Grant: Health System Impact Embedded Early Career Researcher Award - Primary Care

This embedded research project supports the establishment, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of a culturally grounded, integrated team-based relational care model, specifically to address HIV/STBBI inequities in Saskatchewan. The model integrates primary care with social and cultural supports, grounded in Indigenous self-determination, OCAP®/CARE principles, cultural safety, and trauma- and violence-informed, relational care. Guided by community-based participatory and Indigenous methodologies in a learning health system approach, the project emphasizes continuous co-design, real-time learning, and adaptive implementation. Indigenous governance, engaging Elders, people with lived experience, clinic staff, and community leaders will guide ethical engagement, data stewardship, analysis, and knowledge mobilization. This embedded researcher role in Saskatoon's inner city will support capacity building, training, and access for responsive community-based research and implementation studies. Milestone 1 focuses on relationship building and co-design, including establishing governance structures, conducting community-led needs assessments, mapping services, and negotiating OCAP®/CARE-compliant data agreements. Milestones 2 and 3 emphasize implementation, workforce training, capacity development, and iterative evaluation, alongside trainee placements and experiential learning. Milestone 4 focus on outcomes evaluation, knowledge mobilization, and sustainability. The knowledge mobilization plan is community-centred and includes sharing circles, plain-language reports, community-owned toolkits, policy briefs, and co-authored peer-reviewed publications. Equity and inclusion are integrated throughout the KM plan to understand how intersecting identities shape access, safety, and outcomes, and implementing adapted care pathways for women, men, gender-diverse people, Indigenous, Two-Spirit and socio-politically marginalized individuals.