Opportunities
In search of: researchers, patients and community partners
TRANSFORM HF is set up to fund research into heart failure care and prevention that has translational potential and patient-centered design. We also fund projects by trainees focused on new digital technologies and community engagement to advance health equity.
This funding drives scientific, professional, entrepreneurial, and patient engagement or Indigenous health training and mentorship to get novel projects off the ground.
Open competitions
Closed competitions
Coming Soon
Collaboration Grants
The 2023 competition is now open!
TRANSFORM HF is offering Collaboration Starter Grants to encourage, foster, and support members of our community working collaboratively on research and project proposals that advance our mission and expand our network. Three types of supports are available:
- Grants up to $10K for proposal development meetings, collaborative project activities, patient or Knowledge Keeper compensation and facilitation.
- Grants up to $10K for scoping and preliminary project research and data collection.
- Grants up to $10K for research proposal writing and editing.
The number, type of grant, and funding amount for each award to be supported depends on the mix and quality of applications received. Up to four awards are available.
Priority will be given to project proposals that were initiated during a TRANSFORM HF network meeting collaborative activity and/or which expand the network and its reach.
Funding will begin in April 2023. Funds must be spent by April 2024.
To apply, submit a completed Application Form to info@transformhf.ca by March 24, 2023 at 5pm.
Trainee Awards
Training the next generation of heart failure digital health leaders
The 2023 competition has closed.
Trainee awards support University of Toronto Master’s, PhD, and Postdoctoral students who are conducting research that:
- Focuses on new approaches and models of care to address heart failure and inequities in care. Specifically, research should explore how technological advances in digital health (remote monitoring and consultation; wearables and remote diagnostic sensors/testing), machine learning, and AI might enable proactive, personalized, and decentralized solutions that empower patients to become more active in their own health.
- Seeks to co-create with patient or community partners to arrive at potential solutions that respond to realities of the lived experience in a manner of mutual respect and understanding of all parties involved.
- Explores these approaches through the lenses of basic science, clinical practice, data science and artificial technology, Indigenous health, lived experience, health systems, and/or policy change. More than one lens must be applied, and applicants must focus on the translational aspects of their research activities.
Up to three awards will be reserved yearly for Indigenous graduate students or graduate students from underrepresented student populations.
Trainees must be co-supervised by two TRANSFORM HF members from two different disciplines. Award levels are set at $18,000/year for master’s/PhD trainees and $40,000/year for Postdoctoral fellows.
Seed Grants
The 2023 Seed Grant competition has closed.
TRANSFORM HF’s Seed Grants encourage, foster, and support members of our community working collaboratively on research and project proposals that align with our initiative’s goals and approaches.
Undergraduate Summer Research Program
The 2023 USRP competition has closed.
The TRANSFORM HF Undergraduate Summer Research Program (USRP) gives Engineering students the opportunity to train alongside our multidisciplinary community of researchers to help address the grand challenge of inequity in heart failure care.
Students participating in the USRP will receive an award of up to $6,000, which must be supplemented by a $2,000 contribution from their research supervisors to ensure a minimum total stipend of $8,000 for a period of 16 weeks.
To be eligible, students must be registered as a full or part-time undergraduate engineering student at the time of application. Up to two USRP awards are reserved for Indigenous engineering students.
Patient Partners
We need to take the opportunity to be more than a ‘patient.’ To use our voice so our expertise and experience informs and improves the quality of heart failure care.
Welcoming people who live with heart failure to join our mission.
TRANSFORM HF prioritizes new innovations in care that make actual differences on the ground. To that end, we encourage patients, caregivers and family members to get in touch with us. We need your help to plan the best research projects, test and conceptualize new technologies, participate in events, and explore how you think heart failure care should be improved.
The following are opportunities for people with lived experience to participate in research related to heart failure:
FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) Steering Committee
The FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) team is developing a revolutionary healthcare platform to deliver care wherever users may be—at home, at work, in a shelter, or in remote communities. Using smart clothing, FIBRE aims to unobtrusively monitor biological signals 24/7 to enable faster diagnoses, guide just-in-time preventive treatments to reduce disease progression and hospitalization, and provide life-saving interventions. These innovations will transform the healthcare system by empowering users and caregivers to become partners in care.
The FIBRE team is seeking members of the community to join their steering committee and provide guidance based on their lived experience:
- Seniors living independently and having a chronic health condition (age 65+)
- Seniors living in assisted living and/or their care providers (age 65+)
Steering committee members will be expected to share insight on health conditions faced by themselves and their communities, provide feedback on project goals, and ensure the project is relevant to community needs.
The anticipated time commitment is 1-6 hours per month from June–September 2022. Steering committee members will be compensated for their time through an honorarium ($50/hour).
If you are interested in being a part of the steering committee or have any questions, please contact: Janitha Shanmugarajan at janitha.shanmugarajan@uhn.ca
TRANSFORM HF Steering Committee
TRANSFORM HF is seeking a patient partner to sit on the initiative’s Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee meets quarterly to discuss key milestones and guide activities. Representative of TRANSFORM HF’s diverse membership, the Committee is made up of clinicians, scientists, faculty members, trainees, and patient partners. If you are interested in joining the committee, email info@transformhf.ca.
TRANSFORM HF Peer Review Panels
TRANSFORM HF funds research and trainees focused on digital technologies for equitable access to high-quality personalized heart failure care. Our mission is also to enable patients to become more active in their own health and engage them in all of our programs.
Patients, caregivers and family members living with heart failure are integral members of our review panel to select funded projects and trainees. If you are interested in joining a panel, email info@transformhf.ca.
SMaRT Clinic
The SMaRT Clinic research study aims to develop a program that uses digital health tools to help patients when they leave from a hospital admission to home. Volunteers living with one or more chronic conditions (heart failure, COPD, hypertension, diabetes, and mental health) OR caring for someone living with one or more chronic conditions are needed to help inform the design of the program and digital tools to support care delivery at home. Volunteers must have received care at Women’s College Hospital, North York General Hospital, William Osler Health System, or Health Sciences North.
Participation involves at least one of the following: interview, focus groups, and feedback session, to be conducted either remotely or in-person. Volunteers will be reimbursed for their time. Learn more.
vCHAT
Participants living with chronic heart failure are needed for a study using digital behavioral counseling, weekly webcasts, and social network support to improve health status and quality of life for persons living with chronic heart failure. Sites that are currently enrolling participants for vCHAT include: the University Health Network, Sunnybrook Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, and The Ottawa Hospital. Participation is 100% virtual and involves weekly webcasts, online behavior counseling materials, and chatroom discussions.
Participation in this study will help strengthen your knowledge, skill, and confidence in managing your chronic heart failure condition. Additionally, participants will have access to free digital counselling and social network support services. Learn more.