About Us
Become a Prevention Practitioner and make a difference to chronic disease prevention and screening in primary care.
Our Vision
Healthier Canadians through reduced burden of cancer and chronic disease and a sustainable healthcare system.
Our Mission
To advance the health of Canadians and contribute to a sustainable healthcare system through improved chronic disease prevention and screening.
Our Team
Dr. Eva Grunfeld
- Co-Founder, The BETTER Program
- Director, The BETTER Institute
Dr. Eva Grunfeld is the Director of the Knowledge Translation Research Network in the Health Services Research Program for Cancer Care Ontario and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. At the same time, she is the Giblon Professor and Vice Chair (Research) at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. From 2004 to 2008, she founded and directed the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at Cancer Care Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University. She obtained her medical degree from McMaster University and doctoral degree in cancer epidemiology from Oxford University. Her research focuses on evaluation and knowledge translation of cancer health services, covering the entire spectrum of cancer control activities and uses a mixed-methods approach including randomized controlled trials, qualitative research and outcomes research. Dr. Grunfeld is recognized as an international leader in primary care research, including follow-up and cancer survivorship, and has been the lead author of many seminal randomized controlled trials on cancer follow-up care establishing the safety and acceptability of primary care based follow-up of breast cancer patients.
Dr. Donna Manca
- Co-Founder, The BETTER Program
- Director, The BETTER Institute
Dr. Donna Manca has been a family doctor for over 30 years in Edmonton, Alberta. She obtained her Master’s degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1989 and her thesis titled ‘the Miscarriage Experience’ involved mixed methods including grounded theory. Her clinical experience includes a brief time of practice in the Central arctic including: Yellowknife, Cambridge Bay, Spence Bay, Gjoa Haven and Coppermine in 1983. Her clinical experience drives her research. She is the Director of the Northern Alberta Primary Care Research Network (NAPCReN), a network contributing data to the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCSSN). Dr. Manca received the 2011 Alberta College of Family Physicians Recognition of Excellence Award for commitment to furthering primary care, community practice-based research, and she contributed to the implementation of privacy and information security system for the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network, which obtained the international association of privacy professionals 2013 privacy innovation award.
Carolina Fernandes
- Executive Director, The BETTER Institute
Carolina Fernandes began her career with the BETTER Program as a regional Study Coordinator for the BETTER Trial in 2011. She has been involved in several research studies as part of BETTER’s program of research, trained Prevention Practitioners from diverse backgrounds and settings, and supported primary care practices’ program implementation efforts. Ms. Fernandes has contributed to several core activities of BETTER including program coordination, development of the Prevention Practitioner training curriculum, refinement of the BETTER Program tools, and development of the IT solutions for the program. She holds a Master of Science degree in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University and a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Alberta. Her previous experience includes primary care research in end-of-life and palliative care.
Dr. Aisha Lofters
- Director, The BETTER Institute
Dr. Aisha Lofters is a family physician and scientist at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, where she is also Chair in Implementation Science at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women’s Cancers. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She currently holds a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and serves as the Provincial Primary Care Lead for Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)’s Cancer Screening Portfolio, where she provides guidance on Ontario’s cancer screening programs. Her research program focuses on cancer screening and prevention with a health equity lens.