Christopher Perry, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, was selected for the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 1: Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine, as a reflection of his outstanding leadership in and contribution to the fields of exercise physiology, metabolism and skeletal muscle health.

Since 2012, when he came to 91��ɫ, Perry has contributed significantly to the success of the University, both internally and externally. He established the only human muscle biopsy lab at 91��ɫ, where he investigates the basic cellular mechanisms of muscle fitness and applies these discoveries toward developing novel therapies to treat muscle weakness disorders.

In 2016, he was elected to serve as a director, academic, for the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Canada’s major authority in exercise science and prescription. This society focuses on integrating state-of-the-art research into best practice. It comprises professionals interested and involved in the scientific study of exercise physiology, exercise biochemistry, fitness and health.

Perry was the recipient of the 2017 Faculty of Health Research Award (early career). He has also received multiple internal and external awards, including funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, the James H. Cummings Foundation, the Rare Disease Foundation and industry funding.

Theodore Noseworthy, Schulich School of Business, was chosen for the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 2: Social Science, Art & Design, Humanities, Business, Law and Education Cluster), for his extraordinary leadership and contribution to the fields of marketing and consumer studies. As the Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Public Good, he develops insights that inform business and policy-makers about the benefits of effectively communicated innovation and the potential costs to susceptible consumers and society. He examines how marketers can better communicate product and service innovations to maximize adoption and awareness. This work focuses on new product design and innovation, as well as product categorization, category ambiguity and visual processing.

In 2012, Noseworthy was appointed scientific director of the NOESIS Innovation, Design & Consumption Laboratory, a world-class behavioural lab at Schulich, to extend his primary research programs. The NOESIS lab is intended to foster innovative research into consumption, consumer behaviour and design. Noseworthy has developed this lab with the specific goal of conducting high-quality research, training skilled personnel and facilitating knowledge mobilization. Broadly speaking, Noseworthy’s research program is designed to help combat Canada’s innovation deficit by helping the private sector transfer knowledge into commercialized products and services to grow the economy.

Debra Pepler, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, was selected for the President’s Research Impact Award (PRIA) for her innovative contributions to psychology and mental health in the areas of bullying, aggression and violence, especially among marginalized children, youth and families.

In recognition of these contributions, Pepler was named an Officer of the Order of Canada by the Governor General. She is the only psychologist recognized by the Canadian Psychological Association for distinguished contributions to both psychology as a science and public or community service.

Pepler received a Network of Centres of Excellence grant to establish PREVNet – Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network, funded from 2006-19. She built this interdisciplinary network with her former PhD student Wendy Craig (Queen’s University), with over 120 researchers, 150 graduate students and 62 national organizations. PREVNet’s researchers and partners co-created over 150 resources for bullying prevention and healthy relationships. PREVNet was the culmination of Pepler’s decades of research linking science with practice and public policy for children’s healthy development and healthy relationships.

Pepler’s research embedded in clinical and community settings has real impact on the lives of children, youth and families. She has a strong publication record, having written or co-edited 10 books and more than 200 journal articles, chapters, and reports. In 2007, Pepler was recognized as a Distinguished Research Professor by 91��ɫ for her groundbreaking research.

Eric Hessels, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Faculty of Science, was chosen to receive the President’s Research Excellence Award (PREA) in the Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine Cluster, for his exceptional contribution to atomic, molecular and optical physics.

Hessels, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Atomic Physics and a 91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor, has led numerous research projects that have far-reaching consequences for the understanding of the laws of physics. He is leading a collaboration whose goal it is to use ultraprecise measurements of the electron to study one of the fundamental unresolved questions of physics.

In 2019, Hessels led a study published in the esteemed journal Science, which found a new measurement for the size of the proton at just under one trillionth of a millimetre. The study confirmed the 2010 finding that the proton is smaller than previously believed. The year before, Hessels led a team that achieved the most precise measurement of the fine structure of helium ever recorded. His researchers had been working on this for eight years.

Hessels is now leading a collaboration (EDMcubed) that is attempting to measure the shape of the electron – or, more specifically, whether its charge is evenly distributed. This measurement will try to shed light on one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: why the universe is made entirely of matter (electrons, protons etc.) and, unexpectedly, has no antimatter (anti-electrons, antiprotons etc.).

Pouya Rezai, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 1: Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine.

The award demonstrates the complexity and relevance of Rezai’s research in utilizing science and engineering concepts built on the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, material engineering, electronics and microbiology to tackle pressing global challenges in both the health and safety sector, and in the field of bioengineering. His impact on his discipline is demonstrated by his receipt of funding as a principal investigator that spans Tri-Council, industry and provincial sources.

His research has resulted in 47 journal papers, seven book chapters, two issued and two submitted United States patents and 50 conference papers. His achievements were recognized by the prestigious Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade in 2019 as well as the I. W. Smith Award from the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering in 2021.

Rezai joined 91��ɫ in 2013 and initiated a graduate program in Mechanical Engineering at Lassonde in 2015 while serving as the graduate program director since 2015. His work has earned four competitive best paper conference awards, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Visiting Fellowship in 2012, and multiple awards obtained by his students in the past five years. His work has also been recognized in 2017 and 2018 by the Early Researcher Lassonde Innovation Award and the Early Researcher Lassonde Innovation Fund. He provides leadership in his innovative research program and his mentorship and supervision. He has built international connections and his engagement has raised 91��ɫ’s research profile.

Rebecca Bassett-Gunter, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, is the recipient of the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 2: Social Sciences, Art & Design, Humanities, Business, Law and Education. The award illustrates her leadership in the field of research on the promotion of physical activity among children with disabilities.

Bassett-Gunter has developed an interdisciplinary program of research that has made contributions to the fields of behaviour change psychology, physical activity promotion, health communication and knowledge translation.

Since joining 91��ɫ in 2013, she has published 42 papers in leading journals, and she has shared her research at numerous conferences throughout Canada and internationally. In 2018, she earned the prestigious Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation.

Bassett-Gunter has secured significant external research funding in competitive, peer-reviewed grants as both a principal investigator and co-investigator from major granting agencies, including the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her mentorship impact is evidenced by the success of her students, many of whom have had their research published in leading journals and have secured Tri-Council and other funding. Bassett-Gunter provides leadership in her innovative research programs and in her mentorship and supervision. She has built international connections and her engagement has raised the research profile of 91��ɫ.

Carl E. James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora, Faculty of Education, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Research Impact Award (PRIA). James is the senior advisor on equity and representation in the Office of the Vice-President of Equity, People & Culture.

James is a leading Canadian scholar and researcher in the areas of equity and inclusivity in education, community development, immigration policies and settlement, and critical ethnography. In relentlessly documenting and addressing inequities related to Black and other marginalized groups, James has become internationally renowned for tackling and naming issues of racial inequity, and forging evidence-based policies and actions through innovative participatory research.

His track record clearly speaks to his strong success in designing and carrying out funded programs of research, including ministry, Tri-Council, corporate, school board, foundation, and community-based grants and contracts. He successfully engages his graduate students, involving them in writing and presentations, as co-authors of scholarly work and as active partners in knowledge mobilization activities.

In 2008, he founded the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Communities, which he directed until 2018. James’ impressive scholarly output includes over 20 authored and co-authored, edited and co-edited books; over 130 book chapters and articles in refereed journals; reports, reviews and educational resources; and hundreds of presentations and workshops. With research that reaches a wide range of audiences, from scholars to policy-makers to the public, and that has undoubtedly enhanced 91��ɫ’s research reputation, James is most deserving of the 2021 PRIA.

Jennifer Hyndman, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Research Excellence Award (PREA). The award is in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments and leadership as an internationally recognized scholar of human displacement, humanitarian response, feminist geopolitics and refugee subjectivity.

In January 2021, she was appointed associate vice-president research in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. Hyndman has been an exceptional leader in building research programs at 91��ɫ and in training the next generation of scholars. From 2013 to 2019, she served as director of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Refugee Studies, expanding its mandate and strongly supporting faculty to compete successfully for funds to facilitate innovative research and publish in top peer-reviewed journals and books.

Hyndman is a prolific scholar whose list of publications – in peer-reviewed journals and with esteemed book publishers – is extensive. Most recently, she co-authored, with 91��ɫ Professor Emerita Wenona Giles, Refugees in Extended Exile: Living on the Edge (Routledge, 2017). She has two monographs, Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism (Minnesota University Press, 2000) and Dual Disasters: Humanitarian Aid after the 2004 Tsunami (Kumarian Press, 2011), plus a co-edited volume with Giles, Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones (University of California Press, 2004). She has conducted community-based research, applied work for the United Nations and governments, and is one of 91��ɫ’s most highly cited scholars in the social sciences and humanities.

I am also pleased to announce that Associate Professor Michael Rotondi from the School of Kinesiology and Health Science has accepted my invitation to serve as the interim associate dean, research from Feb. 1 to June 30. Michael joined 91��ɫ in 2011 shortly after completing his PhD in biostatistics from the University of Western Ontario. He was promoted to associate professor in 2015. Michael is one of only a very few people to receive the Faculty of Health’s Dean’s awards for both Research and Teaching. He has won both doctoral and post-doctoral awards from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He has won multiple CIHR grants as principal investigator and served as a co-investigator or collaborator on several others. He has published several dozen peer-reviewed journal papers, developed three software innovations, and supervised seven graduate students. Michael's service includes award and research committees at both the Faculty and institutional level. He has been a member of Kinesiology’s Academic Executive Committee and chaired an Ethics Review Committee.

I want to express my thanks to Professors Ardern and Rotondi for agreeing to serve the University and Faculty in the role of associate dean, research. This collegial leadership role is important as our Faculty seeks to move to the next level of research and graduate student success and impact. I know I can count on our entire community to support and work with Chris and Michael. I also wish to thank the Faculty’s research staff who have done a wonderful job supporting me over the last month.

Paul McDonald
Dean, Faculty of Health

Dean’s Award for Research Excellence – Lauren Sergio

This award recognizes the outstanding contributions to research by an established researcher in the Faculty of Health. The individual is recognized for making significant contributions and developments in a specific new area of scientific inquiry, pioneering new methods of analysis, models of investigation or theoretical pers``pectives that are subsequently widely acclaimed with commitment to dissemination of research findings.

Lauren Sergio is an internationally respected expert in the areas of dementia, concussion, and the brain’s control of complex movement. Her main research themes are to understand the neural networks that control skilled performance and how this control is affected by age, sex, expertise and injury/disease.

She is very well-funded, having secured funding from government and industry of more than $43 million as principal or co-investigator. Her outstanding research funding has led to groundbreaking publications. She has more than 61 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of 29 and over 3300 citations, with several of her papers having been cited over 200 times.

Sergio's research has directly impacted policy and practice. For example, the Canadian military adopted software developed by Sergio to conduct field assessments on soldiers exposed to blast waves/recoil as part of their duties.

Her research impact is also seen in the development of commercial products. She has two products on the market with several more in beta testing or under embargo. Her ongoing line of research is exceptional and highly innovative.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership, Pedagogical and/or Curricular Innovation – Dr. Jennine Rawana

This is a new Dean's Award that was created to recognize outstanding educational leadership, pedagogical and/or curricular innovation. The individual is recognized for being an outstanding role model and mentor to students beyond the classroom. Contributing to enhancement of teaching and learning by taking an active role in innovative development or redesign of new programs, and by engaging in activities that share knowledge and expertise in teaching and learning.

Dr. Jennine Rawana showed a consistent and comprehensive involvement in educational leadership over the last decade both within the Department of Psychology as well as beyond having a significant impact on student success, mental health and wellness and leadership. Rawana is a compassionate and caring mentor who is committed to ensuring the professional and intellectual development of students. She has been instrumental in providing strategic direction and support to students as Head of Calumet College. She has established strong connections with Faculty of Health alumni which provides opportunities for current students to network and obtain career advice.

In addition to mentoring, she actively contributed to the student success program in Calumet and Strong Colleges. During her tenure as head of Calumet college, she co-developed and implemented a strategic direction/plan that developed and expanded upon student success programs for the Faculty of Health. The success of this endeavour indicates her outstanding leadership abilities and her ability to work collaboratively with both college staff, the head of Strong College and others.

In her capacity co-Chair of the pan-university Mental Health Steering committee, Rawana champions student mental health and wellness. For example, she established a wellness lounge in collaboration with the School of Nursing, where nursing community practicum student provide daily drop-in health and wellness programming for students.

She has also published her research on the ”Development and evaluation of a peer mentorship program for Aboriginal university students," and co-presented with student leaders on student success program evaluation at the 91��ɫ Teaching In Focus conference and external conferences.

Rawana exemplifies comprehensive and consistent outstanding educational leadership and curricular innovation for all students.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service & Engagement Impact Award – Parissa Safai

This award was revised to recognize the impact of outstanding service by a faculty member. The individual has passion, sense of mission, and dedication, that significantly builds capacity, reputation of the program/Faculty/University, and/or contributes to new directions. The individual has taken on leadership roles within the university or community, playing a key role that results in major impact in their field or in professional associations that goes beyond their research impact.

Parissa Safai has a long history of service at the unit, Faculty, University and community levels, stepping forward for committees where she can enact real change. Safai received this award as an early career in 2013, and now seven year later, in the established career category. She served on many critical committees in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, guiding future direction of the school as well as creating and implementing the School’s vision. She worked tirelessly leading and developing the sociocultural stream which ensures hiring of new faculty member in this area.

As interim associate dean in the Faculty, Safai stepped up to be the Faculty of Health designate during the longest labour disruption at 91��ɫ taking a lead role in facilitating and implementing the Senate directives related to the disruption. In addition, she has an outstanding record of stakeholder engagement and program development such as building capacity in Indigenization in the Faculty through development of a concept paper that sparked dialogue and involvement in key hires that were integral to this process.

Currently, she is serving as co-Chair and academic lead on the HR Service Transformation Team, which is tasked with making recommendations to HR on how to better meet institutional needs and support the university’s academic mission.

Outside of university, Safai serves on Federal-Provincial-Territorial Sports committees that are focused on addressing the gender gap in sport. She most recently served as a member of the Sports Canada Sports Participation Research Initiative Committee, which supports sports-related research. She is also an active member of two international sociology of sport association where she has taken on various roles and contributed to their outstanding success.

Safai's enthusiasm and commitment to the success of 91��ɫ community is unparalleled and it exemplifies service enacting real change in the University.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service & Engagement Impact Award – Dr. Jonathan Weiss

This award was revised to recognize the impact of outstanding service by a faculty member. The individual has passion, sense of mission, and dedication, that significantly builds capacity, reputation of the program/Faculty/University, and/or contributes to new directions. The individual has taken on leadership roles within the university or community, playing a key role that results in major impact in their field or in professional associations that goes beyond their research impact.

Dr. Jonathan Weiss has an outstanding record of engagement with stakeholders, non-profits and government, and exemplary service to the broader community, while representing the Faculty of Health and 91��ɫ.

Besides being a prolific and highly respected researcher whose work on mental health in autism and developmental disabilities is groundbreaking, Weiss is dedicated to serving the community.

His key engagements include:

• director, Board, Special Olympics Canada, contributing to the translation of research results into greater funding, better programming, greater representation of athletes in decision making activities on the board;
• Canadian Autism Working Group (appointed by the minister of health) – to develop a national autism strategy; and
• Ontario Ministry of Child & Youth Services, Autism Clinical Expert Committee informing policy and advocating for better coordination of services and further funds.

Weiss's ability to mobilize knowledge is impressive. Working alongside the disability community he launched the ASD Mental Health Blog, a collection of more than 100 research lay summaries, multiple editorials and videos all targeted to helping stakeholders understand the science of mental health and autism.

His use of technology to amplify the message is clear in the TEDx91��ɫU Salon events he organized on autism. For this event, he worked closely with autistic adults, parents, advocates, policy makers, politicians and researchers to create a platform to share their knowledge with each other. His work has significantly contributed to the international reputation of 91��ɫ being recognized as an institution where meaningful and impactful community engagement work takes place, and he is a shining example of leadership around mental health for people with developmental disability in the country.

Weiss is receiving this award as he exemplifies engagement outside of the University that has a real impact at multiple levels from the individual to the federal government.

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“As we moved to online and remote formats in the face of the pandemic, 91��ɫ’s instructors have remained innovative and resilient. They have continued to provide high-impact and transformative learning experiences, connected to the future needs of the workforce and focused on finding solutions to the urgent challenges facing our society,” said President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. “On behalf of all of us at the University, I want to congratulate this year’s recipients of the University-Wide Teaching Awards and thank them for their unwavering commitment to student success.”

The awards are adjudicated by the Senate Committee on Awards with the goal of providing recognition for excellence in teaching, encouraging its pursuit, publicizing such excellence and promoting informed discussion of teaching and its improvement. The awards demonstrate the value 91��ɫ attaches to teaching.

Recipients of the awards receive $3,000, have their names engraved on the University-Wide Teaching Award plaques in Vari Hall and are recognized at convocation ceremonies.

Professor Paula Wilson of the Faculty of Science is the recipient in the full-time tenured faculty with 10 or more years of full-time teaching experience category. Wilson is a member of the molecular and cellular biology (MCB) group at 91��ɫ. The group is comprised of researchers utilizing forefront biochemical and molecular techniques to probe the structure and function of various biomolecules and cell biological processes. Topics as diverse as plant and human viruses, cancer, circadian rhythms, structure of signaling molecules and cellular differentiation are studied by group members.

Wilson’s nominators highlighted her dedication and deep commitment to engaging biology students in the classroom by way of clear learning outcomes and active learning strategies. Wilson was also praised by her nominators for her support of teaching and learning broadly in the Department of Biology and the Faculty of Science. Her contributions to curricular innovation, including the creation of a biomedical science stream and the development of resources to assist first-year students with the transition to university.

Faculty of Heath assistant professor Michael Boni received the award in the full-time faculty with less than 10 years teaching experience category. Boni is a highly experienced certified athletic therapist and physiotherapist with a passion for guiding people towards success. He graduated from 91��ɫ with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and health science and a certificate in athletic therapy and a completed his post-professional doctor of science degree in the field of physical therapy. His clinical treatment expertise is in the field of manual therapy focusing on neck, shoulder and back pain. Most of his time is focused on educating and mentoring athletic therapists, physiotherapists and kinesiology students. He is an examiner and chief instructor within the post-graduate diploma program of Advanced Manual and Manipulative Physiotherapy of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. His research explores the effect of soft tissue mobilization (non-painful friction massage) on muscle function. Boni has also been collaborating on various pedagogical research projects.

Boni’s nominators praised his work to create a rich learning environment for students using various technologies and hands-on learning opportunities. In addition, they lauded his contributions to curricular innovation particularly through Boni’s leadership on the restructuring of the certificate in athletic therapy has strengthened student learning and the development of critical thinking skills.

As the recipient of the PUWTA in the contract faculty category, Lee Frew, a faculty member in the Department of English at Glendon College, specializes in Canadian literature, postcolonial literatures and ecocriticism. Frew earned his doctorate from 91��ɫ in 2011.

His nominators praised his proficiency in creating an academically rigorous learning environment that is also a safe and inclusive space for students to express and hear a wide range of perspectives. In addition, they spoke highly of his contributions to the Department of English, through the design of new courses. His nominators commended Frew for his role in benefiting the Glendon Campus community through his role as Chair of committee charged with investigating the introduction of a common first-year curriculum across the Faculty, and his work to improve the student experience at 91��ɫ and promote excellence in teaching and learning.

Roger Carrick, a teaching assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Lassonde School of Engineering, is the recipient of the PUWTA in the Teaching Assistant category. The award honours teaching assistants who have significantly enhanced the quality of learning for 91��ɫ students. Carrick’s nominators spoke of his leadership as a teaching assistant through his contributions to the development of course material, such as lab manuals, tutorials and assignments and his delivery of several lectures independently. They spoke with high regard of his continued and focused support of students and his deep commitment to curricular development that enhances the student experience at the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Carrick is the designer-in-residence in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Lassonde School of Engineering. He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo. Carrick has spent the last three years focusing on enhancing the training of engineers through student-centered learning, mentorship and outreach programs. He is active in the engineering education community, working primarily on enhancing pedagogical theory and promoting design thinking.

To learn more about the President’s University-Wide Teaching Awards criteria and past recipients, visit .

Agnès Berthelot-Raffard

Agnès Berthelot-Raffard joins 91��ɫ as an assistant professor of critical disability studies and Health Studies in the School of Health Policy & Management. She earned her PhD from Pantheon-Sorbonne and Université de Montréal. Her PhD focuses on informal caregiving in public health, ageing and disability studies perspectives. Her research expertise is in the areas Black disability studies/Black health studies. She is interested in understanding the ways in which racism impacts all the dimensions of health. She studies how racial injustices are grounded in the Canadian public health system as a historical legacy of slavery and colonialism. Currently, she is leading one research on Black women’s health and another one on the socio-determinants of racialized students’ mental health.

Before joining 91��ɫ, she served as coordinator of the research ethics committee for the Health and Social Services Agency of Montreal. She taught bioethics, medical ethics for students enrolled in philosophy and medicine programs. She wrote a handbook in bioethics for the University of Sudbury. She was a lecturer in public health ethics for the community medicine practicum offered by the Direction de Santé publique de Montréal. She was also an assistant professor in feminist and gender studies at the University of Ottawa.

Catriona Buick

Catriona (Trina) Buick joins the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health as an assistant professor. She is an oncology specialized nurse with clinical, research and leadership experience at large academic cancer centres in Toronto and the U.K. and is a current member of the Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board. Since the completion of her PhD (University of Toronto, 2017), she has held a nurse clinician scientist role at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Odette Cancer Centre), where her research has focused on understanding supportive care and psychosocial needs of women undergoing treatment for gynecological cancers. The overall focus of Buick’s research program is to understand the impact of HPV testing and diagnosis, promoters and barriers to cervical cancer prevention, and the role of HPV testing and acceptance as a basis for future interventions. As an advocate for patient care and (health care) system improvement, she is excited about collaborative opportunities that will continue to bridge research and clinical practice.

Amanda De Lisio

Amanda De Lisio is an assistant professor of physical culture, policy and sustainable development in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science. She is also affiliated with the City Institute at 91��ɫ. Her research is focused on development and displacement in FIFA and Olympic host cities. Her Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)-funded dissertation examined the impact of event urbanism in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, particularly on women involved in informal, precarious labour. Prior to 91��ɫ, she taught classes on urban geography, political economy, and the sociology of health and physical culture at the University of Toronto (2015-20) and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Bournemouth University (2016-18) as well as Brock University (2018-20). Her work has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in England, Mitacs Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and published in academic and popular presses in English and Portuguese.

Nadia Prendergast

Nadia Prendergast joins the School of Nursing as an assistant professor in the teaching stream. Since moving from England to Canada, Prendergast has worked as a public health nurse in the Toronto and Peel regions, as well as a clinical case coordinator and childbirth educator in the Maternal Infant Program at Mount Sinai Hospital. Prendergast has also taught as a clinical instructor and sessional faculty at Sheridan College and Ryerson University, and in England she was part of a collaborative initiative with social services and health in teaching domestic violence awareness to professionals. She completed her master’s and PhD degrees in education and women’s studies from the University of Toronto, where her area of research focused on the experiences of internationally educated nurses of colour working within Canada’s multiculturalism practices. Prendergast's areas of interests reside in primary health care, community development, women’s health and equity studies.

Heather Prime

Dr. Heather Prime joins the Department of Psychology at 91��ɫ, following a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University. She received her PhD in school and clinical child psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Dr. Prime’s research program uses a family-based approach to understanding and supporting socio-emotional and cognitive development in young children, with a focus on family interactions and relationships. Dr. Prime is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and she is a practicing clinical psychologist in the Greater Toronto Area, with expertise in working with the family unit to support children’s mental health and well-being. As a clinical psychologist, she is committed to using her clinical training to guide her research, and she emphasizes clinical utility in her research endeavours.

Chip Rowan

Chip Rowan joins the School of Kinesiology and Health Science as an assistant professor, teaching stream. His areas of expertise include the importance of physical fitness and lifespan physical activity participation to optimize performance and health. His doctoral work, completed at 91��ɫ, focused on the detection of prediabetes among high-risk communities and the utilization of culturally preferred physical activity programming as a chronic disease prevention strategy. He recently completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the KITE Research Institute, part of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and University Health Network. This work focused on technology enabled solutions to increase accessibility to care for individuals with spinal cord injury and the creation of an eLearning module for health professionals about exercise prescription which was funded through the Paralyzed Veterans of America Education Foundation. Rowan previously taught in the Fitness and Health Promotion program at George Brown College and is passionate about health and fitness education that embraces experiential education and community integration.

Jeffrey Wardell

Dr. Jeffrey Wardell is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. He received his PhD from SUNY Buffalo and was previously on the faculty at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto. He is a registered clinical psychologist with expertise in the assessment and treatment of addictive behaviour. Dr. Wardell’s research seeks to improve our understanding of substance use behaviour in at-risk populations (e.g., youth, people living with HIV). His current projects focus on the unique risks of simultaneous use of cannabis and alcohol, the (blurred) boundaries between medicinal and non-medicinal cannabis use, and the effectiveness of online interventions for substance use disorder. Dr. Wardell is also involved in research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on substance use behaviour. His work is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian HIV Trials Network, and the CAMH Foundation. He also serves on the editorial board of the peer reviewed journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

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