Dr Kristin Konnyu

Biography

I am an evidence synthesis and implementation science methodologist with an interest in the design and synthesis of complex interventions to address barriers to evidence uptake.

I have contributed methodological research to advance the conduct of reviews across the evidence synthesis spectrum, including rapid reviews, meta-regression models for complex interventions, methods for contacting primary study authors, and methods for imputing missing instracluster correlation coefficients for cluster-randomized trials.

I have led evidence syntheses across diverse fields using both quantitative and qualitative synthesis frameworks. I am particularly interested in efforts to carefully define and code the content of complex interventions as I believe understanding what the ‘what’ is, is foundational to asking more complex questions of what works and under what conditions. 

Recently, I was the lead author of a Cochrane review on the effectiveness of quality improvement for diabetes care that including a Bayesian multivariable meta-regression of 553 diabetes trials and the lead author of the Agency for Healthcare Quality review on rehabilitation and prehabilitation for major joint replacement.

In addition to reviews of the effectiveness of interventions, I have conducted qualitative syntheses on factors that may influence the uptake of interventions (e.g, in low risk prenatal care, COVID-19 vaccines) to help guide implementation work.

I joined the Health Services Research Unit (HSRU) in July 2023, coming from Brown University where I was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice in the School of Public Health.  I completed my PhD on methods for optimizing evidence syntheses of complex interventions in 2018. I also hold a BEd in Primary Education (2013), a MSc in Rehabilitation Sciences (2008), and a BSc in Anatomy and Cell Biology (2005).

External Memberships

• Member and Author, Cochrane Collaboration (2008-Present)
• Editor, Campbell Collaboration (2023-Present)
• Society for Research Synthesis Methodology (2022-Present)
• Honorary Research Fellow, University College of London Centre for Behaviour Change (2022-2023)

Prizes and Awards

• Robert L. Kane Memorial Award for report with strong clarity and conciseness, Annual  AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center Meeting reports published between 2021-2022. (2022)
• Joseph De Koninick Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis, University of Ottawa (2019)
• Worton Researcher in Training Award, The Ottawa Hospital (2018)
• Award of Excellence, Faculty of Medicine Awards in Education, University of Ottawa (2017)