Last week, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced an investment of over $4.3M to help transform Canada’s health systems through the Health System Impact Program, including a Post-doctoral Fellowship for Dr. Kelly O’Neil with the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging at Mount Saint Vincent University and Nova Scotia Health Continuing Care. Dr. O’Neil’s post-doctoral program is focused on enhancing case management services for older adults accessing continuing care in Nova Scotia.
Said Dr. O’Neil, “This collaboration will generate new knowledge about engaging, understanding, and supporting older adults with complex health and social care needs and the continuing care staff who support them. I bring a critical perspective focused on equity in older adults’ access to health and social care, and I am excited by the opportunities ahead to effect positive health systems change in my community.”
Dr. O’Neil is one of 20 Health System Impact Post-doctoral fellows across Canada – one of 2 from Atlantic Canada. Her research supervisors for this work will be Glenda Keenan, Senior Director with Nova Scotia Health Continuing Care (an MSVU alum) and Dr. Janice Keefe at the NS Centre on Aging (MSVU).
“The Health System Impact Program focuses on health system transformation to ensure that people in Canada have access to the highest quality care. Through this initiative, PhD trainees, postdoctoral researchers and early-career researchers will collaborate with health organizations across the country to lead projects aimed at generating evidence to improve Canada’s health systems, services and policies.” (Canadian Institutes of Health Research release)
Dr. O’Neil holds a doctoral degree in educational studies from St. Francis Xavier University with a focus on older adult learning. Her doctoral thesis focused on the inclusion of older women from across Nova Scotia in the development of an audio podcast that explored women’s experiences of learning, personal identities and histories, and self-representation. She hold’s a master’s degree in gerontology from MSVU where her master’s research on housing insecurity among older women living with a low income in HRM garnered the university’s Graduate Thesis Award. She obtained a bachelor of social work degree from Dalhousie University with a focus on critical, anti-oppressive practice.
In addition to her academic studies, Dr. O’Neil has been a valuable member of the NS Centre on Aging’s research team working on projects focused on older workers, family/friend caregiving, and dementia education. The Health System Impact Program is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).