Faculty, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
Professor, UBC School of Nursing
sabrina.wong@nursing.ubc.ca
(604) 827-5584
spor-bcphcrn.ca | cpcrn-rcrsp.ca
Profile
Dr Wong’s research examines the organization and delivery of health care services within the context of primary health care. A recognized leader in research involving patient-reported quality of care, her work contributes to informing practice and system level interventions that seek to decrease health inequalities among Canadian residents, including people who face multiple disadvantages in accessing and using the health care system such as those who have language barriers and live in poverty. Her long-standing commitment to research has significantly contributed to further understanding and application of primary health care in helping to reduce health and health care inequalities.
Education
PhD, Health Services Research, Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
MSc, Community Health Nursing Administration, University of California, San Francisco
BSN, University of British Columbia
Research Interests
- Primary health care
- Health inequalities
- Performance measurement and reporting
- Integration of health services
Current Projects
- Transforming community-based primary healthcare delivery through comprehensive performance measurement and reporting
- Research lead, BC Primary Health Care Research Network, one of the Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovation Network nodes. The BC PHCRN aims to seek out, develop, and facilitate adoption of health care innovations to improve BC’s health care delivery system (spor-bcphcrn.ca).
- Co-Director, BC node of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (spor-bcphcrn.ca/bc-cpcssn/). The Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) is a pan-Canadian multi-disease electronic medical record surveillance system that makes it possible to securely collect and report on vital information from Canadians’ health records to improve the way chronic diseases are managed.
Affiliations and Awards
- Investigator, Culture, Gender and Health research unit (2004-present)
- Affiliate, Department of Family Practice (2007-present)
- NAPCRG (North American Primary Care Research Group) PEARL on: Continuity of Care: Does Having the Same Primary Care Provider Over Time Matter?, NAPCRG (February 2015).
- UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowship, UBC (2012)
- Canadian Institute for Health Information Scholar (2012)
- Excellence in Nursing Research, College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (2011)
- Career Scholar, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2005-2010)
- Canadian Institutes for Health Research New Investigator award (2006-2011)
- Distinguished Paper Presentation award, Society for Teachers of Family Medicine (2004)
- Career award, National Institute on Aging (2003-2006)
- Health Services Research award, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation and the Children’s Dental Health Project (2001)
Current Graduate Students
- Mary Helmer-Smith, MSc Student, School of Population and Public Health
- Innocent Ndateba, PhD Student, School of Nursing
Currently Recruiting Graduate Students Interested in
- Primary health care
- Performance measurement and reporting
- Collaboration between public health and primary care
- Health inequalities
Courses Currently Taught
- NURS 505 Statistical Literacy in Nursing
- Mixed methods in primary health care research (pan-Canadian Transdisciplinary Understanding of Research in Primary Health Care program)
Recent Publications
Garrison SR, Bakal JA, Kolber MR, Korownyk CS, Green LA, Kirkwood JEM, McAlister FA, Padwal RS, Lewanczuk R, Hill MD, Singer AG, Katz A, Kelmer MD, Gayayan A, Campbell FN, Vucenovic A, Archibald NR, Yeung JMS, Youngson ERE, McGrail K, O'Neill BG, Greiver M, Manca DP, Kraut RY, Wang T, Manns BJ, Mangin DA, MacLean C, McCormack J, Wong ST, Norris C, Allan GM. Antihypertensive Medication Timing and Cardiovascular Events and Death: The BedMed Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025 May 12. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.4390. Online ahead of print. Read more
Thandi M, Price M, Baumbusch J, Brown S, Wong S. Capturing factors associated with frailty using routinely collected electronic medical record data in British Columbia, Canada, primary care settings. Prim Health Care Res Dev. 2025 May 8;26:e41. doi: 10.1017/S1463423625000337. Read more
Sasseville M, Supper W, Gartner JB, Layani G, Amil S, Sheffield P, Gagnon MP, Hudon C, Lambert S, Attisso E, Ouellet S, Breton M, Poitras ME, Roux-Lévy PH, Plaisimond J, Bergeron F, Ashcroft R, Wong ST, Groulx A, Paquette JS, D'Anjou N, Langlois S, LeBlanc A. Electronic Implementation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Primary Health Care: Mixed Methods Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2025 May 5;27:e63639. doi: 10.2196/63639. Read more
Wong ST, Thandi M, Martin-Misener R, Johnston S, Hogg W, Burge F. Transforming community-based primary health care delivery through comprehensive performance measurement and reporting: examining the influence of context. BMC Prim Care. 2024 Dec 4;25(1):410. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02659-z. Read more
Lavoie JG, Clark W, McDonnell L, Toor J, Nickel N, Anang P, Kusugak MA, Evaluardjuk-Palmer T, Brown N, Voisey Clark G, Wong S, Sanguins J. Inuit mental health service utilisation in Manitoba: results from the qanuinngitsiarutiksait study. Int J Circumpolar Health. 2024 Dec;83(1):2413228. doi: 10.1080/22423982.2024.2413228. Epub 2024 Oct 14. Read more
Hudon C, Chouinard MC, Doucet S, Piccinini-Vallis H, Fairman K, Sampalli T, Zed J, Brodeur M, Chênevert D, Dépelteau A, Dupont M, Karam M, Légaré F, Luke A, Macdonald M, Morvannou A, Ramsden VR, Rodriguez Del Barrio L, Wong ST, Lambert M, Bisson M, Schwarz C, Benoit R, Poirier MD, Rock-Hervieux AL, Rubenstein D, Wilhelm L. Case management in primary healthcare for people with complex needs to improve integrated care: a large-scale implementation study protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Aug 12;14(8):e083783. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083783. Read more
Aggarwal M, Wong ST. Will they always be living the Sisyphus punishment? The triple whammy for racialized women: a qualitative investigation of primary care researchers in Canada. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2024 Aug 12;38:100848. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2024.100848. eCollection 2024 Aug. Read more
Morkem R, Smith G, Knight B, Wong ST, Barber D. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on antibiotic use in Canadian primary care: a matched-cohort study using EMR data. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2024 Jul 12;13(1):76. doi: 10.1186/s13756-024-01434-0. Read more
Aggarwal M, Hutchison B, Katz A, Wong ST, Marshall EG, Slade S. Assessing the impact of Canadian primary care research and researchers: Citation analysis. Can Fam Physician. 2024 May;70(5):329-341. doi: 10.46747/cfp.7005329. Read more
Aggarwal M, Hutchison BG, Kokorelias KM, Ramsden VR, Ivers NM, Pinto A, Uphsur REG, Wong ST, Pimlott N, Slade S. The Conceptualization and Measurement of Research Impact in Primary Health Care: Protocol for a Rapid Scoping Review. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Apr 23;13:e55860. doi: 10.2196/55860. Read more
Aggarwal M, Hutchison B, Wong ST, Katz A, Slade S, Snelgrove D. What factors are associated with the research productivity of primary care researchers in Canada? A qualitative study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Mar 1;24(1):263. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10644-6. Read more
Barnes K, Hall Dykgraaf S, O'Brien K, Douglas K, Eggleton K, Bui N, Wong ST, Etz RS, Goodyear-Smith F. A novel methodological approach to participant engagement and policy relevance for community-based primary medical care research during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. Health Res Policy Syst. 2024 Jan 22;22(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s12961-023-01100-8. Read more
Li V, Alibhai SMH, Noel K, Fazelzad R, Haase K, Mariano C, Durbano S, Sattar S, Newton L, Dawe D, Bell JA, Hsu T, Wong ST, Lofters A, Bender JL, Manthorne J, Puts MTE. Access to cancer clinical trials for racialised older adults: an equity-focused rapid scoping review protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Jan 19;14(1):e074191. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074191. Read more
Zeitouny S, McGrail K, Tadrous M, Wong ST, Cheng L, Law M. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription drug use and costs in British Columbia: a retrospective interrupted time series study. BMJ Open. 2024 Jan 4;14(1):e070031. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-070031. Read more
Thandi M, Wong ST, Price M, Baumbusch J. Perspectives on the representation of frailty in the electronic frailty index. BMC Prim Care. 2024 Jan 2;25(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02225-z. Read more