Students who do not wish to declare a field of specialization should enrol in HRM Classic. The advantage centres on the high level of flexibility HRM Classic offers, enabling students to tailor their educational plan to their own unique needs and interests. Students pursue a general methods degree or explore other exciting emerging fields. For example, applicants interested in medical and health sciences education research can work with faculty in the Program for Educational Research and Development on research related to the evaluation of clinical competence. Alternatively, students in HRM Classic might work on medical informatics and knowledge translation research topics, investigating the use of evidence by different professional groups such as health care providers, health systems administrators and government policy-makers and contributing to an improved understanding of the behavioural and contextual factors that determine effective knowledge uptake. Many other areas, including health ethics, can be selected as the focus of study.

Clinical epidemiology employs sound research principles, tempered with practicality, to find the best answers to real-world questions about clinical practice and health care. Individuals training in this field (who usually have a clinical background) acquire the skills required to undertake research that addresses fundamental questions about the effectiveness of clinical therapies, usefulness of screening and diagnostic tools, prognosis and disease causation. Issues related to research synthesis and knowledge translation may also be a focus. Individuals training in clinical epidemiology work alongside world leading clinical epidemiologists who are conducting their research in multiple sites around the world and changing the way medicine is practiced globally. The field of clinical epidemiology in the Health Research Methodology Program offers a unique opportunity to learn and work with the best clinical epidemiologists in the world, thus enabling graduates to make profound contributions to the practice of clinical medicine through research.

Current HRM students who are not designated health care providers, but want to appeal the clinical epidemiology field of specialization, should consult with their supervisor to first discuss if appropriate. They may also consult the HRM Program for details regarding the required summary of research to provide to the Clinical Epidemiology Stream Committee for review and consideration.

Students can enter the clinical epidemiology stream if they fulfill the following criteria:

1. They have a designation of a health care provider based upon a degree or diploma (e.g., doctors, physiotherapists, nutritionists)
2. Their HRM degree research primarily focuses on studies directly relevant to patients (e.g., randomized controlled trials, observational studies or systematic reviews of health related questions).

If a student is not a designated health care provider and wants to appeal these criteria, the can submit a summary of the research (e.g., course papers, studies and research) they have undertaken to the Clinical Epidemiology Stream Committee, towards the end of their HRM training. The committee will review the student’s request to determine if it merits the designation of the clinical epidemiology stream.

Health technology assessment is defined as the evaluation of the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and broader impact of drugs, medical technologies and health systems, both on patient health and the health care system. HTA has gained increasing importance in health care decision making locally and around the world and over the last decade there have been numerous important methodological advances in the techniques of HTA. As a result, there is a growing gap between the need for HTA and the availability of skilled researchers to conduct HTAs. The goal of the HTA field of specialization is to train individuals who, upon graduation, will have the necessary skills to be actively involved in independent and collaborative research in the field of HTA.

Graduates will possess the following skills:

• Strong foundation in the basic principles of HTA
• Advanced decision analysis
• Ability to apply research methods derived from health economics
• Understand and use basic and advanced biostatistics
• Utilize health services research and health policy analysis concepts and methods

HRM faculty members in the HTA Field of Specialization:

• Gord Blackhouse
• James Bowen
• Jean-Eric Tarride
• Feng Xie

Please note that you may consider other HRM faculty members to be your advisor/supervisor to specialize in this field. The faculty listed are HRM faculty members who have identified health technology assessment as their primary field of specialization.

Special note for interested applicants: You must also check whether the HRM faculty member has approved graduate status at the appropriate level (i.e., MSc supervision or PhD supervision).

If you have any questions about the health technology assessment field of specialization, please email the program assistant.