Saif Alam

Saif is a third-year undergraduate student in the Honours Integrated Science (iSci) program at McMaster University. He previously worked at the McMaster Health Forum as a Research Assistant, where he helped to identify and extract relevant information from evidence sources for rapid response syntheses. Along with this, he has helped translate web resources in French as part of the Forum’s contribution to the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal and has actively engaged in the organization and preparation of stakeholder dialogues and citizen panels.  

As a Forum Fellow, Saif hopes to strengthen his understanding of current health- and social-system issues and develop a greater appreciation for how research evidence and informed-decision making processes play a role in the various responses to COVID-19. During his fellowship, he aims to play an integral role in the synthesis of rapid evidence profiles and living evidence profiles, which will be used to help inform and support decision-makers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an outgoing Queen Elizabeth Scholar, Saif will be travelling to Sydney, Australia to intern at the New South Wales Ministry of Health. At NSW Health, he will be working with the Population Health Training unit within the Centre for Epidemiology & Evidence. He will be contributing to public health workforce projects as well as reviewing research and evaluation outputs of the Ministry. Through this opportunity, Saif hopes to further develop his health policy and public health knowledge and gain a better understanding of health care systems in terms of governance arrangements, management, and delivery of health and social services.