Jason Matthew Harley

Research areas: Surgical Education and Simulation; Data Science; Medical Technology. Areas of interest: Surgical education, simulations, emotion regulation, burnout, medical technology, team training (e.g., communication, collaboration, leadership). Current research: Currently, they are conducting the following research projects in their SAILS Lab: 1. Developing and evaluating high-fidelity simulation scenarios for medical residents to practice combatting harassment and support psychological safety. 2. Advancing scientific understanding and best practice concerning the individual and collaborative regulation of emotions and cognitive processes in team-based health professions simulation training. 3. Implementing and evaluating virtual simulation and haptic robotic technology in dental students’ training at McGill. 4. Investigating connections between astronauts’ stress, coping strategies, meaningful work, and transcendental emotions on the International Space Station. Clinical Interests: Prof. Harley’s research aims to enhance surgical and health professions education and support health care workers by reducing adverse events and inefficiencies, especially those associated with the incidence of undesirable and unregulated emotions, burnout, and harassment. We apply psychological and educational theories using interdisciplinary research methods and leverage a wide range of technologies, including virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), to support the development of health professions competencies with novel technology-enhanced educational interventions and simulations. Our interdisciplinary research draws on mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) that include both objective (e.g., skin conductance, facial recognition software, eyetracking) and subjective (self-report instruments, semi-structured interviews) measures of emotion and cognition that help us assess a variety of surgical and medical competencies.