The research we conduct at Niagara Health has a profound impact on the health and well-being of our patients and communities, and contributes to better understanding some of the most significant healthcare challenges of our time with the potential to benefit patients in Niagara and across Canada.
Heather O'Grady is a post-doctoral fellow with the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute. She is helping to embed patient and family engagement into the hospital's research culture.
Heather O’Grady knows that research should never be done in isolation from the people it aims to serve.
“Nothing about us without us,” she says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
It’s a philosophy that has shaped O’Grady’s work and led her to Niagara Health. As a post-doctoral fellow at the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute (NHKI), O’Grady is helping to embed patient and family engagement into the hospital’s research culture.
“If we’re going to be doing research for a certain population, it’s really important that we engage that population throughout the process,” O’Grady says. “It’s about making research more accessible, acceptable and meaningful.”
Over the next two years, O’Grady’s primary focus is building capacity for patient and family involvement in research at Niagara Health. She’s leading in collaboration with the Office of Patient Experience and Niagara Health Engagement Network, seeking to develop a framework for involving patients and continuing leading an international study that evaluates communication tools used in the consent process for clinical trials.
“This is an opportunity to embed patient and family engagement from the ground up,” she says. “We’re trying to ask questions that matter to patients, families, clinicians—whoever is going to be impacted — and make sure we’re doing research that truly reflects their needs.”
A post-doctoral fellowship is a stepping stone between doctoral studies and an independent research career, allowing early-career scientists to refine their skills and expertise, similar to a residency for physicians. In O’Grady’s case, it’s an opportunity to expand her skills while working under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Tang, NHKI Executive Director and Chief Scientist.
Her path to this work wasn’t always clear, however.
Originally from Burlington, O’Grady completed a bachelor’s degree in human kinetics at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. But after graduating, she found herself at a crossroads.
She debated pursuing a career in physiotherapy or attending medical school. Research, however, wasn’t much of a consideration because she hadn’t had much exposure to it.
“It feels intuitive — of course, patients should be involved in research that affects them — but for a long time, that just wasn’t the way things were done. We still have a lot of work to do to make engagement meaningful and not just a checkbox.”
A passion for patient-focused care
That changed when she enrolled in the master’s program for rehabilitation science at McMaster University, where she met Dr. Michelle Kho, a physiotherapist and clinician-scientist in the intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.
It didn’t take long for O’Grady to develop a passion for knowledge translation—bridging the gap between scientific discovery and real-world application – under Dr. Kho’s guidance. She transferred from her master’s program to PhD studies to immerse herself even more in research, including the CYCLE trial, which explored whether in-bed cycling could improve physical function outcomes for ICU survivors.
Dr. Kho will speak about the trial at the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute Research Day on May 1 – fitting, given Niagara Health was one of the few community sites to participate in the trial. The trial, and the accompanying systematic review led by O’Grady, were published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine journal, NEJM Evidence.
While O’Grady’s doctoral work originally focused solely on ICU rehabilitation, she had to adapt her plans when the COVID-19 pandemic made it impractical to conduct one of her planned studies. A chance opportunity to collaborate on an initiative to improve the research consent process brought her into direct contact with patients and families, and proved transformative.
“I got to work with patients as partners in research, not just as participants,” O’Grady says. “It was a shift in perspective. Research isn’t just about coming up with answers, it’s about making sure we’re even asking the right questions in the first place.”
During that time, O’Grady connected with Dr. Tsang through the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group. She learned about Dr. Tsang’s work as a clinician and was inspired by her efforts to build a national community hospital research network, including launching the NHKI.
Since joining Niagara Health last September on a two-year contract with Dr. Tsang as her mentor, O’Grady continues to carry her philosophy about patient-focused research forward.
Historically, research has been researcher-driven, with little input from the people it affects, O’Grady notes. That’s changing, she says, but there’s still a long way to go.
“It feels intuitive — of course, patients should be involved in research that affects them — but for a long time, that just wasn’t the way things were done. We still have a lot of work to do to make engagement meaningful and not just a checkbox.”
She sees patient engagement as crucial not only for ethical reasons but for improving the quality of research itself.
“We need to make sure we’re conducting research in a way that’s acceptable to patients and families,” she says. “Are we measuring outcomes that are actually important? Are the interventions we’re testing things that people will actually want to use?”
That work, she acknowledges, can be challenging. Researchers are often focused on their studies and timelines, and bringing in new perspectives requires flexibility and a willingness to listen. But O’Grady says the effort is worth it.
“It’s not just about having patients at the table,” she says. “It’s about truly listening to them and making sure their voices are reflected in what we do.”
