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The School of Public Health and Health Systems is a division of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
People profiles
Kelly Anthony
Lecturer, Teaching Fellow
Research interests: attitudes regarding public policies (both US and Canadian) designed to protect disadvantaged groups; prejudice; attitudes towards, and responses to, dying and the death process; individualism and collectivism and culture.
Jose F. Arocha
Associate Professor
Research interests: health informatics and socio-cognitive studies of human-computer interaction, principles of HCI design, health education and modelling understanding of health and disease.
Stephanie Austin
Medical School student
Stephanie Austin chose the Health Studies program because it seemed like the “ideal pre-med program,” combining natural and social science courses.
Philip Bigelow
Associate Professor/Associate Director, Graduate Research Programs
Research interests: interventions in occupational health; evaluation and measurement of health and safety management systems; risk assessment and standard setting in occupational health
Steve Brown
Professor
Research interests: Development of statistical methods for the design of community-based interventions, the analysis of longitudinal data collected from studies of interventions designed to affect health behaviours, and the design and analysis of observational studies of health behaviour.
Roy Cameron
Professor Emeritus
Research interests: health behaviour change, disease prevention, tobacco, population level intervention, evidence-based practice.
Helen Chen
Assistant Research Professor
Research interests: health informatics, translatonal research in healthcare and medicine, health system integration, semantic interoperability, healthcare decision making and decision support, health data analytics, medical imaging informatics, patient safety
Martin Cooke
Associate Professor
Research interests: the social demography and health of Aboriginal peoples; social inequality, the welfare state, and the life course; population ageing and retirement.
Kitty Corbett
Professor
Research interests: My research is about and for change, emphasizing social science tools (e.g., ethnographic and mixed methods, social marketing, photovoice, training) for knowledge translation, health communication, quality improvement, and community-based participatory action and health promotion.
Alexander Crizzle
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Gerontology, senior health, aging, older drivers, commercial drivers, fitness to drive, screening, mobility, falls, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, neurodegenerative disorders, exercise, rehabilitation, public health.
Joel Dubin
Associate Professor
Research interests: longitudinal data methodology and analysis, survival methodology and analysis, graphical methods, prediction models. Application areas include nephrology, cancer, smoking cessation, aging, and the environment.
Tara Elton-Marshall
Research Assistant Professor
Research interests: policy evaluation, population health, psychological determinants of health, health disparities, Aboriginal health, global health, tobacco control, gambling
Nancy E. Fenton
Assistant Professor (Adjunct)
Research interests: medical geography, emotional geography, risk perception, children and youth, quality of life, child-centred methodologies, qualitative and post-structural methods, communities of practice, mentorship competencies
John Garcia
Professor of Practice/Associate Director, Graduate Professional Programs
Research interests: population-based chronic disease prevention, health of Nunavummiut, knowledge exchange, capacity building, implementation, practice-based evidence, public health policy and systems, qualitative and mixed methods, realistic evaluation
Peter Hall
Associate Professor
Research interests: dietary behavior, social neuroscience, diabetes, aging, health disparities.
David Hammond
Associate Professor
Research interests: population health, health behavior, health policy, tobacco, smoking, health communication, media, nutrition, diet, public health, e-cigarettes, nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks, global health, international health
Rhona Hanning
Professor
Research interests: human nutrition and chronic disease, evidence-based practice, body composition.
Rose Harrison
Principal, Harrison Health Collaborative Inc
Health informatics may not be a term you’re familiar with – but if you’ve visited a hospital or clinic lately you have likely seen it in action. People like Rose Harrison are using information technology to better manage the health care you receive.
George A. Heckman
Associate Professor (Schlegel Research Chair in Geriatric Medicine)
Research interests: chronic disease management in frail seniors - focus on cardiovascular disease and long term care.
John Hirdes
Professor
Research interests: community and public health, health information systems, health policies, caregiving, aging, home care, mental health, long-term care, palliative care, quality of life, pharmacoepidemiology, knowledge translation.
Laurie Hoffman-Goetz
Professor
Research interests: In Public Health: health literacy, risk communication, consumer health informatics, mass media and health education
In Biohealth: physical activity and cancer prevention, exercise immunology, behavioural immunology, lymphocyte apoptosis
In Biohealth: physical activity and cancer prevention, exercise immunology, behavioural immunology, lymphocyte apoptosis
Sue Horton
Professor and CIGI Chair in Global Health Economics
Research interests: economics of public health, economics of nutrition, development economics, poverty
Janice Husted
Associate Professor Emerita
Research interests: prognosis of rheumatic conditions specifically psoriatic arthritis; and mental health
Craig R. Janes
Professor / Director, School of Public Health and Health Systems
Dr. Janes is a medical anthropologist interested in and committed to social science approaches to public health and global health policy. Janes has research strengths in human-environment interactions, social inequities and health, global health governance, and maternal and child health.
Linda Jessup
Continuing Lecturer; Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies
Research interests: Population and public health, healthy development, psychosocial development
Sharon Kirkpatrick
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Dietary assessment, measurement error in diet, food access and food security among marginalized populations, food environments, food and nutrition policy, dietary guidance.
Judy Kruger
Senior Scientist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
What does the University of Waterloo and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta have in common? Well-respected international reputations and Dr. Judy Kruger.
Brian Laird
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Contaminants; Risk Assessment; Risk Communication; Hazard; Environmental Health; Exposure; Country Food; Aboriginal; First Nations; Inuit; Mercury; Arsenic; Selenium; Diet; Mixtures; Nutrient-Toxicant Interaction; Toxicology; Soil; Bioaccessibility; Bioavailability; Contaminated Sites; Dehcho Region
Jane Law
Associate Professor
Research interests: health geomatics; healthy communities; disease mapping; measurement error, data uncertainty, and missing data adjustment in public health research; Bayesian spatial modelling and analysis in health research; determinants of health outcomes; health and crime; diet and health outcomes.
Scott Leatherdale
Associate Professor & Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair
Research interests: health behaviour surveillance (physical activity, obesity, alcohol and drug use, tobacco use, eating behaviour, sedentary behaviour); built environment and behaviour; impact of policies / programs on behaviour; co-morbid health behaviours; internet gambling and problem gambling; knowledge translation and exchange systems; cancer epidemiology; social epidemiology
Joon Lee
Assistant Professor
Research interests: health informatics, health data science, big data, data-driven decision support algorithms, critical care, home health care, natural language processing, information visualization, social network analysis.
Ellen MacEachen
Associate Professor
Broad focus on policy and program evaluation and implementation, with a view to the organisational, social and policy determinants of work and health.
Shannon E. Majowicz
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Infectious diseases, particularly foodborne, waterborne and enteric diseases, surveillance and burden of illness methods, survey research methods, epidemiology and epidemiologic methods, public health practice, systems approaches to food-related health outcomes, knowledge synthesis methods, knowledge brokering
Stephen McColl
Associate Professor Emeritus
Research interests: environmental health, occupational health, risk assessment and management, health policy.
Ian McKillop
Associate Professor
Research interests: design and use of health information systems; costing and performance measurement of health services; data standards, security and privacy of health information.
Samantha Meyer
Assistant Professor
My research interests are wide-ranging but central to all projects is the application of social theory to social health research. Principally, I am interested in the application of social theories of trust in investigations of the nature and extent of patient trust in healthcare and the potential policy and practice implications. I also conduct research in the areas of bariatric surgery, equity in access to healthcare services, food scares and trust in food.
John G. Mielke
Associate Professor
Research interests: neurobiological embedding of adversity (e.g., poor nutrition, psychosocial stress)
Neuroplasticity during learning and following injury (e.g., ischaemia)
Anita M. Myers
Professor
Research interests: program evaluation, driver licensing, licensing policies, older adults, driving behavior, driving self-regulation, older adult mobility and transportation, driving confidence, balance confidence, commercial vehicle drivers.
Mark Oremus
Associate professor
Research interests: Epidemiology, population and public health, chronic diseases, aging, dementia, caregiving, knowledge translation, systematic reviews, health economics, health policy.
Chris Perlman
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Health services research, evaluation, performance measurement, health information systems, decision support, knowledge translation, mental healthcare, long term care.
Phuc-Nhi Phuong
Public Health Planner, Region of Waterloo Public Health
If you asked Phuc-Nhi Phuong (Health Studies ’04, Master of Public Health ’08) to create a job description based on her university experience, her current position as a Public Health Planner for the Region of Waterloo would be it!
Gaby Sabados
Midwife, St. Jacobs Midwives
As a midwife, Gaby Sabados (Health Studies '99) requires a diverse set of skills. A strong clinical background is necessary in order to provide the best evidence-based care for clients, but she also requires the communication skills and the capacity to build relationships in order to become a trusted partner in care.
Elham Satvat
Assistant Professor
Research interests: behavioural neuroscience; neuroscience laboratory; psychopharmacology; brain in health and disease; development, aging and health; psychosocial perspectives on lifespan and psychology of aging.
Patrick Seliske
Epidemiologist
For Patrick Seliske (Health Studies '78), the decision to attend Waterloo was simple – it was the Canadian leader in health studies and health promotion. Now working as an Epidemiologist for the Child and Family Health Division (CFHD) of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH), he also credits the program for providing him with the unique opportunity to study epidemiology.
Paul Stolee
Associate Professor
Research interests: Geriatrics, health care systems, rehabilitation, patient and citizen engagement, health information systems and databases, health outcome measurement, and knowledge translation
Nancy Theberge
Professor Emeritus
Research interests: Social aspects of human performance in sport and work.
Suzanne Tyas
Associate Professor; Associate Dean, Graduate Studies
Research interests: aging, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic diseases, cognitive reserve, dementia, epidemiology, healthy aging, multimorbidity.
Patricia Ellen Wainwright
Professor Emerita
Research interests: brain and behavioural development (drugs and nutrition).
James Wallace
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work.
Doris Winfield
Physician
Dr. Doris Winfield (MD, Health Studies '89) didn’t always know what she wanted to do with her career, but with the support of friends and professors who she met in Health Studies she found her fit by pursuing a career as a physician.
Diane Williams
Lecturer
Cellular and molecular biology of the inner ear, age-related hearing loss and prevention, neuroprotection, biocomplexity, systems approaches to studying health and disease.
Astha Ramaiya
Health promotion advocate
Astha (BSc '07) graduated from Waterloo’s Health Studies program, and her passion for health promotion and social justice led her to internship placements in Nepal and work in Tanzania.
Lana Vanderlee and Andrew Mitchell
Co-creators of BABU (Bringing About Better Understanding)
When AHS graduates and current PhD students Lana Vanderlee and Andrew Mitchell went to Nepal as volunteers, it didn’t take long for them to discover a serious problem.
Rohit Ramchandani
Public Health Advisor- ColaLife
Through his work with ColaLife, health studies graduate Rohit Ramchandani tackles the world's second-largest killer of children young children.
The problem is huge, the solution simple, and Rohit and his team are closing the gap.
