Dr. Andrea Cross, PhD
Andrea is a postdoctoral fellow at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research and the Department of Pediatrics and an Assistant Professor (part-time) in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Patient-Oriented Research (POR) and Implementation Science are foundational to her program of research. For Andrea’s doctoral thesis, she formed an integrated research team including parents and health services researchers with the overall goal to support and study the dissemination and implementation of the F-words in Child Development (Functioning, Family, Fitness, Fun, Friends, and Future). Through the F-words team’s collaborative work, the F-words are having a world-wide impact with >50,000 downloads, >425 citations, and >70,000 unique visitors to CanChild’s F-words Knowledge Hub. Andrea is currently a co-principal investigator of a Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN) Strategic Investment Fund Grant (2022-2024) to develop and evaluate a self-paced F-words Foundations Course for Families and Health Care Providers.
Andrea’s postdoctoral research focuses on training in family engagement in research. In 2018, Andrea co-developed with a team of parents and researchers the CanChild/Kids Brain Health Network/McMaster University Centre for Continuing Education Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course. The course is unique in that in brings families and researchers together in a fully integrated 10-week online course. Since its inception the course has been co-instructed by parents and researchers. To date, there have been eight cohorts with 224 graduates (117 researchers and 107 family members). In 2020, Andrea was awarded a three-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Patient-Oriented Research – Transition to Leadership Stream (Phase 1). For her post-doctoral research, she is exploring the sustainability, scalability, and long-term impacts of the FER Course.
