Tara Kiran

MD, MSc, CCFP, FCFP

Scientist

Biography

Tara Kiran is the Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation and Vice-Chair Quality and Innovation at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. Much of her research has focused on evaluating the impact of Ontario’s primary care reforms on quality of care. For example, her work has tried to understand whether organizing and paying physicians differently makes it more likely for people to get recommended care.

Dr. Kiran has a passion for improving the system she works in. She practices family medicine at the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team. She led the team’s quality improvement program from 2011 to 2018 including efforts to understand patient experience and engage patients in service design. Under her leadership, the team began to systematically collect and report more than 20 indicators of quality and made significant improvements in a number of areas — for example, it became easier for patients to get a timely appointment and more people started receiving recommended cancer screening. In all her work, Dr. Kiran strives to ensure that everyone is getting the care they need, regardless of their income, gender, race, length of time in Canada, or the community they live in. Recent initiatives include trying to improve care for people facing stigma in society such as those who are dependent on opioid medications and those with Hepatitis C.

Over the years, Dr. Kiran has held a number of local and regional leadership roles including as the Board Chair for her Family Health Team, as the Provincial Clinical Lead for the Ontario Diabetes Strategy, and as a Primary Care Physician Lead for the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network. In 2013, Dr. Kiran received the CIHR Rising Star Award from the Institute for Health Services and Policy Research. In 2015, her article on payment incentives for cancer screening was selected to receive the Outstanding Family Medicine Research Article Award from the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Dr. Kiran is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. She is a Scientist in MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Adjunct Scientist at ICES.

Please note: Dr. Kiran is not taking any summer students.

Recent Publications

  1. Salahub, C, Austin, PC, Bai, L, Berthelot, S, Bhatia, RS, Bird, C et al.. Health Care Utilization After a Visit to a Within-Group Family Physician vs a Walk-In Clinic Physician. Ann Fam Med. 2024;22 (6):483-491. doi: 10.1370/afm.3181. PubMed PMID:39586695 PubMed Central PMC11588379.
  2. Lapointe-Shaw, L, Salahub, C, Austin, PC, Bai, L, Banwatt, S, Berthelot, S et al.. Characteristics of walk-in clinic physicians and patients in Ontario: Cross-sectional study. Can Fam Physician. 2024;70 (10):e156-e168. doi: 10.46747/cfp.7010e156. PubMed PMID:39406418 PubMed Central PMC11477262.
  3. Ruangsomboon, O, Zhong, A, Kopp, A, Elston, B, Eldridge, K, Lee, S et al.. Changes in Primary Care Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of Data From Ontario. Healthc Policy. 2024;19 (4):42-54. doi: 10.12927/hcpol.2024.27362. PubMed PMID:39229662 PubMed Central PMC11411643.
  4. Jiang, L, Austin, PC, Wodchis, WP, Kiran, T, Guan, J, Gershon, AS et al.. Timing of follow-up visits after hospital discharge for COPD: Application of a new method. PLoS One. 2024;19 (7):e0302681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302681. PubMed PMID:38985795 PubMed Central PMC11236132.
  5. Kiran, T, Daneshvarfard, M, Wang, R, Beyer, A, Kay, J, Breton, M et al.. Public experiences and perspectives of primary care in Canada: results from a cross-sectional survey. CMAJ. 2024;196 (19):E646-E656. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.231372. PubMed PMID:38772606 PubMed Central PMC11104576.
  6. Terpou, BA, Lapointe-Shaw, L, Wang, R, Martin, D, Tadrous, M, Bhatia, S et al.. A shifting terrain: Understanding the perspectives of walk-in physicians on their roles amid worsening primary care access in Ontario, Canada. PLoS One. 2024;19 (5):e0303107. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303107. PubMed PMID:38748707 PubMed Central PMC11095764.
  7. Doherty, S, Agarwal, P, Wang, R, Meaney, C, Eldridge, K, Damji, AN et al.. Patient Experience With Resident Versus Staff Physicians: Results From a Cross-Sectional Patient Survey From Canadian Family Medicine Residencies. Fam Med. 2024;56 (5):286-293. doi: 10.22454/FamMed.2024.729822. PubMed PMID:38652844 PubMed Central PMC11216771.
  8. Shuldiner, J, Green, ME, Kiran, T, Khan, S, Frymire, E, Moineddin, R et al.. Characteristics of primary care practices by proportion of patients unvaccinated against SARS-CoV-2: a cross-sectional cohort study. CMAJ. 2024;196 (13):E432-E440. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.230816. PubMed PMID:38589026 PubMed Central PMC11001391.
  9. Shahaed, H, Glazier, RH, Anderson, M, Barbazza, E, Bos, VLLC, Saunes, IS et al.. [Not Available]. CMAJ. 2024;196 (10):E359-E368. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.221824-f. PubMed PMID:38499306 PubMed Central PMC10948188.
  10. Lapointe-Shaw, L, Salahub, C, Austin, PC, Bai, L, Bhatia, RS, Bird, C et al.. Virtual Visits With Own Family Physician vs Outside Family Physician and Emergency Department Use. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6 (12):e2349452. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.49452. PubMed PMID:38150254 PubMed Central PMC10753397.
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Staff Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Board Chair and Quality Improvement Program Director, St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team
  • Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
  • Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences