Katherine Fierlbeck, Dalhousie University

Research

governance health care health policy federalism accountability engagement

Latest papers

Dynamics of public health federalism in Canada.
Healthcare management forum · 2025 · first author
The influence of public health organization on response to the COVID-19 pandemic in four Canadian provinces: A comparative qualitative analysis.
Health policy OPEN · 2025
Testing "the science": A comparative analysis of COVID-19 testing policy across four Canadian provinces.
Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025 · first author

All 8 publications

Latest funding

Beyond Crisis: Rethinking health system governance in Canada
SSHRC · 2024 · Principal investigator
$30,000
The impact of retirement income programs on health and health equity among Canadian seniors
CIHR · 2022 · Co-investigator
$378,675
Upstream determinants of effective COVID-19 response: learning from comparisons across Canada's provinces
CIHR · 2021 · Principal investigator
$612,000

All 7 grants and awards

8 publications.

01

Dynamics of public health federalism in Canada.

Fierlbeck K, Pawa J

Healthcare management forum2025First author

DOI: 10.1177/08404704251362066 PMID: 40955078

02

The influence of public health organization on response to the COVID-19 pandemic in four Canadian provinces: A comparative qualitative analysis.

Usher S, Allin S, Gautier L, Fierlbeck K, Sriram V, Bodner A, Trapé C, Shipton L, Montecalvo A, Berman P

Health policy OPEN2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.hpopen.2025.100146 PMID: 40761748

03

Testing "the science": A comparative analysis of COVID-19 testing policy across four Canadian provinces.

Fierlbeck K, Gautier L, Usher S, Allin S, Sriram V, Berman P

Social science & medicine (1982)2025First author

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117880 PMID: 40081167

04

Strategies and indicators to integrate health equity in health service and delivery systems in high-income countries: a scoping review.

Caldwell HAT, Yusuf J, Carrea C, Conrad P, Embrett M, Fierlbeck K, Hajizadeh M, Kirk SFL, Rothfus M, Sampalli T, Sim SM, Tomblin Murphy G, Williams L

JBI evidence synthesis2024

DOI: 10.11124/jbies-23-00051 PMID: 38632975

05

Strategies and indicators to address health equity in health service and delivery systems: a scoping review protocol.

Brushett S, Caldwell HAT, Cameron ES, Carrea C, Embrett M, Fierlbeck K, Hajizadeh M, Kirk SFL, Rothfus M, Sampalli T, Sim M

JBI evidence synthesis2022

DOI: 10.11124/jbies-21-00001 PMID: 34374690

06

Fare well to Nova Scotia? Public health investments remain chronically underfunded.

Caldwell HAT, Scruton S, Fierlbeck K, Hajizadeh M, Dave S, Sim SM, Kirk SFL

Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique2021

DOI: 10.17269/s41997-021-00478-8 PMID: 33625685

07

Legislating collaborative self-regulation in Canada: A comparative policy analysis.

Lahey W, Fierlbeck K

Journal of interprofessional care2016Senior author

DOI: 10.3109/13561820.2015.1109501 PMID: 26940719

08

The changing contours of experimental governance in European health care.

Fierlbeck K

Social science & medicine (1982)2014First author

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.02.040 PMID: 24632053

Beyond Crisis: Rethinking health system governance in Canada

Principal investigatorSSHRC2024Knowledge Synthesis Grants - Envisioning Governance Systems that Work

Principal investigators: Fierlbeck, Katherine

Keywords: governance; health care; health policy; federalism; accountability; engagement

$30,000

The impact of retirement income programs on health and health equity among Canadian seniors

Co-investigatorCIHR2022Project Grant

Principal investigators: Hajizadeh, Mohammad

Keywords: Aging; Basic Income; Equity; Health; Healthcare; Healthy Behaviour; Public Policy; Retirement

$378,675

Upstream determinants of effective COVID-19 response: learning from comparisons across Canada's provinces

Principal investigatorCIHR2021Project Grant

Principal investigators: Berman, Peter; Allin, Sara; Fierlbeck, Katherine

Keywords: Comparisons Across Canadian Provinces; Governance Factors Affecting Public Health Response; Organizational Factors In Public Health Response; Political Determinants Of Public Health Response

$612,000

Designing health service and delivery systems for impact in population health and health equity: What are the most meaningful indicators of success?

Co-investigatorCIHR2020Catalyst Gr: Impacts of financial/organizational restructuring of public health

Principal investigators: Kirk, Sara F; Sim, Sarah Meaghan

Keywords: Evaluation; Health Equity; Health Policy; Health Systems; Implementation Science; Population Health

$152,302

Beyond Transparency in Pharmaceutical Research and Regulation

Co-investigatorCIHR2017Project Grant

Principal investigators: Herder, Matthew; Graham, Janice E; Lemmens, Trudo; Lexchin, Joel

Keywords: Drug Safety; Law; Pharmaceutical Policy; Regulation

$489,600

Redesigning governance mechanisms in intergovernmental health care relations

Nominated PICIHR2011Operating Grant: Advancing Theoretical Method. Innovations Hlth Res- HSPR

Principal investigators: Fierlbeck, Katherine; Lahey, G.R. W

Keywords: Accountability; Citizen Engagement; Collaboration; Comparative Health Policy; Federalism; Multi-Level Governance; Multidisciplinary Approaches; Soft Law; Sustainability

$173,875

The effects of federal and provincial cost containment strategies upon the Canadian health care system

Principal investigatorSSHRC2000Federalism and Federations

Principal investigators: Fierlbeck, Katherine

Keywords: health care; cost containment; federalism

$34,130

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Health Policy and Evaluation
Community Health and Epidemiology
School of Population and Public Health
Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation
School of Nursing
School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
Clinical Public Health Division
Other

Co-authors at Dalhousie University, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Mohammad Hajizadeh

Community Health and Epidemiology

3 shared papers, latest 2024

Veena Sriram

School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Tara Sampalli

School of Nursing

2 shared papers, latest 2024

Sara Allin

Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Peter Berman

School of Population and Public Health

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Jasmine Pawa

Clinical Public Health Division

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Gail Tomblin Murphy

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Lara Gautier

Gestion, évaluation et politiques de santé

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their SSHRC grant from 2024

Subject: Prospective PhD student: governance Dear Professor Fierlbeck, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Dynamics of public health federalism in Canada." (2025), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your SSHRC-funded project "Beyond Crisis: Rethinking health system governance in Canada" (2024), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]