Carole Lunny

• Role : Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
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I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Knowledge Translation program at the University of Toronto under Dr Andrea Tricco, and the Cochrane Hypertension Review Group at UBC under Dr Jim Wright. I am a Canadian citizen who is fluent in French and English. I received my PhD in January of 2020, and I trained as an epidemiologist/methodologist with the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Area of expertise

My program of research is in evaluation of methods in evidence synthesis. It is cross-cutting, does not focus on one medical discipline, and aims to improve the conduct of research as a whole by identifying sources of error and bias in systematic reviews, overviews of reviews (a type of knowledge synthesis where reviews are synthesized as opposed to primary studies), network meta-analyses, and primary research (e.g. RCTs, observational studies). Indeed, my research often gets categorised under CIHR model for “knowledge translation” particularly in placing research findings in the context of other knowledge and sociocultural norms.

Active program of research

I very much have an active program of research where I engage students, national and international collaborators, and patient partners. I have published 27 peer-reviewed publications; 16 as first author. They  have been cited collectively 523 times. I have 7 research studies that are submitted to peer reviewed journals, and 14 studies that are underway at different stages of conduct. For my list of publications, please see https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YaJAbZsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao  I disseminate my research through social media (twitter, websites), university webinars, and partner/stakeholder newsletters.

In total, I have been awarded $258,000 in scholarship and award funding. I have also been awarded $417,216 in lifetime grant dollars. My big project of which I am chair and coordinator, is the development of a risk of bias tool for systematic reviews with network meta-analysis (similar to AMSTAR-2 or ROBIS). I convened a steering committee of eight international experts in network meta-analysis and bias, including big names such as Dr Julian Higgins, Sofia Dias, Brian Hutton, and Argie Veroniki, to name a few. As a group, and in collaboration with stakeholders from for example, the WHO, Cochrane, PHAC, and patient partners, we have applied for the Fall 2020, and now Spring 2021 CIHR Project Grant Competition for $890,000.

Teaching

I aim to foster collaboration, inclusiveness, equity and diversity in my research practice and teaching. I have previously taught one undergraduate course, and nine graduate level courses; 4 at Monash University, 3 at UBC, and two at University of Toronto.

I have organised many activities which contribute to a Learning Health System. A monthly Methods Speaker Series targeted at health care practitioners, students and researchers, provincially and nationwide aims to deliver evidence synthesis methods webinars for free. We get anywhere from 100 to 300 virtual participants every month. The Methods Speaker Series can be found here https://www.ti.ubc.ca/2020/11/25/methods-speaker-series-2021/ I also delivered 2 network meta-analysis workshops (one 3 day workshop at UBC, and a one-day workshop at the University of Toronto), and 5 workshops through membership in the UBC Open Science Taskforce.

University or community service

I work closely and collaboratively with the core organisations and supervisors. With the Knowledge Translation Program, and SPOR Evidence Alliance under Dr Tricco, I am involved in 7 studies and one CIHR Spring grant application. With the Cochrane Hypertension Review Group, I meet weekly to discuss several projects (e.g. first line anti-hypertensives NMA, deprescribing guideline, Covid-End rapid reviews). I am an active statistical editor for the group as well, meaning I edit Cochrane reviews being submitted to the group for publishing.

I was a member of 4 UBC committees as postdoctoral representative, as I believe in advocating for students and trainees, and in giving back to my community. As an example of an initiative that I was more heavily involved in, the Graduate and Postdoctoral Education Committee (GPEC) became more interested in the mental health of postgraduate students at UBC. I emphasised to the group that it is crucial to build cultures in UBC’s diverse university community that respect and support all aspects of students’ and educators’ multiple, intersecting identities. As a committee we then applied to UBC’s Strategic Investment Fund and were successful in getting a $102,449 Graduate Student Wellness and Support grant to improve wellbeing outcomes for graduate students by creating and launching a support model.

As a scientist and clinical epidemiologist, I am committed to open access and data sharing in scientific publishing. I am an academic editor for the journal PeerJ and ResearchSquare, two preprint servers. Both are open access repositories, and publish both peer reviewed articles, and non-peer reviewed preprints. I am also an active peer reviewer for several journals.

I am also devoted to collaboration in all my research endeavours. I have developed several ongoing collaborations with faculty from the University of Bristol, University of Toronto, Ottawa Research Institute, Monash University, and Universität Witten/Herdecke. I am a member of several Cochrane groups (i.e. Patient Reported Outcomes Methods Group, Rapid Reviews Methods Group, Statistical Methods Group), Johanna Briggs Institute, and the Campbell Collaboration. Being a member of these groups places me in a position to strategically to disseminate the products of this research and liaise with knowledge users, decision makers and guideline developers to disseminate the tools.

Public health practice and applied policy experience

Prior to starting my PhD, and as I was doing my masters online and on a part-time basis, I worked for several non-profit community based organisations. I worked for the Positive Living BC (HIV positive peer group) and BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS as an education coordinator, the BC Centre for Disease Control as a interim research manager for the evidence synthesis division, and for several international development organisations such as the UNDP, UNICEF, and the International Collaboration Centre for Infectious Diseases.