Welcome to the Geographies of Health in Place (GoHelP) lab, led by Susan J. Elliott, PhD, in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo.
News
Alexa Bennett Featured as Keynote Speaker at Universities Canada Event
Alexa Bennett delivered the keynote address at Scholar to Scholar: Advancing Knowledge, Impact and Community, a Universities Canada event celebrating the achievements and impact of scholarship recipients, alumni, and academic partners. As a Flight 302 Legacy Award recipient and Queen Elizabeth Scholars instructor, Alexa shared insights on the value of international scholarship programs in advancing research, collaboration, and global impact.
Tara Chen at the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research
GoHelP Lab member Tara Chen, PhD Candidate, presented her doctoral research at the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) conference in May 2026.
Congratulations to Tara on Receiving a CIHR Fellowship Exploring Climate Change and Healthy Ageing
GoHeLP member Tara Chen has been awarded a prestigious CIHR Health System Impact Fellowship in partnership with the International Federation on Ageing! Her work will explore how climate change and environmental health are shaping healthy ageing policies and communities worldwide. Learn more about this exciting achievement and the growing connection between planetary health and longevity.
Events
2026 International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS)
The 2026 International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS), themed Geographies of Wellbeing: Environments, Transitions, and the Futures of Societal Wellbeing, will be held at Toronto Metropolitan University. Bringing together scholars, researchers, and practitioners, the symposium will explore how global transitions shape societal wellbeing through interdisciplinary dialogue and innovation.
Registration and abstract submission are now open.
Blog
Yuki Yeung Awarded SSHRC Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral for Climate-Health Research
Yuki is a doctoral researcher whose work focuses on climate change as a pressing public health challenge, shaped by both lived experience and applied research on environmental health and climate adaptation. She has contributed to projects on extreme heat, disaster resilience, and community-informed climate-health policy in Canada, building strong links between research and practice. Supported by the SSHRC Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral, her work continues to advance evidence-and-place-informed approaches to strengthening climate resilience and health equity, read more about her journey and research here.
Taylor's experience at LUPUS 2025
Taylor is an undergraduate Science and Business student at the University of Waterloo. During her co-op term, she is working as a research assistant in Dr. Elliott’s GoHelP Lab on the GAPS project. Learn more about her experience and the opportunity she had to present her research poster at LUPUS 2025.
Maria's MITACS experience
Maria Eduarda Almeida is a Psychology undergraduate at the State University of Maringá, Brazil. As a MITACS Research Assistant in the GoHELP Laboratory at the University of Waterloo, she contributed to international projects such as CANVAS, which examines the impacts of everyday violence on children in vulnerable settings. Her work emphasized the value of interdisciplinary and qualitative research, highlighting how collaboration and cultural context shape efforts to improve health, human rights, and well-being. Learn more about her experience here!