Providence Research Profiles: Dr. Nadia Khan

Providence Research is home to many outstanding researchers engaged in groundbreaking work. In our Providence Research Profiles series, we spotlight some of the remarkable individuals contributing to our research community. This month, we are profiling Dr. Nadia Khan, Head of the Division of Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia, a Clinician Scientist with the Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes (Advancing Health), and a Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. 

Dr. Khan’s research focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion in health services care delivery to different gender and ethnic groups, and she has conducted significant research into physician wellness at Providence Health Care (PHC). She is the 2024 winner of the PHC Research and Mission Award, which recognizes a scientist in the organization who demonstrates the mission and values of PHC while conducting outstanding research.

Research explores how health conditions differ between groups

Early on in her career, Dr. Khan began asking why they were seeing people from different demographic groups present with varying kinds of conditions. For instance, when she was working as a clinician, she noticed that there were many South Asian people in the cardiology ward. She began exploring how health conditions distinctly impact people from different ethnic and gender groups. Through this research, she and her team found stark differences in the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and kidney disease between ethnic and gender groups.

Dr. Khan’s research also explores how healthcare service delivery functions for different groups, with a current focus on the delivery of heart failure and stroke care. One such study that Dr. Khan conducted on how gender impacts the presentation of heart attacks found that one in five young women did not present with classic chest pain symptoms, adding to the knowledge that it is necessary to consider other symptoms when young women present with heart attacks.

In addition, she is working with the Canadian Consortium of Clinical Trial Training Platform (CANTRAIN) to develop a training program to improve clinical trials skills among researchers in B.C. and Canada. 

Research focus aligns with Providence values

Dr. Khan’s work centres around social justice and equity in health care. She was drawn to work at PHC because of the social justice focus included in its mission, and because of the outstanding research conducted by PHC and its research centres. 

“When I was moving to Vancouver, at that time everybody told me that if I wanted to do research, then I should definitely work at Providence - that all of the best research was happening at Providence Health,” says Dr. Khan. She has been able to work with many great people and fantastic mentors at PHC, including Advancing Health scientist Dr. Anita Palepu and Advancing Health Centre Director Dr. Aslam Anis. 

“I’m really pleased to have Nadia as part of our group, especially her research interest on the ethnic determinants of health outcomes. Being a visible minority myself, it is very important to see healthcare being targeted to the special characteristics of different ethnic groups,” says Dr. Anis.

“Seeing her be so passionate about her research and the mission at Providence is extremely gratifying,” says Dr. Palepu.

Making an impact on physician wellness

Dr. Khan was instrumental in creating a new initiative at PHC that examined systems issues to improve physician wellness in the Emergency Department and the departments of Anesthesia and General Internal Medicine.

Physicians had expressed their dissatisfaction to her, which intrigued her as a researcher. To go beyond informal conversations, she set up a series of surveys to determine the source of the problem. She found that the issue was not that individual physicians were struggling to cope, but that there were widespread frustrations with the health care system itself. 

As a result of this research, PHC was able to implement systems-level interventions to support physicians and improve wellness. In one group surveyed, these interventions improved physician wellness by twenty per cent. 

As a physician-researcher, Dr. Khan is motivated and inspired by what she sees in her practice and what she hears from her patients. While research can be difficult and can present many obstacles, she finds it to be incredibly rewarding. 

“For people who are curious about why things are the way they are, and who really want to dig in and try to make even a small change in health care, it’s an incredibly rewarding role,” says Dr. Khan.

To learn more about Dr. Khan and her work, check out the video below.