ICES Satellite Sites

Expanding the Capacity of ICES

ICES satellite sites have been created to expand our capacity to generate high quality health services research at a province-wide basis. Satellite sites create an opportunity for scientists who wish to pursue research aligning with the ICES mission to access administrative data holdings at ICES from remote locations. This initiative has expanded the capacity of ICES to conduct research that contributes to the effectiveness, quality, equity and efficiency of health care and health services in Ontario by increasing the number of scientists and the breadth of scientific expertise. ICES currently has four active satellite locations: ICES@Queen’s (opened in 2007), ICES@uOttawa (opened in 2010), ICES@UofT (opened in 2012) and ICES@Western (opened in 2012). A satellite site at McMaster University, Ontario is currently under development.

History of the ICES Ontario Expansion

Under the initial agreement by which ICES received data holdings from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) it was not possible to share the data with researchers outside of the ICES building on the Sunnybrook campus (now called ICES-Central). However, with the signing of a new agreement with the MOHLTC in 2005, ICES is now able to make the administrative health data available (under appropriate conditions) to scientists who work outside the Sunnybrook site. In the spring of 2006, ICES made a proposal to the MOHLTC as part of its renewal application that an ICES satellite site be established at each of the Ontario medical schools and the University of Waterloo. The MOHLTC endorsed the principles of increasing access to high quality data for researchers and building broader capacity for policy-relevant health services research and the pilot site for this expansion plan was launched in 2007.

ICES Satellite Sites

ICES@Queen's - established 2007; site director Ana Johnson, PhD
ICES@UOttawa- established 2010; site director Carl van Walraven, MD, MSc, FRCP
ICES@UofT - established 2012; site director Geoff Anderson, MD, PhD
ICES@Western – established 2012; site director Amit Garg, MD, MA, PhD, FRCPC, FACP
ICES@Mcmaster – currently under development