg A, Wyman C, Mathews M, Ryan D, Meredith L, “Family physicians’ and specialists’ perceptions of comanagement of patients with a chronic illness”
Oral Presentation: Ryan BL, Stewart M, Mathews M, Lam M, Thompson K, Cejic S, Reichert S, “Trends in Family Physician Virtual Care and Health Care Utilization: A Population Study using Health Administrative Data”
Panel Discussion: Introduction & Moderator: McKay S, Panelists: Muggah, E, Breton, M, Menkhorst, K, “Access Now and the New Frontier”
Poster Presentation: daSilva M, Ryan BL, Brown JB, “Creating a Model for Choosing between Virtual and In-Person Family Physician Visits: Incorporating Patient and Family Physician Perspectives”
Poster Presentation: Golden G, Wang L, Reid G, “Having a Regular Family Physician reduces MH service use for children and youth with Chronic Health Conditions in Ontario”
Poster Presentation: Phung J, Mathews M, Hedden L, Lukewich J, Ryan D, Leamon T, Curnew D,Poitras ME, Beaulieu C, Meredith L, Spencer S, Oelke ND, “A Portrait of Family Practice Nurses in Canada”
Poster Presentation: Terry AL, daSilva M, Dong M, Kakadiaris I, Kelly K, Kueper J, Liaw W, Lizotte D, Sasseville M, Schers H, “Creating a Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence in Family Medicine & Primary Care”
Poster Presentation: Young G, “A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Provider Perceptions of the Primary Care Diabetes Support Program”
Approved Grant Funding
Title: Predictors and Outcomes of Quality Mental Health Follow-up for Children and Youth in the Primary Care System using Health Administrative Data in Ontario
Granting Agency: CIHR – Project Grant
Principal Investigator: Reid, G.J.
Co-Investigators: Golden. G., Anderson. K., Menear. M., Thind. A., Mathews. M., Terry. A.
Funding Amount: $321,300
Grant Duration: 03-2025 to 02-2028 (3 yrs)
Title: Sport fandom to engage newcomers to Canada in type 2 diabetes prevention: A pilot, cluster
randomized controlled trial of a community-based health behaviour change and exercise
intervention (FIT for Newcomers)
Granting Agency: CIHR – Project Grant
Principal Investigator: Petrella, R.J.
Co-Investigators: Aladeimi, M; Ashe, MC; Crocker, K; Esses, VM; Gill, DP; Irwin, JD; Radhaa, A; Reichert, SM; Shroff, F; Stranges, S; Vanderloo, LM; Zou, G
Funding Amount: $100,000
Grant Duration: 03-2025 to 02-2026 (1 yr)
Publications
Bataineh JN, O'Hagan R, Hand C, Sibbald SL, Pfingstgraef K, Glista D. Well-functioning primary care systems through audiology and speech-language pathology integration: a scoping review. Disabil Rehabil. 2025 Aug 22:1-17. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2025.2546559. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40844471. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40844471/
Blunt WM, Irwin JD, Petrella RJ, Shelley J, Smith MJ. "Those risks, that preventative work, that is the bedrock of family medicine": A foucauldian discourse analysis of communicating risk for type 2 diabetes among primary care providers. BMC Prim Care. 2025 Jul 10;26(1):220. doi: 10.1186/s12875-025-02899-7. PMID: 40640742; PMCID: PMC12243163. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40640742/
Cuschieri A, Ryan BL, Cuschieri S. Integrating multimorbidity education into undergraduate medical curriculum: A systematic review. Future Healthc J. 2025 Apr 30;12(2):100252. doi: 10.1016/j.fhj.2025.100252. PMID: 40496904; PMCID: PMC12149426. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40496904/
Golden G, Wang L, Reid GJ. Child and youth chronic physical health conditions: a comparison of survey data and linked administrative health data in Ontario. BMC Pediatr. 2025 Oct 2;25(1):741. doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-05747-w. PMID: 41039301. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41039301/
Hart HF, White DK, Reichert SM, Stefanik JJ. Associations of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, Pain, Function and Quality of Life With Diabetes and Knee Osteoarthritis: Data From the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Musculoskeletal Care. 2025 Jun;23(2):e70128. doi: 10.1002/msc.70128. PMID: 40495273; PMCID: PMC12152236. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40495273/
Hedden L, Grudniewicz A, Katz A, Lavergne MR, McDonald T, Rudoler D, Austin N, Halas G, Spencer S, Thelen R, Mathews M, McCracken R, McGrail K, Shiplett H, Strumpf EC. Informing family physician payment reform in Canada: protocol for a cross-provincial, multimethod study. BMJ Open. 2025 Jun 20;15(6):e103894. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-103894. PMID: 40541439; PMCID: PMC12184345. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40541439/
Kfrerer ML, Gill DP, Styffe C, Aspinall PS, Tang A, Ovadia J, Hirsh C, Petrella RJ. Engaging Racialized Newcomers in Chronic Disease Prevention and Management: A Scoping Review of Health Promotion Interventions. Posted on medRxiv pre-print server on Sept. 2, 2025; Available from: https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2025.08.29.25334665v1 (Also submitted for peer-reviewed publication).
Kfrerer ML, Majoni M, Gill DP, Riggin B, Blunt WM, Ashe M, Petrella RJ. Health and Implementation Outcomes of a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Women: A Single-Arm Intervention Study. Translational Behavioral Medicine (Accepted Oct 6, 2025).
Kothari A, Sibbald SL, McCutcheon C, Berta W, Urquhart R, Horsley T, Comer L, Graham ID. How does integrated knowledge translation work? A realist review. Health Res Policy Syst. 2025 Aug 5;23(1):102. doi: 10.1186/s12961-025-01374-0. PMID: 40764562; PMCID: PMC12323222. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40764562/
Lukewich J, Mathews M, Myles S, Dufour É, Asghari S, Rioux-Dubois A, Martin-Misener R, Halcomb EJ, Chiu P, Poitras ME, Leslie K, McGraw M, Ryan D, Curnew D, Meredith L, Morin A, Swab M, Braithwaite S, Macdonald D, Hedden L, Aubrey-Bassler K, Calver J, Bruneau J. Scope of practice of primary care nurses: a protocol for an umbrella review of international literature. BMJ Open. 2025 Jul 25;15(7):e103319. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-103319. PMID: 40713048; PMCID: PMC12306317. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40713048/
Mathews M, Ryan D, Meredith L, Grushka D, Hedden L, Lukewich J, Young G, Wong EKW. Pandemic planning for primary care in Southwestern Ontario: protocol for a sequential multiple-methods design. BMJ Open. 2025 Aug 31;15(8):e107804. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107804. PMID: 40887125. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40887125/
Omer K, Clemens KK, Zhu Y, LaPier H, Moist L, Ernst J, Reichert SM, Iansavichene A, Chiu M. Nonpharmacologic and Nonsurgical Weight Management Interventions for Patients With Advanced CKD: A Scoping Review of the Medical Literature. Kidney Med. 2025 Apr 15;7(6):101004. doi: 10.1016/j.xkme.2025.101004. PMID: 40510614; PMCID: PMC12152611. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40510614/
Othman EH, Aljafreh M, Alosta MR, Masadeh R, Ryan BL, Alsharawneh A, Ayed A, Zeilani RS. Arabic translation and psychometric validation of the revised Patient Perception of Patient-Centeredness (PPPC-R) questionnaire. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Sep 1;25(1):1166. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13191-w. PMID: 40890714. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40890714/.
Phillips SM, Bourke M, Burke SM, Reid GJ, Gilliland J, Tucker P. Toddlers' and preschoolers' movement behaviours and mental health: protocol for the MOvement behaviours and irritaBILITY in early childhood (MOBILITY) prospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2025 Aug 25;15(8):e101724. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-101724. PMID: 40854834; PMCID: PMC12382518. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40854834/
Ryan BL, Brown JB, Freeman TR, DaSilva M, Stewart M, Terry AL. Safeguarding Compassion in Virtual Family Physician Care. J Am Board Fam Med. 2025 Oct 6. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2024.240460R1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41052935. https://www.jabfm.org/content/early/2025/10/03/jabfm.2024.240460R1
Saqib K, Ivers N, Brown KA, Daneman N, Leung V, Langford BJ, Garber G, Grimshaw JM, Silverman MS, Taljaard M, Brehaut J, Thavorn K, Lacroix M, Friedman L, Shuldiner J, Gomes T, Gushue S, Leis JA, Zwarenstein M, Schwartz KL. Spillover From an Intervention on Antibiotic Prescribing for Family Physicians: A Post Hoc Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jul 1;8(7):e2518261. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.18261. PMID: 40591360; PMCID: PMC12215572. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40591360/
Spencer S, Hedden L, Lukewich J, Marshall EG, Mathews M, Idrees S, Isenor JE, Martin-Misener R, Meredith L, Vaughan C, Ryan D. "You do it for the patient": a qualitative analysis of changes to primary care nurses' workplace demands and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Front Health Serv. 2025 Jun 26;5:1557654. doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1557654. PMID: 40641959; PMCID: PMC12241095. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40641959/
Tassiopoulos, K. N., Puka, K., Bax, K., Secco, M., Andrade, A., DeVries-Rizzo, M., Franklin, M., Gangam, H., Levin, S., Nouri, M. N., Prasad, A. N., Spinelli, E., Guangyong Zou, G. Y., Vingilis, E., Nixon Speechley, K. (2025). Making Mindfulness Matter© may improve quality of life in young children with epilepsy. Pediatrics Open Science.1(3). DOI: 10.1542/pedsos.2025-000585.
Willis A, Shiely F, Howie AH, Treweek S, Taljaard M, Loudon K, Murphy E, Bhakoo A, Yazdani Y, Ward F, Janiaud P, Haren A, Liang AY, Robinson C, Deng D, Hemkens L, Greene EO, Slattery L, Zwarenstein M. Retrospective use of the Pragmatic-Explanatory Continuum Indicator Summary-2 trial design tool to assess design choices in randomized controlled trials: an empirical review. J Clin Epidemiol. 2025 Sep 1;187:111959. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2025.111959. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40902865. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40902865/
Young G, Garg A, Ryan D, Meredith L, Harris S, Reichert SM, Hedden L, Mathews M. Patient perspectives of the operationalization of adult patient-centered care at the Primary Care Diabetes Support Program, London, Ontario: A Qualitative Descriptive Study. Can J Diabetes. 2025 Jul 4:S1499-2671(25)00130-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjd.2025.06.007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40618890. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40618890/
Young G, Mathews M, Meredith L, Sibbald SL, Ryan D. Person-Centred Plans From the Perspective of Persons-Supported in a Community Care Setting: A Qualitative Study. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2025 May;38(3):e70084. doi: 10.1111/jar.70084. PMID: 40533876; PMCID: PMC12177115. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40533876/
