Research Lead (Temporary Full Time x12 months)
About the role
Position: Research Lead
Unionized: Non-Union
Department: Institute for Better Health
Status: Temporary, Full-Time
Duration: 12-months, possibility of extension
Hours of Work: 37.5 hours / week, Monday - Friday
Hourly Rate: PG11 ($46.39-$57.98)
Posted: July 9, 2025
Posting Deadline: August 9, 2025
Trillium Health Partners and the Institute for Better Health
Trillium Health Partners (THP) is the largest community-based hospital system in Canada. Comprised of Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre, Trillium Health Partners serves the growing and diverse populations of Mississauga, West Toronto and surrounding communities. Trillium Health Partners is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto and is an associate member of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network.
As THP’s research and innovation engine, the Institute for Better Health (IBH) is a core enabler of THP’s mission of a new kind of health care for a healthier community through the application of scientific expertise, innovative thinking and partnerships. Focused on generating cutting-edge science and innovation in health service delivery and population health, IBH leads practical research and innovation that shapes how we engage, design, deliver, and finance health care to solve problems stretching from the bedside to the system. IBH operates within a Learning Health System Model, with specific thematic areas of focus in population health, patient and family engagement, innovative models of care, and implementation and evaluation science.
Our Commitment to and Progress Towards Anti-Black Racism
THP and IBH have made a commitment to becoming a safer and more inclusive environment with a dedicated focus on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy at THP. This commitment is in response to the recognition that Black people systemically experience the organization differently than their white and non-Black colleagues. Similarly, Black scientists and research staff experience the research ecosystem differently. Anti-Black racism is the starting point as Black individuals and communities are disproportionately impacted by the harms of systemic racism and white supremacy culture. In this work, we are committed to disrupting and reconstructing the processes, practices, and systems that contribute to anti-Black racism.
THP established its Equity Secretariat Office in 2020, providing education and training on anti-Black racism, and establishing a THP Circle on Anti-Racism and Inclusion. Today, the Equity Secretariat has become the Equity, Anti-Racism and Inclusion Office, with a current staff of four whose specific focus is on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy and advancing other dimensions of inequity within THP. This office supported the completion of an externally-led Anti-Black Racism Climate Review and resulting report, which includes recommendations and actions that are being integrated into THP’s operating plan. At IBH, the Anti-Black Racism Allyship Initiative (ABRAI) was established in 2020 to understand the experiences of Black staff within IBH and develop an action plan in partnership with Black staff to address anti-Black racism. The action plan has been translated into operational objectives that support the recruitment, retention, and career development of Black staff. As part of this plan, IBH has established an optional, monthly Black Excellence meeting for Black staff at IBH where the purpose is to provide a safe space where all hold power and attendees can connect, network, and support each other.
The Role
The Institute for Better Health is seeking a Research Lead who will support Dr. Laura Desveaux’s research portfolio. The role will involve drawing on behavioural science and implementation science to explore performance and leadership in the context of learning health systems. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to high-impact, real-world research that informs health system transformation to advance the Quintuple Aim. The successful candidate will support a range of projects that explore how beliefs, behaviours, and context shape behaviour, decision-making and, system performance. Dr. Desveaux's portfolio of work aims to uncover how to better design performance improvement strategies that are effective, scalable, and effective.
In addition to supporting scientific activities, the Research Lead will manage the operational elements of the research portfolio. Operational activities include creating and managing study budgets; tracking and resource planning; supporting strategic research portfolio activities; supporting research staff and students in conducting the daily study activities; and organizing the administrative, ethics and regulatory requirements of various research studies. This is a unique opportunity to be exposed to the hospital setting, support innovative health research, and play a pivotal role in enabling and mobilizing health research within hospital and community settings.
Responsibilities
- Support the Principal Investigator with forecasting and anticipating resource needs, including students and staff.
- Support recruitment activities for team members, including both staff and students.
- Train and onboard team members to the portfolio and IBH; liaise with THP more broadly as required.
- Support research team (staff and students) in conducting day-to-day research activities across the project life cycle, including initiation and feasibility assessments, creating study materials (e.g., study protocol, REB application, consent forms, data collection forms), collecting and analyzing research data, reporting results, and study close-out activities.
- Mentor research team in identifying key research questions and developing methodology in accordance with protocol and data analysis plan.
- Provide methodological guidance across projects and lead data analysis activities in collaboration with the research team.
- Oversee operational and financial aspects of the Research Portfolio under the direction of the Principal Investigator.
- Provide ad hoc updates of research progress and portfolio activity as required to support internal and external reporting.
- Provide regular progress updates and prepare reports as determined in partnership with the Principal Investigator and in alignment with project and operational reporting requirements.
- Liaise with internal collaborators and enabling services (e.g., Research Operations, REB, Research Finance, etc.).
- Lead and support knowledge translation activities, including but not limited to peer reviewed publications, conference proceedings, curriculum development, and stakeholder engagement.
- Contribute to growing and amplifying the impact of the research team, including grant development, strengthening relationships with partners and collaborators, and building and managing new partnerships.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications
- PhD in a field relevant to health (e.g., public health, health research methodology, health services research, social sciences), OR Master’s degree in a field relevant to health and 4 years of research experience.
- 3+ years of experience in health or social services-related research and demonstrated knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
- Experience mentoring students and junior research staff.
- Experience working and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, professionals who work in the health system, and health policy/decision-makers in government and non-government organizations.
- Proficiency with statistical software to quality check and mentor research staff and students carrying out analyses.
- Experience leading policy briefs based on research findings.
- Experience with mixed methods research and implementation science frameworks.
- Strong collaboration and relationship management skills to work with and align a diverse, inter-professional team.
- Experience coordinating the development of grant and funding applications.
- Experience coordinating submission to ethics applications at multiple sites.
- Demonstrated initiative, independence, and organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and writing skills.
- Experience leading knowledge dissemination activities related to research to a broad audience.
Please submit the following application components in a single file (PDF preferred):
- Cover letter detailing your interest in the role and the related area of research
- Resume / CV
- Sample of a knowledge product (infographic, report, peer-reviewed publication, video, or learning module) for which you were the primary author or contributor
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the posting timeframe until the position is filled or the posting is closed.
Equity and antiracism are essential to academic excellence, and fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applicants from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Ontario Human Rights Code based on race, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nations, Métis or Inuk/Inuit person.
Trillium Health Partners is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a healthy, safe and respectful environment for healing, based on our values compassion, excellence and courage. To be Better Together, we commit to fostering a respectful workplace culture that promotes a safe and supportive environment for everyone who provides care, supports caregiving, receives care or visits the hospital.
In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the Ontario Human Rights Code Trillium Health Partners will provide accommodations throughout the recruitment and selection process to applicants with disabilities. If selected to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please inform Human Resources of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require in respect of any materials or processes used to ensure your equal participation.
All personal information is collected under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Trillium Health Partners is identified under the French Language Services Act.
We thank all those who apply but only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.
About Trillium Health Partners
Trillium Health Partners is a leading hospital with an outstanding record of performance, fiscal responsibility and quality patient care. The hospital encompasses three main sites – Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre – offering the full range of acute care hospital services, as well as a variety of community-based, specialized programs.
Our intention is to achieve the highest quality of care that is easily accessible for our community, at the lowest cost. We are committed to creating an exceptional experience for everyone who walks through our doors.
As our diverse community continues to grow and age, and as more people are living with chronic diseases, we’re taking into account the inevitable changes on the horizon. We know that to continue to deliver exceptional patient care, we must think and act differently, and take a new and innovative approach to the delivery of health care. We envision a new kind of health care for a healthier community – an inter-connected system of care that is organized around the patient, both inside the hospital and beyond its walls. Through partnership, working in a coordinated way across the system, we can meet the needs of our patients and continue to provide outstanding, sustainable quality patient care.
As partners in creating a new kind of health care, we are Better Together.
Research Lead (Temporary Full Time x12 months)
About the role
Position: Research Lead
Unionized: Non-Union
Department: Institute for Better Health
Status: Temporary, Full-Time
Duration: 12-months, possibility of extension
Hours of Work: 37.5 hours / week, Monday - Friday
Hourly Rate: PG11 ($46.39-$57.98)
Posted: July 9, 2025
Posting Deadline: August 9, 2025
Trillium Health Partners and the Institute for Better Health
Trillium Health Partners (THP) is the largest community-based hospital system in Canada. Comprised of Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre, Trillium Health Partners serves the growing and diverse populations of Mississauga, West Toronto and surrounding communities. Trillium Health Partners is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto and is an associate member of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network.
As THP’s research and innovation engine, the Institute for Better Health (IBH) is a core enabler of THP’s mission of a new kind of health care for a healthier community through the application of scientific expertise, innovative thinking and partnerships. Focused on generating cutting-edge science and innovation in health service delivery and population health, IBH leads practical research and innovation that shapes how we engage, design, deliver, and finance health care to solve problems stretching from the bedside to the system. IBH operates within a Learning Health System Model, with specific thematic areas of focus in population health, patient and family engagement, innovative models of care, and implementation and evaluation science.
Our Commitment to and Progress Towards Anti-Black Racism
THP and IBH have made a commitment to becoming a safer and more inclusive environment with a dedicated focus on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy at THP. This commitment is in response to the recognition that Black people systemically experience the organization differently than their white and non-Black colleagues. Similarly, Black scientists and research staff experience the research ecosystem differently. Anti-Black racism is the starting point as Black individuals and communities are disproportionately impacted by the harms of systemic racism and white supremacy culture. In this work, we are committed to disrupting and reconstructing the processes, practices, and systems that contribute to anti-Black racism.
THP established its Equity Secretariat Office in 2020, providing education and training on anti-Black racism, and establishing a THP Circle on Anti-Racism and Inclusion. Today, the Equity Secretariat has become the Equity, Anti-Racism and Inclusion Office, with a current staff of four whose specific focus is on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy and advancing other dimensions of inequity within THP. This office supported the completion of an externally-led Anti-Black Racism Climate Review and resulting report, which includes recommendations and actions that are being integrated into THP’s operating plan. At IBH, the Anti-Black Racism Allyship Initiative (ABRAI) was established in 2020 to understand the experiences of Black staff within IBH and develop an action plan in partnership with Black staff to address anti-Black racism. The action plan has been translated into operational objectives that support the recruitment, retention, and career development of Black staff. As part of this plan, IBH has established an optional, monthly Black Excellence meeting for Black staff at IBH where the purpose is to provide a safe space where all hold power and attendees can connect, network, and support each other.
The Role
The Institute for Better Health is seeking a Research Lead who will support Dr. Laura Desveaux’s research portfolio. The role will involve drawing on behavioural science and implementation science to explore performance and leadership in the context of learning health systems. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to high-impact, real-world research that informs health system transformation to advance the Quintuple Aim. The successful candidate will support a range of projects that explore how beliefs, behaviours, and context shape behaviour, decision-making and, system performance. Dr. Desveaux's portfolio of work aims to uncover how to better design performance improvement strategies that are effective, scalable, and effective.
In addition to supporting scientific activities, the Research Lead will manage the operational elements of the research portfolio. Operational activities include creating and managing study budgets; tracking and resource planning; supporting strategic research portfolio activities; supporting research staff and students in conducting the daily study activities; and organizing the administrative, ethics and regulatory requirements of various research studies. This is a unique opportunity to be exposed to the hospital setting, support innovative health research, and play a pivotal role in enabling and mobilizing health research within hospital and community settings.
Responsibilities
- Support the Principal Investigator with forecasting and anticipating resource needs, including students and staff.
- Support recruitment activities for team members, including both staff and students.
- Train and onboard team members to the portfolio and IBH; liaise with THP more broadly as required.
- Support research team (staff and students) in conducting day-to-day research activities across the project life cycle, including initiation and feasibility assessments, creating study materials (e.g., study protocol, REB application, consent forms, data collection forms), collecting and analyzing research data, reporting results, and study close-out activities.
- Mentor research team in identifying key research questions and developing methodology in accordance with protocol and data analysis plan.
- Provide methodological guidance across projects and lead data analysis activities in collaboration with the research team.
- Oversee operational and financial aspects of the Research Portfolio under the direction of the Principal Investigator.
- Provide ad hoc updates of research progress and portfolio activity as required to support internal and external reporting.
- Provide regular progress updates and prepare reports as determined in partnership with the Principal Investigator and in alignment with project and operational reporting requirements.
- Liaise with internal collaborators and enabling services (e.g., Research Operations, REB, Research Finance, etc.).
- Lead and support knowledge translation activities, including but not limited to peer reviewed publications, conference proceedings, curriculum development, and stakeholder engagement.
- Contribute to growing and amplifying the impact of the research team, including grant development, strengthening relationships with partners and collaborators, and building and managing new partnerships.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications
- PhD in a field relevant to health (e.g., public health, health research methodology, health services research, social sciences), OR Master’s degree in a field relevant to health and 4 years of research experience.
- 3+ years of experience in health or social services-related research and demonstrated knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
- Experience mentoring students and junior research staff.
- Experience working and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, professionals who work in the health system, and health policy/decision-makers in government and non-government organizations.
- Proficiency with statistical software to quality check and mentor research staff and students carrying out analyses.
- Experience leading policy briefs based on research findings.
- Experience with mixed methods research and implementation science frameworks.
- Strong collaboration and relationship management skills to work with and align a diverse, inter-professional team.
- Experience coordinating the development of grant and funding applications.
- Experience coordinating submission to ethics applications at multiple sites.
- Demonstrated initiative, independence, and organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and writing skills.
- Experience leading knowledge dissemination activities related to research to a broad audience.
Please submit the following application components in a single file (PDF preferred):
- Cover letter detailing your interest in the role and the related area of research
- Resume / CV
- Sample of a knowledge product (infographic, report, peer-reviewed publication, video, or learning module) for which you were the primary author or contributor
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the posting timeframe until the position is filled or the posting is closed.
Equity and antiracism are essential to academic excellence, and fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applicants from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Ontario Human Rights Code based on race, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nations, Métis or Inuk/Inuit person.
Trillium Health Partners is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a healthy, safe and respectful environment for healing, based on our values compassion, excellence and courage. To be Better Together, we commit to fostering a respectful workplace culture that promotes a safe and supportive environment for everyone who provides care, supports caregiving, receives care or visits the hospital.
In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the Ontario Human Rights Code Trillium Health Partners will provide accommodations throughout the recruitment and selection process to applicants with disabilities. If selected to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please inform Human Resources of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require in respect of any materials or processes used to ensure your equal participation.
All personal information is collected under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Trillium Health Partners is identified under the French Language Services Act.
We thank all those who apply but only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.
About Trillium Health Partners
Trillium Health Partners is a leading hospital with an outstanding record of performance, fiscal responsibility and quality patient care. The hospital encompasses three main sites – Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre – offering the full range of acute care hospital services, as well as a variety of community-based, specialized programs.
Our intention is to achieve the highest quality of care that is easily accessible for our community, at the lowest cost. We are committed to creating an exceptional experience for everyone who walks through our doors.
As our diverse community continues to grow and age, and as more people are living with chronic diseases, we’re taking into account the inevitable changes on the horizon. We know that to continue to deliver exceptional patient care, we must think and act differently, and take a new and innovative approach to the delivery of health care. We envision a new kind of health care for a healthier community – an inter-connected system of care that is organized around the patient, both inside the hospital and beyond its walls. Through partnership, working in a coordinated way across the system, we can meet the needs of our patients and continue to provide outstanding, sustainable quality patient care.
As partners in creating a new kind of health care, we are Better Together.