Primary care network tackling social determinants of health: launch of Deep End Canada

June 19, 2024

What happens when a group of primary health care providers come together to serve socio-economically deprived populations in Canada? In this episode, we want to introduce Primary Care at the Deep End Canada, a network of health practitioners that aims to improve the collection and use of social data to address social determinants of health at the individual, clinic, and policy levels.

Watch this episode to learn about

  • The role of primary care and primary care networks in addressing social and structural determinants of health, such as poverty
  • The GPs at the Deep End project
  • Successful strategies from Scotland and other countries for improving patient and community health through the Deep End
  • The goals of Deep End Canada and how you can get involved or learn more

Speakers

Dr. Graham Watt
Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow

Graham Watt, MD FRCGP FRSE FMedSci CBE is an active Emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and is an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. He coordinated and led the Deep End Project from 2009-2016, based on the 100 most deprived general practice populations in Scotland, and remains an active member of the steering group locally and for Deep End International. He is a strong advocate for the exceptional potential of general practice, especially in deprived areas.

Dr. Tiffany Lee
Assistant Professor, Memorial University

Tiffany Lee, PharmD PhD(c) is an Assistant Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacist at Newfoundland (NL) Health Services. Tiffany is a strong advocate for tackling the social determinants of health in pharmacy settings and pharmacist professional development. She is piloting the collection of social data in several community pharmacies and, through this pilot, joined the newly formed Deep End Canada network.

Dr. Mélanie Ann Smithman
Postdoctoral Fellow, Upstream Lab

Mélanie Ann Smithman, PhD is the Co-Founder of the newly formed Deep End Canada network and a postdoctoral fellow at Upstream Lab. Relatedly, she is involved in planning the implementation, spread and scale of the SPARK Tool (screening for social determinants of health) in primary care and pharmacies across Canada. Mélanie Ann has expertise in scaling-up primary care innovations, rapid research methodologies, group facilitation and deliberative methods, which she applies to projects to help improve primary care service delivery and policy in Canada.

Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio
Professor, University of Alberta

Ginetta Salvalaggio, MD, MSc, CCFP(AM) is a Professor and Research Co-Director with the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine and the Associate Scientific Director of the Inner City Health and Wellness Program. Ginetta’s academic interests are focused on social accountability, patient and community engagement, and health services for structurally vulnerable people who use drugs and other equity-seeking and justice-deserving populations.

Host

Dr. Archna Gupta
Research Scientist, Upstream Lab

Archna Gupta, MD CCFP MPH PhD is a Scientist at Upstream Lab and Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. She is a family medicine and obstetrics physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. Her research focuses on the intersection between public health and primary care, how to best serve vulnerable patients or those who face structural marginalization and how to equitably serve growing populations with expanding health needs locally and globally.

Browse by Category

From the Archives