Dr. Anne Snowdon, Scientific Director and CEO, SCAN Health and Director of Clinical Research, HIMSS Analytics, is awarded $1.38 million to research Canada’s healthcare supply chain to identify ways to improve the processes critical to managing COVID-19 and planning for future pandemics.
Dr. Snowdon is leading a team of 18 researchers from across Canada in this one-year study. The research will focus on ways to ensure health teams have safe and effective products that are of high quality and available when needed. It will study the processes involved in the procurement and distribution of health products in seven provinces, to improve planning and co-ordination across provincial, federal and global health systems for effective pandemic management.
“The purpose of this research is to examine supply chain processes and infrastructure to ensure products are available to public health teams and healthcare professionals to protect the health of every Canadian citizen,” says Dr. Snowdon. “This research will inform strategies to ensure Canadians have access to data to inform and enable public health prevention initiatives and to ensure Canadians can access safe, timely and quality care when and where it is needed if they become infected with COVID-19.”
This study is part of the Government of Canada’s investment of more than $109 million to support 139 research teams from across the country that will focus on accelerating the development, testing and implementation of measures to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 and its negative consequences on people, communities and health systems. The funding for this research is provided through Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the International Development Research Centre, in partnership with Alberta Innovates, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Research Manitoba, Research Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation and the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation.