The CTFPHC is committed to providing mentored training opportunities to Canadian healthcare trainees and early career professionals. Opportunities for Task Force Interns include short-term training opportunities and longer-term internships. Both short-term and longer-term internships involve working closely with a Task Force member who will supervise and provide mentorship to the intern.
Short-term Internships: Short-term internships include projects that can be completed in a period consistent with a residency research rotation and could be used to fulfill rotation requirements. Examples might include scientific support for a specific guideline topic, a knowledge translation project or the development of a methods process.
Longer-term Internships: Longer-term internships involve a mentored experience working with the Chair of a Task Force guideline working group from the initiation of the guideline process through completion. Tasks completed by the intern would be similar to those undertaken by Task Force members of the working group, with the addition of expectations of guided task completion that are aligned with the role of the Chair of the working group. Internships may involve direct participation in Task Force working group activities. Longer-term internships are intended for trainees and early-career professionals with demonstrated leadership skills and experience and a desire to develop these skills in the context of developing preventive healthcare policy.
Eligibility and Requirements
Eligible applicants include MDs in residency training programs or who are conducting fellowships, trainees in doctoral programs, and practicing healthcare professionals in the first 5 years of their careers.
Short-term Internships: Applicants should possess the skills needed to carry out their proposed project or demonstrate that they have the support from their institution, project partners, or their Task Force mentor to develop those skills as part of the proposed project.
Longer-term Internships: Successful applicants will have experience in family medicine or other primary care settings, as well as demonstrated skills in leadership. They will have demonstrated or be working towards being able to demonstrate qualifications that are similar to those required for Task Force membership, including (1) recognition for notable accomplishment in their field of expertise; (2) knowledge and experience in critical appraisal of medical evidence; (3) knowledge and experience in systematic review methods and conduct; (4) knowledge about processes for applying evidence to decision-making or policy; (5) interest in disease prevention and health promotion; (6) demonstrated ability to collaborate with a working group; and (7) no conflicts of interest that would impair the integrity of the Task Force.
Application Procedure
Interested applicants should contact a member of the Task Force to serve as their mentor. Internship applications must be submitted by a Task Force mentor and not by the applicant.
Applications must include (1) a statement of interest of 2 pages maximum (2) the applicant’s curriculum vitae; (3) a letter of reference from the applicant’s department or institution; (4) a letter from the Task Force mentor confirming agreement to mentor the applicant, agreement with the training proposal, agreement to monitor the activities of the applicant, and agreement to complete evaluations and any other documentation required by the applicant’s institution; (5) a completed conflicts of interest statement; and (6) a completed confidentiality agreement.
The letter of interest must clearly describe why a Task Force internship would help the applicant meet her or his career goals, provide evidence that the applicant meets requirements for selection, and include an outline of the training proposal. The training proposal outline should describe the objectives of the activity, the role of the applicant in the activity, and expected outputs or contributions. For short-term, project-based internships, a timeline should be provided; the proposed project must be able to be completed by the end of the Task Force internship.
Additional Information
Task Force internships are conducted on a volunteer basis. No funding will be provided to support the intern, and there will be no cost to the CTFPHC.
Interns who engage in short-term, project-based internships are eligible for authorship of products generated by their work if they meet standard authorship requirements. They are not eligible to be included as an author of a Task Force guideline. Longer-term interns who engage with a Task Force Working Group Chair from the initiation to the completion of a guideline may in some cases be eligible to be considered for authorship. If they are included as a guideline author, it will be clearly noted in the guideline publication that they participated as a Task Force intern and not a member of the Task Force.
At the completion of their internship, interns must submit a summary of their work with the Task Force to the Chair of the Task Force Internship Program and the Task Force Chair and Vice-Chair. The summary must be approved before any documentation is submitted to the intern’s training program by their Task Force mentor.
Submission and Evaluation of Task Force Internship Applications
Applications should be submitted to the Director of the Task Force Internship Program, Dr. Ainsley Moore (amoore@mcmaster.ca). Task Force internship applications will be evaluated and must be approved by the Director of the Task Force Internship Program, the Task Force member who chairs the working group in which the applicant will be engaged, and the Task Force Chair and Vice-Chair.