The Department of Family Medicine is pleased to congratulate Professor Isabelle Vedel on receiving a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to support a major research initiative focused on improving care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurocognitive disorders in Quebec and across Canada.
Professor Vedel, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at 91şÚÁĎÍř and researcher at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, is internationally recognized for her work in health services organization, primary care, and dementia research. She is also scientific director and the co-founder with Dr. Howard Bergman of the ROSA research team (Research on Organization of Healthcare Services for Alzheimer’s), a pan-Canadian research initiative dedicated to improving the organization and delivery of care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Through ROSA, Dr. Vedel and Dr. Bergman lead the only Canadian research team dedicated to advancing healthcare services and policy research for people living with dementia and their caregivers, a rapidly growing and highly vulnerable population.
Building on Quebec’s Leadership in Alzheimer’s Care
Under the leadership of Dr. Howard Bergman since 2011, Quebec is the only Canadian province that has developed and implemented a sustainable province-wide strategy for deploying its Alzheimer Plan. Important milestones were recently achieved with the launch of Quebec’s first Policy on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurocognitive Disorders in February 2025, . Professor Vedel and the ROSA team .
Building on this momentum, Professor Vedel’s newly funded project will establish a province-wide learning health system at the government level, in partnership with key stakeholders across Quebec’s health and social services network (RSSS) and with patient and caregiver partners. The initiative aims to generate high-quality scientific evidence to support the ongoing implementation of Quebec’s Alzheimer strategy and inform the development of the province’s next action plan for 2030–2035, while generating knowledge that can help strengthen dementia care policies and practices across Canada.
“For the past 15 years, I have been working closely with Quebec policymakers to improve care for people with Alzheimer’s disease. This CIHR funding will enable us to take things a step further by establishing a healthcare system capable of learning. Our research has shown that the partnership between policymakers and researchers is essential for translating lessons learnt into concrete action,” says Professor Vedel.
A Mixed-Methods Approach to Improving Dementia Care
The project will use an ambitious mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative research. Using provincial administrative databases, the research team will examine changes in care among approximately 60,000 people living with major neurocognitive disorders, while considering social determinants of health such as sex, socioeconomic status and racialization.
In parallel, the team will conduct patient-reported and experience-based surveys (PROMs, PREMs and CREMs) involving approximately 150 participants, including patients, caregivers, and clinicians. These surveys will be repeated over time.
The project will also include a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with approximately 65 participants, including patients, caregivers, clinicians, territorial resources, managers, and decision-makers, to better understand how their experiences evolve over time.
A strong emphasis will also be placed on knowledge mobilization and collaboration. The team plans to disseminate findings throughout Quebec, across Canada, and internationally. Annual monitoring dashboards presenting key quantitative and qualitative findings will be developed and shared with stakeholders and patient partners through a series of co-creation workshops. These workshops will help identify recommendations and actionable solutions to strengthen future implementation efforts.
In addition, the project will produce practical toolkits designed to support professionals and organizations working directly in dementia care settings, helping ensure that research findings can be translated into meaningful improvements in practice and professional development.
This important grant further reinforces the Department of Family Medicine’s leadership in patient-oriented research and innovation in primary care and aging. The Department congratulates Professor Vedel and her collaborators on this significant achievement and looks forward to the impact this work will have on dementia care policy and practice in Quebec, across Canada, and internationally.
To learn more about this CIHR funding, please visit:
To learn more about Dr. Bergman’s and Dr. Vedel’s involvement in developing the policy:
