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Chair Biographies

Benedikt Fischer

Benedikt Fischer, PhD, obtained his doctorate in Criminology at the University of Toronto (1998). Subsequent to his doctorate, he was a Research Scientist and Section Co-Head at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, and held faculty appointments in the Department of Public Health Sciences and at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. Following a faculty appointment at the University of Victoria (2006 - 2008), Dr. Fischer joined the Centre for Applied Research in Addictions and Mental Health (CARMHA) and the Faculty of Health Sciences as Professor in September 2008. He currently holds a CIHR/PHAC Research Chair in Applied Public Health and is a MSFHR Senior Scholar Career Investigator. He is furthermore an Affiliate Scientist with the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and a Senior Scientist with CAMH. Dr. Fischer is a member of the Institute Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute for Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INHMA), as well as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Alan Shiell

Alan is Professor of Health Economics at the University of Calgary, and a member of the International Collaboration on Complex Interventions. He holds an AHFMR Health Scientist award and a CIHR Chair in the Economics of Public Health. His specialist research interests lie in the application and development of methods of economic evaluation to complex social interventions to promote population health and reduce inequities. He is currently principal investigator on two large applied projects, one in Canada and one in Australia, investigating the cost-effectiveness of improving neighbourhood walkability as a means of encouraging physical activity. He is also the health economics editor for the Cochrane Public Health Review Group.
 
 

Louise Fournier

Master degree in Psychology (1982), PhD in Public Health (1990) and a 2-year postdoctoral training in Psychiatric Epidemiology (1991, 1992). My first research work focused mainly on homelessness: two enumeration and cross-sectional studies (at 10 years interval), a case-control study and a 1-year follow-up survey. My second research interest, since the beginning of my career and still in progress, concerns public mental health: development of diagnostic instrument, large-scale epidemiological surveys, low-cost multi-method strategy to assess community needs, and finally, a large research program combining qualitative and quantitative methods to study transformation of mental health primary care services in Quebec. My current work is characterized by close partnership with decision makers at different levels (provincial, regional and local), following together a common goal, learning how to improve mental health of the population by promotion, prevention and primary healthcare.

Carolyn S. Dewa

Carolyn S. Dewa, MPH, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She is also the Program Head of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's Work and Well-being Research and Evaluation Program and is a Senior Scientist/Health Economist in the Centre's Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit. She currently holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research IPPH/PHAC Applied Public Health Chair.

She received her doctoral degree in health economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and her MPH in health services administration from San Diego State University School of Public Health. Her undergraduate degree is from Wellesley College. She did a fellowship at the Harvard Medical School Department of Health Policy and Management. Since joining the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 1998, she has become a national leader in workplace mental health research, particularly in disability related to mental illness among workers, the effects of mental illness on productivity and interventions to improve disability outcomes.

Douglas G. Manuel

Doug Manuel, MD, MSc, FRCPC is a Senior Scientist of the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, at the University of Toronto. He is an MD with a Masters in Epidemiology and Royal College specialization in Community Medicine. He holds a Canadian Institute for Health Research Chair in Applied Public Health. For the past 15 years, he has been a primary care clinician in rural Canadian communities.

Dr. Manuel's research interest is the population health impact assessment of health care and the assessment of population health status. He has developed performance measures and planning tools for health planning. He has written and lectured on the development, quality assessment and use of linked health administrative and population health data.

Elizabeth M. Saewyc

Elizabeth M. Saewyc, PhD, RN, PHN, is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She is a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Scholar. She also serves as Research Director for the McCreary Centre Society, a community-based adolescent health research organization best known for its province-wide, school-based, cluster-stratified BC Survey of Adolescent Health. She is also a Senior Scientist in Centre for Community Child Health Research of the Child Family Research Institute at BC Childrens Hospital. As a public health nurse, she has worked primarily with vulnerable adolescents in Minnesota, Seattle, and Vancouver, including with street youth and runaways, Native American/First Nations and immigrant adolescents, pregnant and parenting teens, sexually exploited youth, gay/lesbian/bisexual teens, and youth in custody. Over the past decade she has conducted a number of international community and clinical studies focused on the health of these vulnerable adolescent populations, with a particular emphasis on understanding how stigma, trauma, and violence affect youth coping and risk behaviours, and how protective factors in relationships and environments can help buffer this risk and promote health. Her research has been funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as by state and provincial public health ministries, child welfare and juvenile justice departments, and private foundations.

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Janice M. Sargeant

Dr. Jan M. Sargeant received her DVM degree from the Ontario Veterinary College (University of Guelph) and practiced as a food animal veterinarian for 4 years. She then obtained an MSc and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph. Jan was on faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, from 1997-2003, where her research involved investigations into the epidemiology and prevention of foodborne pathogens (primarily E. coli O157) in agricultural environments. From 2003 to 2007, she was on faculty in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, on interchange with the Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Public Health Agency of Canada. In June 2007, she returned to the Ontario Veterinary College where she is Director of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, and a professor in the Department of Population Medicine. Jan's current research interests are the epidemiology of zoonotic pathogens, linking research across disciplines and among animal health and human health communities, and evidence-informed decision-making in public health.

James R. Dunn

Dr. Jim Dunn holds a Chair in Applied Public Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Public Health Agency of Canada on Interventions in Residentail Neighbourhoods and Population Health. He is a Research Scientist at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health (CRICH) at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Geography & Planning and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto (UofT). His background is in the social geography of health, having earned a PhD from Simon Fraser University in 1999. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Social Science and Medicine and Health Reports and has been a scientific advisor to a number of policy-related bodies, including the Privy Council Office of Canada, Health Canada, the National Housing Research Committee of Canada and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. His research program focuses on questions regarding the social determinants of health and the influence of economic and social policies and programs on health inequalities, with a focus on urban housing and neighbourhoods. He has several projects related to the role of housing and neighbourhood in the production of social inequalities in health. Among these is a project investigating the impact of the redevelopment of the Regent Park neighbourhood in Toronto, one of Canada's oldest and largest public housing developments, on adult mental health and children's developmental health and competencies.

Kim D. Raine

Dr. Kim Raine is currently Director and Professor of the Centre for Health Promotion Studies, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton. She received her PhD from Dalhousie University in Halifax. She is a registered dietitian.

Dr. Raine's research focuses on social determinants of health, qualitative and participatory methodologies in community health research, and theoretical contributions in a social change based approach to health promotion. Since 1999 she has been a Health Scholar (now Senior Scholar) of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. She is also a CIHR/HSFC Applied Public Health Chair. In 2001 she was named the recipient of the University of Alberta's Martha Cook Piper Research Award (social sciences) for outstanding accomplishment and demonstrated promise as a researcher. She is the leader of POWER (Promotion of Optimal Weights through Ecological Research), a $1.4 million New Emerging Team grant from CIHR and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. She recently published "Overweight and Obesity in Canada: A Population Health Perspective" for the Canadian Population Health Initiative of CIHI. She is also a Director of Healthy Alberta Communities, a community-based project to prevent obesity and chronic diseases. Dr. Raine serves on the Scientific Council of the Danone Institute of Canada. She hasn't decided if she wants to be a researcher or an activist when she grows up.

Dr. Raine is the proud mother of two wonderful sons, Corey - age 17 and Dustin - age 13. She has completed 14 marathons and one Ironman triathlon. She doesn't do anything that isn't fun!

Ronald C. Plotnikoff

Dr. Plotnikoff is a professor with joint appointments with the School of Public Health and the Faculty of Physical Education & Recreation and directs the Physical Activity and Population Health (PAPH) Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta. Dr. Ron Plotnikoff holds Salary Awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Chair in Applied Public Health) and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (Health Scholar). Dr. Ron Plotnikoff focuses on individual/behavioural- and environmental-level theory and intervention development/testing for the prevention and management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as well as the promotion of healthy body weight and general health of the population through physical activity.

Gilles Paradis

Gilles Paradis, MD, MSc, FRCPC, FACPM, FAHA, is Associate-Director for population health and preventive medicine of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) Research Institute, full-professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health of McGill University and medical consultant to the Public Health Institute of Quebec. He is also the Scientific Director of the Quebec Population Health Research Network, and the Director of the Quebec Public and Population Health Research Training Program. He also is the vice-chair of the CIHR Institute for Population and Public Health Advisory Board. He holds a CIHR Chair in Applied Public Health Research. He is the Interim Editor of the Canadian Journal of Public Health. He completed his MD at Université de Montreal and a specialty in community medicine and a MSc in epidemiology at McGill University. After a two-year fellowship at Stanford University he returned to Montreal and has conducted community-based CVD prevention research in low-income populations and aboriginal communities as well as research on the epidemiology of CVD risk factors particularly in children and adolescents. He is the principal-investigator of a large trial of dissemination of best practices for CVD prevention in Quebec and is involved in studies of the metabolic consequences of obesity in children and of the natural history of the development of nicotine addiction in novice smokers. He was Secretary-General of the Organizing Committee and chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the 4th International Conference on Preventive Cardiology in Montreal in 1997.

He will contribute to design and analyses of epidemiological studies and public health issues.

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Lise Gauvin

Lise Gauvin PhD is a Full Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Université de Montréal and an Associate Researcher at the Centre de recherche of the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) and at the Léa-Roback Center on Social Inequalities of Health. She completed her doctoral work in Physical Activity Sciences at the Université de Montréal in 1985. In addition to her current academic position at the Université de Montréal, she has held positions at Queen's University and Concordia University. Her research focuses on socio-environmental determinants of involvement physical activity, interventions to promote physical activity at the population level, and social determinants of disordered eating. Methodologically, her work draws upon innovative quantitative and epidemiologic methods including multilevel modeling methods, ecometrics, systematic social observation, and ecological momentary assessment. In addition to publishing her work in the peer-review scientific literature, she enjoys participating in knowledge transfer and exchange activities. Dr. Gauvin was recently awarded a CIHR/CRPO (Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Centre de recherche en prévention de l'obésité) Applied Public Health Chair on Neighbourhoods, Lifestyle, and Healthy Body Weight. Her research team will focus on how different neighbourhood characteristics can influence people's lifestyle choices, what neighbourhood features can become the target of public health interventions, and on how these interventions can successfully shape urban residential areas. Ongoing research projects and partnerships are developed with the Montreal Public Health Department.

Marjorie A. MacDonald

Dr. Marjorie MacDonald is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and a CIHR/PHAC Applied Public Health Chair in Public Health Education and Population Intervention Research. She has served as Associate Director of Graduate Education and in this role was responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of two new Master's and a PhD Program. She has also been the Acting Director in the School. In her Applied Public Health Chair, she is focusing on three streams of research: a series of studies exploring the implementation and impact of the Core Public Health Functions Framework in BC; studies related to adolescent health promotion in the areas of health literacy and adolescent smoking; and research related to conceptualizing the nature of advanced practice nursing in public health. In her public health services research she is Academic Lead (with Trevor Hancock as Decision Maker Lead) of the Core Public Health Functions Research Initiative (CPHFRI), a large collaborative venture involving researchers and decision makers in BC and Ontario. Her major projects are funded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Team Planning and Team Start Up Infrastructure grants), CIHR (Knowledge to Action and Emerging Team Grants), and SSHRC (operating grants). Marjorie has taught in both the graduate and undergraduate nursing programs and is currently supervising several master's and PhD students. Most recently, she has been a member of the Advisory Committee for the establishment of a new School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria.

Pat Martens

Dr. Patricia Martens is the Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, an internationally acclaimed university-based research centre focusing on population-based health services, public health and population health research. An Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, she has held various research career awards, including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award (2003-2008) and presently a CIHR/PHAC Applied Public Health Chair (2008-2013). Patricia has been invited to speak at over 200 presentations nationally and internationally, and has published over 100 articles, books and abstracts. Patricia's interests in health services and population health research include projects on the health status and healthcare use of Manitoba's rural & northern residents, mental health and the use of health care services by those with mental illness, the health of Aboriginal people, and child health (including evaluating community intervention strategies to increase breastfeeding rates). Dr. Martens directs The Need To Know Team, a collaborative research team of university academics working with planners from Manitoba's 11 Regional Health Authorities and the Manitoba Department of Health. This Team's research impact on health policy and planning was recognized through receipt of the prestigious CIHR's national KT Award for Regional Impact in 2005.

Jean A. Shoveller

Professor Shoveller holds the CIHR/PHAC Applied Public Health Chair in Improving Youth Sexual Health in the School of Population & Public Health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She also holds a Senior Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. She earned her bachelor of science degree and her master of arts degree, both with a specialty in health education, from Dalhousie University. Prof. Shoveller obtained a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at University of British Columbia in 1997, and completed postdoctoral training at the BC Research Institute for Children's and Women's Health. She assumed her current faculty position in 1999.

Professor Shoveller's research program addresses the theme of reducing health and social inequalities among youth. She is well-known for her contributions to the use of qualitative methods as well as survey methodologies. She has written extensively about social context and structure as determinants of health, with a particular emphasis on investigating the impacts of gender, culture and place as key determinants of young people's sexual health. She continues to serve on several peer review committees for the CIHR and other Canadian and international health research funding agencies. In addition, she reviews for many international and Canadian peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Shoveller also is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention Research for the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (formerly known as the National Cancer Institute of Canada). Prof. Shoveller is a member of several international collaborative networks, including an appointment as a Collaborating Professor at the Institute of Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro and the Institute for Studies in Public Health, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

POP News Chair Features

1. June 2009: Pat Martens
2. October 2009: Marjorie MacDonald
3. February 2010: Carolyn Dewa
4. June 2010: Lise Gauvin
5. October 2010: Benedikt Fischer
6. February 2011: Gilles Paradis
7. June 2011: Douglas Manuel
8. October 2011: Kim Raine
9. February 2012: Elizabeth Saewyc
10. June 2012: Louise Fournier
11. October 2012: Jan Sargeant
12. February 2013: Jean Shoveller
13. June 2013: Alan Shiell
14. October 2013: Jim Dunn
15. February 2014: Ronald Plotnikoff