Scott Leatherdale

Teaching interests

• Ecological Health Models and Behavioural Theory
• Population and Policy Surveillance
• Health Promotion & Disease Prevention

Research interests

Dr. Scott Leatherdale is an Associate Professor and Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Population Studies in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Leatherdale has expertise in ecological models of health (understanding the impact that context has on health), system-level approaches to prevention programming, evaluation, and knowledge exchange, research design and methods, and the critical appraisal of research. The focus of his research is twofold: understanding the association between environment contexts (both social and physical environments) and cancer risk behaviour; and developing systems to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices in population-based cancer control prevention programming. In order to carry out this work, he has developed well funded parallel research agendas within both youth and adult populations. The impact of Dr. Leatherdale’s work is evident as he is a board member of the Institute Advisory Board for the Institute of Cancer Research (IAB-ICR) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and his research recently received Canadian Cancer Society's Top Research Achievements of 2011 award.

Major fundi​ng sources

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Health Canada
• Cancer Care Ontario (CCO)
• Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MHLTC)
• Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport (MHPS)

Selected publications

• Leatherdale ST, Pouliou T, Church D, Hobin E. The association between overweight and opportunity structures in the built environment: a multi-level analysis among elementary school youth in the PLAY-On study. International Journal of Public Health. 2011; 56(3):237-246.

• Elton-Marshall T, Leatherdale ST, Burkhalter R. Tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use among Aboriginal youth living off-reserve: results from the Youth Smoking Survey. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2011; 183(8):E480-6.

• Leatherdale ST, Faulkner G, Arbour-Nicitopoulos K. School and student characteristics associated with screen time sedentary behavior among elementary school youth in the PLAY-On study: a multi-level analysis. Preventing Chronic Diseases: Public Health Research, Practice and Policy (CDC). 2010 Nov;7(6):A128.

• Costello MJ, Sproule B, Victor JC, Leatherdale ST, Zawertailo L, Selby P. Effectiveness of pharmacist counseling combined with nicotine replacement therapy: a pragmatic randomized trial with 6,987 smokers. Cancer Causes & Control. 2011;22:167-180

• Hobin EP, Leatherdale ST, Manske SR, Robertson-Wilson JE. A multilevel examination of school and student characteristics associated with moderate and high levels of physical activity among elementary school students (Ontario, Canada). Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2010;101(5):495-499.

• Leatherdale ST. The association between overweight and school policies on physical activity: a multi-level analysis among elementary school youth in the PLAY-On study. Health Education Research. 2010;5(6):1061-73.

• Leatherdale ST, Ahmed R. Alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use among Canadian youth: do we need more multi-substance prevention programming? Journal of Primary Prevention. 2010;31(3):99-108.

• Leatherdale ST, Ahmed R. Second-hand smoke exposure in homes and in cars among Canadian youth: current prevalence, beliefs about exposure, and changes between 2004 and 2006. Cancer Causes & Control. 2009;20:855-865.

Selected professional activities and networks

• Advisory Board Member (appointed to a 2nd Term), Institute for Cancer Research, Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

• Member and Advisor, National Advisory Committee on Research in Prevention (NACORP). Canadian Cancer Society’s Cancer Strategic Prevention Initiative, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCS-RI).

• Chair of Tobacco Prevention Sub-committee for the Ontario Prevention Blueprint, Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MHLTC).

• Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, Canadian Cancer Society and the University of Waterloo.