Mentor

Lisa Dolovich

Lisa Dolovich

Principal Investigator

Email: ldolovic@mcmaster.ca

Research Focus:
  • Clinical Therapeutics
  • Population Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Health Services and Policy Research
Afflilations:
  • Research Director and Professor, Department of Family Medicine Research, McMaster University
  • Scientist & Associate Director, Centre for Evaluation of Medicines, St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
  • Ambulatory Care Pharmacotherapy Specialist, Pharmacy Department, St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
  • Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

Biography

Dr. Lisa Dolovich is a Professor and holds the Ontario College of Pharmacists Professorship in Pharmacy Practice at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. She is also affiliated part-time with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. She completed a Canadian Society of Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship at the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines and completed her Master of Science degree in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University.

Dr. Dolovich leads the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Cross-Disciplinary Training (DSECT; www.safeandeffectiverx.com) Program. DSECT is a CIHR training program in bridging scientific domains for drug safety and effectiveness. The goal of the DSECT Program is to provide a training environment for future scientists in Canada to produce new knowledge related to the generation and use of safe and effective medications.

She is an expert in interdisciplinary healthcare team integration, implementation and evaluation of complex interventions in health care, implementation science, and medication prescribing and use. She is co-lead of the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (or Health TAPESTRY) research program (www.healthtapestry.ca) based in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She also co-leads the Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (www.chapprogram.ca) which was recognized as a CIHR-CMAJ Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Award in 2013 and by the BMJ in 2015 as one of the top 20 papers to mark its two digital decades. Dr. Dolovich is also the co-lead of the Ontario Pharmacy Research Collaboration (www.open-pharmacy-research.ca) that began in 2012. Between 2003-2007 she co-led the a large demonstration project examining pharmacist integration into family practice in Ontario (IMPACT; www.impactteam.info) that contributed to the inclusion of pharmacists as regular members of interdisciplinary team based care in Ontario. She has been central in the development of the Quality in Family Practice program (www.qualityinfamilypractice.com). She was recognized as the first-ever Canadian Pharmacist of the Year (2003) and holds the honour of a Canadian Pharmacists Association Centennial pharmacist.

Her research interests include the patient perspective about using or deciding to use medications, pharmacist integration into primary care practice, continuity of healthcare, pharmacy and health services practice research, and evaluating the clinical and policy relevance of interventions that can improve prescribing and patient medication taking behaviour. She holds research grants mainly from government and academic sources, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

Selected Research Projects or Publications:

  1. Price D, Hilts L, Dolovich L.  An Overview of International Evidence in Quality Improvement in Primary Healthcare. Quality Improvement and Innovation Partnership (QIIP). January – March 2010. $25,000
  2. Holbrook A, Bernstein R, Birtwhistle R, Chan D, Dolovich L, Godwin M, Green M, Kaczorowski J, Keshavjee K, Levine M, Manca D.  Developing a National Electronic Network in Primary Care to Advance Drug Safety and Effectiveness (eDSEN). Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). $95,291 March 2010 – February 2011
  3. Holbrook A, Birtwhistle R, Dolovich L, Chan D, Bernstein B, Green M, Kaczorowski J, Godwin M, Manca D, Levine M, Pullenayegum E, Maclure M. A National Electronic Network for Rapid Assessment of Drug Safety and Effectiveness.  Canadian Institutes of Health Research. ($99,025) March 2010 – February 2011
  4. Emberley P (Co-PI), Farrell B (Co-PI), Dolovich L, Jorgenson D, Lyder C, Woloschuk D, Johnson S, McAuliffe A, Mohr H. Access to quality Drug therapy – Applying Pharmacists knowledge To the Primary care System (ADAPTS). Health Canada, Health Care Policy Contribution Program December 2009 – March 2011. $500,000 
  5. Dolovich L, McDonough, Chambers L, Agarwal G, Liddy C. How does the organization of community based networks foster screening, prevention and management of blood pressure? Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Nov 2009 – Oct 2012. $553,919
  6. Kaasalainen S, Donald F, Martin-Misener R, Dicenso A, Dolovich L, Brazil K, Hajistavropoulos T, Marshall D.  Evaluation of a Nurse Practitioner-Led, Interprofessional Pain Management Team in Long-Term. Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. 2009-2012. $205,978
  7. Guirguis LM (PI), Cooney D, Dolovich L, Eberhart G, Hughes CA, Makowsky MJ, Sadowski CA, Schindel TJ, Yuksel N.  Pharmacists’ Adoption of Prescribing. Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy Innovation Fund. 2009-2011. $50,000
  8. McKibbon A (PI), Chan D, Holbrook A, Dolovich L, Tamblyn R, Handler S, Archer N, O’Reilly D. Enabling Medication Management through Health IT. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) June 2009 – September 2010. $415,975
  9. Dolovich L, Lalonde L, Tsuyuki R. Interdisciplinary pharmacist led interventions to improve medication prescribing, use and outcomes. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). 2009-2010. $18,738
  10. Dolovich L (PI), Raina P, Holbrook A, Levine M, Thabane L, Kaczorowski J, Papaioannou A, Goeree R, Tarride JE, Kaasalainen S, Pullenayegum E, Oremus M, Agarwal G, Rangachari PK, Brown E, Singh G, Willison D, Beyenne J, MacKinnon N. Choosing, using and losing medications in older adults: A research training program bridging biosciences, clinical, population health, and health policy research. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (STIHR Grant). April 2009-March 2015. $1,781,943
  11. Dolovich L, Shea B, Leslie W, Holbrook A, Levine M, Thabane L.  Canadian-Based Interventions to Optimize Drug Therapy in Chronic Disease. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) ($98,277)  Nov 2008 – Oct 2009