Research Team Biography

Maureen Dobbins, RN, Ph.D

Email: dobbinsm@mcmaster.ca
Phone: (905) 525-9140 ext. 22481

Maureen Dobbins is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University. Currently she is career scientist of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Her research efforts have sought to understand knowledge transfer and uptake and evidence-informed decision making among public health decision makers in Canada. Studies have included: identification of barriers and facilitators to research utilization; understanding the information needs of public health decision makers at the local, provincial and federal level; evaluating the use of systematic reviews in provincial policies; exploring where research evidence fits into the decision-making process; evaluating the impact of knowledge transfer strategies, and exploring knowledge brokering in public health units in Ontario. On March 10, 2005 she launched the web site www.health-evidence.ca. This registry houses all reviews evaluating the effectiveness of public health and health promotion interventions published since 1985. The value of this registry is that it meets the need for a single source of high quality effectiveness evidence in public health/health promotion; a need clearly articulated by Canadian public health decision makers.