Susan J. Elliott, PhD, FAAS, FRSC

Dr. Susan J. Elliott is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and University Research Chair in Medical Geography at the University of Waterloo.

As an internationally recognized health geographer, Professor Elliott has an extensive record of research examining the relationships between the global environment and human health. Her research spans the built environment, socially constructed risks, and the effects of the physical environment on health, always emphasizing the integration of science and policy. Her work is characterized by a transdisciplinary approach that includes partnerships with knowledge owners and users.

As head of the Geographies of Health in Place (GoHelP ) lab at the University of Waterloo, she has supervised and mentored over 50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Her current research focuses on the intersection of health and environment, with particular emphasis on gender, water security, and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In recognition of her contributions to geography, global environment and health research, and academic leadership, Professor Elliott was inducted as a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2024 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2025.

• Global environment and health

• Health geography and environmental determinants of health

• Water security, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)

• Gender, violence, and health inequities

• Climate change, vulnerability, and wellbeing

• Global health and sustainable development

• Chronic illness and lived experiences of health

• Knowledge translation and science-policy integration

• 1992, PhD, Geography, McMaster University

• 1987, MA, Geography, McMaster University

• 1985, BA (Honours), Urban and Environmental Studies/Sociology, Brock University

• 2025, Fellow, Royal Society of Canada

• 2025, Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, University of Waterloo

• 2024, Fellow, African Academy of Sciences

• 2021, Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography, Canadian Association of Geographers

• 2020, Melinda Meade Distinguished Scholar Award, Association of American Geographers

• 2020, AllerGen Mentorship Award

• 2018, Recognized in The Lancet's Canadian Women in Global Health

• 2003, President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, McMaster University

• 1996, Young Research Workers Award, Institute of British Geographers

• 1993, Jacques May Thesis Prize, Best Dissertation in Medical Geography, Association of American Geographers

• Editor-in-Chief, Social Science & Medicine (2023–present)

• Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief, Wellbeing, Space and Society (2019–present)

• Series Editor, Routledge Geographies of Health Series (2010–2027)

• Section Editor, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), Water Security (2016–2027)

• Canadian Association of Geographers

• American Association of Geographers

• Canadian Associate for Global Health

• Fellow, Balsillie School of International Affairs

• Adjunct Professor, United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health

• Board Member, ROTOM Canada

• Founder, SJE Foundation

• Alsabbagh M., Shah N.-U.-H., Beazely M.A., Chang F., Cooke M., and Elliott S.J., Survival After Opioid-Related Hospitalization and the Impact of Socioeconomic Status (SES) on Survival: A Population-Based Study, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Canada, 2026.

• Dhillon S., Omondi I., Nagawa J., Bisung E., Dickin S., Mugayehwenkyi K., Karanja D., and Elliott S.J., The lingering impacts of COVID-19 on older women in Kenya and Uganda: A quantitative analysis of health, wellbeing, and WASH ins, Journal of Public Health Research, Volume 15, Canada, 2026.

• Cardwell F.S., Amoak D., Dhillon S., and Elliott S.J., Towards global citizenship: investigating and measuring empathy for the other in global health education, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Canada, 2026.

• Alsabbagh M.W., Alsefaou M., Elliott S.J., Cooke M., and Chang F., Income-Based Disparities in Opioid Prescription Dispensing Among Public Drug Plan Beneficiaries in Canada from 2010 to 2018: A P, Drugs Real World Outcomes, Volume 12, 337-349, Canada, 2025.

• Shantz E., Elliott S.J., Sperling C., and Choi M.Y., ‘Information is power’: A qualitative exploration of co-producing education resources about cardiovascular disease in partne, Women S Health, Volume 21, Canada, 2025.

• Brewis A., DuBois L.Z., Wutich A., Adams E.A., Dickin S., Elliott S.J., Empinotti V.L., Harris L.M., Ilboudo Nebie E., and Korzenevica M., Gender identities, water insecurity, and risk: Re-theorizing the connections for a gender-inclusive toolkit for water insecurity, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water, Volume 11, United States, 2024.

• Onyango E.O., and Elliott S.J., Victims or perpetrators, agency, and politics of intimate partner violence in the social construction of health and wellbeing: a, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, Volume 31, Canada, 2023.

• Dogoli M.A., Nunbogu A.M., and Elliott S.J., Attention to the needs of women and girls in WASH: An analysis of WASH policies in selected sub-Saharan African countries, Global Public Health, Volume 18, Canada, 2023.

• Liu J., Brouwer R., Sharmin D.F., Elliott S., Govia L., and Lindamood D., Industry Perspectives on Water Pollution Management in a Fast Developing Megacity: Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sustainability Switzerland, Volume 14, Canada, 2022.

• Alsabbagh M.W., Chang F., Cooke M., Elliott S.J., and Chen M., Corrigendum to: National trends in population rates of opioid-related mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits, Addiction, Volume 117, 841, Canada, 2022.

• Alsabbagh M.W., Cooke M., Elliott S.J., Chang F., Shah N.-U.-H., and Ghobrial M., Stepping up to the Canadian opioid crisis: a longitudinal analysis of the correlation between socioeconomic status and populatio, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, Volume 42, 229-237, Canada, 2022.

• Butler A.E., Battista K., Leatherdale S.T., Meyer S.B., Elliott S.J., and Majowicz S.E., A comparison of repeat cross-sectional and longitudinal results from the COMPASS study: design considerations for analysing surv, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 25, 597-609, Canada, 2022.

• Cardwell F.S., Clarke A.E., and Elliott S.J., Investigating self-reported food allergy prevalence in Waterloo Region, Canada, Canadian Geographer, Canada, 2022.

• Rishworth A., and Elliott S., Global Discourses and Local Disconnects: Gender, Aging, Health, and Well-Being in Uganda, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Volume 112, 1519-1536, Canada, 2022.

• Manjang B., Ochola E.A., and Elliott S.J., The use of non-pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa: A systemati, Global Public Health, Volume 17, 469-482, Canada, 2022.

• Li S., Schmidt A.M., and Elliott S.J., Socioeconomic factors and bacillary dysentery risk in Jiangsu Province, China: a spatial investigation using Bayesian hierarchic, International Journal of Environmental Health Research, Volume 32, 220-231, Canada, 2022.

• Lindamood D., Armitage D., Sharmin D.F., Brouwer R., Elliott S.J., Liu J.A., and Khan M.R., Assessing the capacity for adaptation and collaboration in the context of freshwater pollution management in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Environmental Science and Policy, Volume 120, 99-107, Canada, 2021.

• Alsabbagh M.W., Chang F., Cooke M., Elliott S.J., and Chen M., National trends in population rates of opioid-related mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits in Canada betwe, Addiction, Volume 116, 3482-3493, Canada, 2021.

• Atiim G.A., Bisung E., and Elliott S.J., Using Participatory Photovoice Research to Understand Food Allergy Risk in Accra, Ghana, Global Perspectives on Health Geography, 115-128, Malaysia, 2021.

• Cardwell F.S., Bisung E., Clarke A.E., and Elliott S.J., Hacking systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): Outcomes of the waterlupus hackathon, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, Volume 40, 235-244, Canada, 2020.

• Clarke A.E., Elliott S.J., St. Pierre Y., Soller L., La Vieille S., and Ben-Shoshan M., Comparing food allergy prevalence in vulnerable and nonvulnerable Canadians, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Practice, Volume 8, 2425-2430.e11, Canada, 2020.

• Chow A., Dharma C., Chen E., Mandhane P.J., Turvey S.E., Elliott S.J., Becker A.B., Subbarao P., Sears M.R., and Kozyrskyj A.L., Trajectories of depressive symptoms and perceived stress from pregnancy to the postnatal period among Canadian women: Impact of , American Journal of Public Health, Volume 109, S197-S204, United States, 2019.

• Barber H., Dickson-Anderson S.E., Schuster-Wallace C.J., Elliott S.J., and Tema S., Designing a Mixed-Methods Approach for Collaborative Local Water Security: Findings from a Kenyan Case Study, Exposure and Health, Volume 10, 145-153, Canada, 2018.

• Cardwell F.S., and Elliott S.J., Investigating Youth Sport Coach Perspectives of an Asthma Education Module, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Volume 127, Canada, 2018.

• Bisung E., and Elliott S.J., It makes us really look inferior to outsiders: Coping with psychosocial experiences associated with the lack of access to safe w, Canadian Journal of Public Health, Volume 108, e442-e447, Canada, 2017.

• Barakat-Haddad C., Saeed U., and Elliott S., A longitudinal cohort study examining determinants of overweight and obesity in adulthood, Canadian Journal of Public Health, Volume 108, e27-e35, Canada, 2017.

• Torabi B., Cardwell F.S., Elliot S.J., and Chan E.S., The impact of bullying in Canadian children with confirmed Food allergy and its influence on wearing medical identification, Paediatrics and Child Health Canada, Volume 21, e39-e42, Canada, 2016.

• Bridgman S.L., Konya T., Azad M.B., Sears M.R., Becker A.B., Turvey S.E., Mandhane P.J., Subbarao P., Allen R., Anand S.S., Befus A.D., Brauer M., Brook J.R., Chen E., Cyr M., Daley D., Dell S., Denburg J.A., Elliott S., Grasemann H., HayGlass K., Hegele R., Holness D.L., Lou W.Y.W., Kobor M.S., Kollman T.R., Kozyrskyj A.L., Laprise C., Larche M., MacRi J., Mandhane P.M., Miller G., Moqbel R., Moraes T., Pare P.D., Ramsey C., Ratjen F., Sandford A., Scott J.A., Silverman F., Takaro T., Tang P., Tebbutt S., To T., and Field C.J., Infant gut immunity: A preliminary study of IgA associations with breastfeeding, Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, Volume 7, 68-72, Canada, 2016.

• Leatherdale S.T., Brown K.S., Carson V., Childs R.A., Dubin J.A., Elliott S.J., Faulkner G., Hammond D., Manske S., Sabiston C.M., Laxer R.E., Bredin C., and Thompson-Haile A., The COMPASS study: A longitudinal hierarchical research platform for evaluating natural experiments related to changes in school, BMC Public Health, Volume 14, Canada, 2015.

• Hobin E.P., Leatherdale S., Manske S., Dubin J.A., Elliott S., and Veugelers P., Are Environmental Influences on Physical Activity Distinct for Urban, Suburban, and Rural Schools? A Multilevel Study Among Seco, Journal of School Health, Volume 83, 357-367, Canada, 2015.

• Hobin E., Leatherdale S., Manske S., Dubin J., Elliott S., and Veugelers P., A multilevel examination of gender differences in the association between features of the school environment and physical activi, BMC Public Health, Volume 12, Canada, 2015.

• Hobin E., Leatherdale S., Manske S., Dubin J., Elliott S., and Veugelers P., A multilevel examination of factors of the school environment and time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity among a s, International Journal of Public Health, Volume 57, 699-709, Canada, 2015.

• Wakefield S.E.L., Elliott S.J., and Cole D.C., Social capital, environmental health and collective action: A Hamilton, Ontario case study, Canadian Geographer, Volume 51, 428-443, Canada, 2015.

• Wakefield S.E.L., Elliott S.J., Eyles J.D., and Cole D.C., Taking environmental action: The role of local composition, context, and collective, Environmental Management, Volume 37, 40-53, Canada, 2015.

• Atiim G.A., and Elliott S.J., The Global Epidemiologic Transition: Noncommunicable Diseases and Emerging Health Risk of Allergic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, Health Education and Behavior, Volume 43, 37-55, Canada, 2015.

• Bisung E., Elliott S.J., Abudho B., Karanja D.M., and Schuster-Wallace C.J., Using photovoice as a community based participatory research tool for changing water, sanitation, and hygiene behaviours in usom, Biomed Research International, Volume 127, Canada, 2015.

• Mulligan K., Dixon J., Sinn C.-L.J., and Elliott S.J., Is dengue a disease of poverty? A systematic review, Pathogens and Global Health, Volume 109, 10-18, Canada, 2015.

• Bisung E., Elliott S.J., Abudho B., Schuster-Wallace C.J., and Karanja D.M., Dreaming of toilets: Using photovoice to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices around water-health linkages in rural Kenya, Health and Place, Volume 31, 208-215, Canada, 2015.

• Bisung E., Elliott S.J., Schuster-Wallace C.J., Karanja D.M., and Bernard A., Social capital, collective action and access to water in rural Kenya, Social Science and Medicine, Volume 119, 147-154, Canada, 2014.

• Vine M.M., Elliott S.J., and Raine K.D., Exploring implementation of the Ontario school food and beverage policy at the secondary-school level: A qualitative study, Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, Volume 75, 118-124, Canada, 2014.

• Pouliou T., Elliott S.J., Paez A., and Bruce Newbold K., Building obesity in Canada: Understanding the individual- and neighbourhood-level determinants using a multi-level approach, Geospatial Health, Volume 9, 45-55, United Kingdom, 2014.

• Soller L., Cherkaoui S., Ben-Shoshan M., Harrington D.W., Knoll M., Fragapane J., Joseph L., St. Pierre Y., La Vieille S., Wilson K., Elliott S.J., and Clarke A.E., Likelihood of being prescribed an epinephrine autoinjector in allergic Canadians with lower educational levels, Annals of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, Volume 113, 326-329, Canada, 2014.

• Hand C., Law M., McColl M.A., Hanna S., and Elliott S., An examination of social support influences on participation for older adults with chronic health conditions, Disability and Rehabilitation, Volume 36, 1439-1444, Canada, 2014.

• Vine M.M., and Elliott S.J., Examining local-level factors shaping school nutrition policy implementation in Ontario, Canada, Public Health Nutrition, Volume 17, 1290-1298, Canada, 2014.

• Vine M.M., and Elliott S.J., Exploring the School Nutrition Policy Environment in Canada Using the ANGELO Framework, Health Promotion Practice, Volume 15, 331-339, Canada, 2014.

• Bisung E., and Elliott S.J., Toward a social capital based framework for understanding the water-health nexus, Social Science and Medicine, Volume 108, 194-200, Canada, 2014.

• Konya T., Koster B., Maughan H., Escobar M., Azad M.B., Guttman D.S., Sears M.R., Becker A.B., Brook J.R., Takaro T.K., Kozyrskyj A.L., Scott J.A., Allen R., Befus D., Brauer M., Cyr M., Chen E., Daley D., Dell S., Denburg J., Elliott S., Grasemann H., HayGlass K., Hegele R., Holness L., Kobor M., Kollmann T., Laprise C., Larche M., Lou W., Macri J., Mandhane P., Miller G., Moqbel R., Moraes T., Pare P., Ramsey C., Ratjen F., Ritchie B., Sandford A., Scott J., Silverman F., Subbarao P., Tebbutt S., Tang P., To T., and Turvey S., Associations between bacterial communities of house dust and infant gut, Environmental Research, Volume 127, 25-30, Canada, 2014.

• Dickin S.K., Schuster-Wallace C.J., and Elliott S.J., Mosquitoes and vulnerable spaces: Mapping local knowledge of sites for dengue control in Seremban and Putrajaya Malaysia, Applied Geography, Volume 46, 71-79, Canada, 2014.

• Harrington D.W., Wilson K., Elliott S.J., and Clarke A.E., Diagnosis and treatment of food allergies in off-reserve Aboriginal children in Canada, Canadian Geographer, Volume 57, 431-440, Canada, 2014.

• Fenton N.E., Elliott S.J., and Clarke A., Tag, you're different: The interrupted spaces of children at risk of anaphylaxis, Children S Geographies, Volume 11, 281-297, Canada, 2014.

• Dickin S.K., Schuster-Wallace C.J., and Elliott S.J., Developing a Vulnerability Mapping Methodology: Applying the Water-Associated Disease Index to Dengue in Malaysia, Plos One, Volume 8, Canada, 2014.

• Vine M.M., Latycheva O., Fenton N.E., Hampson C., Haynes M., and Elliott S.J., Assessing a population-based approach to asthma and COPD education: The PLATE program, Journal of Asthma and Allergy Educators, Volume 4, 60-66, Canada, 2014.

• Cardwell F.S., and Elliott S.J., Making the links: Do we connect climate change with health? A qualitative case study from Canada, BMC Public Health, Volume 13, Canada, 2014.

• Mulligan K., Elliott S.J., and Schuster-Wallace C., Corrigendum to "The place of health and the health of place: Dengue fever and urban governance in Putrajaya, Malaysia" [Health P, Health and Place, Volume 21, 179, Canada, 2014.

• Levison M., Elliott S., Schuster-Wallace C., and Karanja D., Using mixed methods to visualize the water-health nexus: Identifying problems, searching for solutions, African Geographical Review, Volume 31, 183-199, Canada, 2014.

• Mulligan K., Elliott S.J., and Schuster-Wallace C.J., Global public health policy transfer and dengue fever in Putrajaya, Malaysia: A critical discourse analysis, Critical Public Health, Volume 22, 407-418, Canada, 2014.

• Masuda J.R., Robinson K., Elliott S.J., and Eyles J., Chronic disease prevention and the politics of scale: Lessons from Canadian health reform, Social Work in Public Health, Volume 27, 639-657, Canada, 2014.

• Harrington D.W., Elliott S.J., Clarke A.E., Ben-Shoshan M., and Godefroy S., Exploring the Determinants of the Perceived Risk of Food Allergies in Canada, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, Volume 18, 1338-1358, Canada, 2014.

• Staiano A.E., Reeder B.A., Elliott S., Joffres M.R., Pahwa P., Kirkland S.A., Paradis G., and Katzmarzyk P.T., Body mass index versus waist circumference as predictors of mortality in Canadian adults, International Journal of Obesity, Volume 36, 1450-1454, United States, 2014.

• Knoll M., Soller L., Ben-Shoshan M., Harrington D., Fragapane J., Joseph L., La Vieille S., St-Pierre Y., Wilson K., Elliott S., and Clarke A., The use of incentives in vulnerable populations for a telephone survey: A randomized controlled trial, BMC Research Notes, Volume 5, Canada, 2014.