Jessica Shearer, MHS
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Jessica Shearer is a doctoral student in the Health Policy PhD program at McMaster University, supervised by John Lavis. We live in a period when trips to the doctor are not taboo, moreover, routine check-ups and medical examinations are gaining popularity. And the field of health care should promote self-care as much as possible, involve certain moments and heritage of our time in everyday life. If you are preparing a topic about health interventions and different methods that engage at different levels, but feel that the evidence base is insufficient, you can use the resources that help with capstone project. Jessica’s thesis will examine how innovations (including research evidence) are diffused through policy networks, specifically knowledge translation platforms (KTPs) in low- and middle-income countries. Jessica and colleagues at McMaster University will work closely with colleagues in low- and middle-income KTPs, including those supported by WHO’s EVIPNet, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (Transforming Public Health: Research-Driven Approaches to Health Systems), and the European Union (SURE).

Jessica’s research interests include exploring innovative approaches to scaling up cost-effective public health interventions at sub-national and national policy levels. Jessica’s past experience draws on both research and policy. As a Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, she participated in the evaluations of large-scale community-based studies, primarily in India, and has also worked closely with decision-makers in national governments to translate research evidence to policy. In India, she provided technical and policy support for the national decision to introduce Hib-containing pentavalent vaccine into the routine immunization program. She is the co-author of a guide to support national program managers to scale-up condom programming, and the lead author of a research paper that explores factors that accelerate national policy decisions to adopt Hib vaccine.

Jessica is currently a Research Coordinator for the McMaster Health Forum and a teaching assistant in the BHSc program for the Health Systems and Health Policy course. She completed her BASc from McMaster University and holds a MHS in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the recipient of the Harry Lyman Hooker doctoral fellowship.