Dr. Sarah Munce has been awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Implementation Science Chair to lead an innovative initiative on youth and family engagement in healthcare research.

Over the next five years, her work will focus on developing and implementing a validated measure to assess meaningful engagement and studying its use within a learning health system.

This national recognition will enable Dr. Munce and her team to set a new benchmark for integrating youth voices within Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital’s Learning Health System—an approach that captures data from practice, transforms it into knowledge, and feeds it back into care to drive continuous improvement.

“I think a lot about what we, as researchers, can give back to the youth we are fortunate enough to partner with,” said Dr. Munce. “The work is valuable because youth and family partners can tell us if research is not relevant to them – or guide us toward a more meaningful direction.”

Too often, she adds, engagement risks being tokenistic. Her team aims to change that by refining and validating the engagement measure, testing it within the learning health system, and identifying barriers and facilitators to its use. “If we want research to make a real-world difference, it must be co-designed with those who live the realities we’re studying,” said Dr. Munce.

Dr. Munce is co-leading or involved with national projects that put children, youth, and families at the centre of research, supported by Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN). These include:

  • Liberi Exergames: Advancing a pedal-to-play gaming system designed for children and youth with physical disabilities and developmental differences. The project tests and refines the game in real-world settings to ensure it is both clinically effective and engaging for families.
  • Scaling Social ABCs: Expanding access to a Canadian-developed, caregiver-mediated early intervention for toddlers with emerging autism. In partnership with agencies across provinces, the project delivers Social ABCs at scale so families can access early supports when they matter most.

Dr. Munce is an Implementation Scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto with more than 20 years of experience in knowledge translation and implementation science. When asked about her advice to trainees entering the field, she said,

“Start from a point of embracing the complexity of implementation – that mindset fosters curiosity and the ideas needed to solve real-world problems.”

At the heart of her work is a commitment to impact. Whether through innovative interventions or frameworks for authentic engagement, her projects move science beyond academic settings and into the lives of children, youth, families, and care providers.

“I’ve always been motivated by the chance to make a meaningful difference in the lives of youth with disabilities and developmental differences, as well as their families,” she said. “And I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who showed me how to turn that motivation into impact.”