Background: Public Health Systems Research is an emerging field of research that is gaining importance in Canada.
Methods: On October 22 and 23, 2012, public health researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers came together at the Accelerating Public Health Systems Research in Ontario: Building an Agenda think tank to develop a research agenda for the province.
Results: This agenda included the identification of the six top priorities for research in Ontario: public health performance, evidence-based practice, public health organization and structure, public health human resources, public health infrastructure, and partnerships/linkages.
Conclusions: This paper explores the priorities in detail and hopes to bring more attention to this area of research.