Bio

Dr Barwick is a Registered Psychologist and Senior Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program of the SickKids’ Research Institute. She is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the University of Toronto.

She focuses on implementation science, studying innovative knowledge translation and implementation methods to facilitate the efficacy and effectiveness of research evidence used in practice across various contexts, including health, mental health, global health, and education. Her research program explores empirically supported approaches, measures, and tools to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices across these multiple contexts.

Upon joining SickKids in 2001, she led Ontario’s outcome measurement initiative to implement an outcome measure in over 120 children’s mental health service provider organizations across the province, requiring the reliability and clinical training of over 6,700 practitioners. Her team supported clinician training, implementation, and data management for the province and service providers (2000-2015).

Her work in education and professional development includes the development of the Specialist Knowledge Translation Training Program (SKTT) and the Knowledge Translation Professional Certificate (KTPC), the Planning for Implementation Practice (PIP) workshop, as well as several knowledge translation and implementation tools, including the Knowledge Translation Planning Template, The KT Game, The Implementation Roadmap, and The Knowledge Translation Plan Appraisal Tool. Most recently, she has been testing a newly developed digital implementation facilitator called The Implementation Playbook [not yet publically available].

Her work outside of research and teaching includes consulting with the health and the child and youth mental health sectors and with organizations working to build capacity in knowledge translation and implementation. She is the Board Chair for Children’s Mental Health Ontario.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Melanie Barwick, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Senior Scientist
Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Research Institute
The Hospital for Sick Children
melanie.barwick@sickkids.ca