The Interrelationship of People, Space, Operations, Institutional Leadership, and Training in Fostering a Team Approach in Health Sciences Research at the University of Saskatchewan

Abstract

Organizationally, the University of Saskatchewan planned to transform from research aligned within five Basic Science Departments in the College of Medicine and in the nondepartmentalized College of Pharmacy and Nutrition to eight interdisciplinary biomedical health clusters from these units. These clusters were aligned and designated by leadership based on common thematic areas of research, anticipating synergies among them. They were balanced as much as possible with respect to research, teaching, and clinical responsibilities—recognizing that it would take time to achieve the desired equilibrium. Two primary goals of this project were the enhancement of Inter-Professional Health Education and Inter-Disciplinary Health Research. This goal had a dual mission; to ensure that the graduate Health Science professionals were better prepared to deliver health care to the province to achieve better patient outcomes by working across disciplines, and second, to build a culture of collaborative Team Science to attract greater levels of research funding that would also ultimately contribute to better patient outcomes.