Curriculum vitae

Harsimronjoot "Simron" Sidhu

ORCID 0009-0006-7001-5699

MSc student in Medical Science (Psychosocial Oncology) at the University of Calgary. My thesis is on implementing psychosocial screening and triage in pediatric oncology. I am looking for doctoral supervision starting in 2027, in artificial intelligence and digital twins for clinical care.

Education

  • Master of Medical Science (Thesis), Psychosocial Oncology

    2024–2026

    University of Calgary

    Thesis on implementing psychosocial screening and triage in pediatric oncology: a scoping review of distress-screening instruments, CFIR-informed interviews on what shapes routine use, and the organizational conditions a standardized instrument needs in order to stick.

  • Bachelor of Science, Cellular, Molecular & Microbial Biology; Minor in Sociology

    2018–2023

    University of Calgary

  • Family Engagement in Research (FER), Continuing Education

    2023

    McMaster University

Awards and honours

  • Muhammad Ali Abid Memorial Service Award — Canadian College of Health Leaders
  • Nicolle Sabine Zaslavsky Memorial Graduate Scholarship
  • Calgary Chinatown Lions Club Ida Toews Graduate Scholarship in Pediatric Cancer
  • Kids Cancer Care Trainee Travel Award, 2026

Peer-reviewed publications

  1. Oddone Paolucci, E., Gallant, N., Lopatina, E., McGrail, K., Noseworthy, T., Pohar Manhas, K. J., Russill, C. L., Sidhu, S., Suryaprakash, N., Thorsteinson, V. H., Wasylak, T., & Marshall, D. A. (2026). Evaluating a national training program for health services and policy research: Building capacity for learning health systems. Learning Health Systems, 10(2), e70074. DOI
  2. Suryaprakash, N., Ruzycki, S. M., Raman, M., Singh, S., Nasser, Y., Rai, P. P. K., Sidhu, K., Sidhu, S., & Marshall, D. A. (2026). A cultural lens on decision-making in treatment decisions about inflammatory bowel disease: A qualitative analysis with South Asian patients, caregivers and clinicians in Canada. BMJ Open, 16(2), e113208. DOI
  3. Ahmed, S., Bruce, M., Duquette, D., Kiryanova, V., Seyoum, M., Sidhu, S., Wilkinson, G., Al Sayah, F., Johnson, J. A., Ohinmaa, A., & Soprovich, A. (2026). Patients as partners in a research advisory council role: Describing the APERSU Patient Engagement Network. Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes, 10(1), 23. DOI
  4. Marshall, D. A., Sidhu, S., Oddone Paolucci, E., Lopatina, E., Gallant, N., Pohar Manhas, K., McGrail, K., Wasylak, T., Zelinsky, S., Bryan, S., & Noseworthy, T. (2025). A national curriculum and community of practice for health services and policy research training: Insights from the Health System Impact Fellowship National Cohort Training Program (HSIF NCTP). Learning Health Systems, 9(4), e70025. DOI
  5. Norman, L., Bright, K., Bassi, E., Barker, M., Hews-Girard, J., Pintson, K., Daniel, S., Volcko, L., Sidhu, S., Greer, K., Gondziola, J., Stamp, L., Bradley, J., Fersovitch, M., Moskovic, K., LaMonica, H., Hickie, I., Iorfino, F., & Dimitropoulos, G. (2025). ‘Multi-stressed’: A qualitative study exploring the impact of the social determinants of health on access to digital mental health for youth and young adults in Alberta. Digital Health, 11, 1–20. DOI
  6. Bassi, E. M., Bright, K. S., Norman, L. G., Pintson, K., Daniel, S., Sidhu, S., Gondziola, J., Bradley, J., Fersovitch, M., Stamp, L., Moskovic, K., LaMonica, H. M., Iorfino, F., Gaskell, T., Tomlinson, S., Johnson, D. W., & Dimitropoulos, G. (2024). Perceptions of mental health providers of the barriers and facilitators of using and engaging youth in digital mental-health-enabled measurement based care. Digital Health, 10, 20552076241253093. DOI
  7. Pohl, M., Elliott, S. A., Sidhu, H., Lappin, S., Liu, R., Scott, S. D., Newton, A. S., & Hartling, L. (2024). Understanding how youth search for mental health information online: A qualitative descriptive study. Journal of Health Communication, 29(3), 211–219. DOI

Reports and other publications

  1. Yamaguchi, S., Kanagaratnam, S., Harley, M., Willinsky, C., Shikako, K., Iyer, S. N., Ruiz-Casares, M., & Youth Collaborative for Mental Health Policymaking. (2025). Youth Engagement Guide for Mental Health Policymaking: Made by Youth for Youth. Toronto: Global Child Care & Wellbeing Collective. PDF

Presentations

  • Marshall, D. A., Sidhu, S., Paolucci, E. O., Gallant, N., Lopatina, E., McGrail, K., Manhas, K. P., Wasylak, T., Doupe, M., Singal, D., Bryan, S., Zelinsky, S., & Noseworthy, T. Building a national curriculum and community for health services and policy research training. CAHSPR, Ottawa, 26–29 May 2025. Oral.
  • Marshall, D. A., Suryaprakash, N., Thorsteinson, V., Gallant, N., Paolucci, E. O., Sidhu, S., McGrail, K., Doupe, M., Manhas, K. P., Wasylak, T., Singal, D., Zelinsky, S., & Noseworthy, T. Evaluating the HSIF National Cohort Training Program using the Kirkpatrick framework. CAHSPR, Ottawa, 26–29 May 2025. Oral.
  • A scoping review of psychosocial distress screening tools for pediatric cancer patients and survivors: Identifying optimal instruments for clinical integration. Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, Toronto, April 2025. Poster.
  • A scoping review of psychosocial distress screening tools for pediatric cancer patients and survivors: Identifying optimal instruments for clinical integration. 10th Annual Charbonneau Research Symposium, Calgary, May 2025.
  • Implementation science in pediatric psychosocial oncology. Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, 2026.
  • CFIR interview mapping: determinants of routine distress screening implementation. Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, 2026.
  • Listening to patients in primary care practice using patient-reported measures (PROMs and PREMs). Primary Care Strategic Forum, Edmonton, May 2025.
  • PROM-ising perspectives: Engaging patients to shape outcome measures. NorthWest SPOR Collaborative Forum, Calgary, May 2025.

Methods and skills

Implementation science
CFIR, ERIC strategies, Proctor outcomes, RE-AIM, Kirkpatrick evaluation, PDSA
Qualitative methods
Interview coding, codebook development, determinant synthesis, CBPR reporting
Clinical measurement
PROMs and PREMs, distress screening instruments, schema-constrained extraction from encounters
Technical
Next.js, Python, Whisper, Claude / LLMs, Europe PMC, Semantic Scholar, BM25 retrieval
Domain
Pediatric psychosocial oncology, youth digital mental health, patient partnership, health literacy

Research

  • Program Manager, Health System Impact Fellowship National Cohort Training Program

    Aug 2023 – Aug 2025

    University of Calgary

    • Ran a national training program in health services and policy research for more than 200 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, across eight provinces.
    • Worked with an 11-member executive and a 65-member consortium on two national retreats and more than 20 sessions.
    • Evaluated the program with the Kirkpatrick framework and PDSA cycles. More than 70% of learners reported useful knowledge gains; 62% reported increased confidence.

  • Research Assistant, Child and Youth e-Mental Health Implementation

    Sep 2021 – Aug 2023

    University of Calgary

    • Coded pre-implementation interviews against implementation frameworks, looking at what helps or hinders digital mental health adoption in youth services.
    • Kept the codebook, de-identification protocol, and audit trail, and wrote determinant summaries used in implementation planning.

  • Research Student, Immigrant Community-Based Participatory Research

    Aug 2021 – May 2023

    University of Calgary

    • Evaluated CBPR initiatives with immigrant communities using equity and empowerment frameworks.
    • Developed methodological reporting checklists to strengthen rigor in community-based research.

Clinical and health-system work

  • Youth and Family Crisis Counsellor, System Navigator, and Helpline Operator

    Jul 2022 – May 2023

    Wood’s Homes, Eastside Community Mental Health Services

    • Carried out rapid risk assessment and safety planning, with documented transfer across psychiatry, therapy, and community agencies.
    • Held navigation caseloads where housing, legal aid, and income supports often decided whether a clinical plan could actually happen.

  • Lived-Experience Patient Advisor, Primary Care

    Ongoing

    Alberta Health Services and partner organizations

    • Co-wrote the APERSU clinician tip sheet for patient-reported outcome measures, testing it with patients as we went; it was shared provincially.
    • Reviewed policy and patient-facing materials for equity and health literacy, and presented patient-identified priorities at the Primary Care Strategic Forum.
    • Helped design University of Calgary Precision Health workshops on shared decision-making for clinicians.

Service and governance

  • Board Director; Child and Youth Mental Health Working Group Lead

    Sep 2020 – Present

    IMAGINE Citizens Network

    • Citizen governance on child and youth mental health, from deliberative dialogue to public reporting and medical education.
    • Board Director from May 2022; Working Group Lead from September 2024.
    • Synthesized priorities from more than 25 Albertans into recommendations for the Minister’s office (Refocus initiative).
    • Supported the Alberta launch of Care Opinion and co-designed the COMPASS youth mental health priorities dashboard.