Dr. Dani Jacobson is a Research Associate III on Dr. Kerry Kuluski’s Patient and Family-Centered Care Research Team at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners. Dani specializes in qualitative patient care experience research. She received her PhD in Public Health from the University of Toronto including a Collaborative Specialization in Women’s Health (focusing on reproductive health care for women with female genital mutilation/cutting) and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Women’s College Hospital (focusing on social service provision for survivors of domestic sex-trafficking).

Dani is invested in understanding health care system organization, including how individual behavior and experiences are shaped by institutional factors and how those factors can be transformed to improve delivery of care. This approach aligns with Dani’s current work at the Institute for Better Health, which uses population segmentation, community engagement, and co-design methods (with patients, caregivers, providers, and health-system decision makers) to better understand the resources needed to A) help aging populations to age safely and comfortably at home, and B) prevent hospitalization, delayed hospital discharge and Alternate Level of Care designation. Dani also supports work investigating the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected cancer care in Ontario with a focus on patient, caregiver and provider experiences. These projects have allowed Dani to engage closely with caregivers to better understand their experiences, perspectives and work to care for their loved ones.