My research uses the methods of social epidemiology and behavioural science to understand and address the social conditions that shape mental and physical health - with a translational emphasis on intervention, policy, and public-health practice.
Three views of the program at a glance: research funding awarded, publication counts, and media engagement - year by year. Click through to the dedicated pages for the full record.
Annualized: each grant’s value spread across its years. Collaborator role omitted.
See full funding record →Refereed articles + chapters & editorials, plus non-refereed.
See all publications →Invited talks, conference presentations, posters, and media features.
See all presentations & media →My work is organized around three complementary programs, each a case study in how the social and ecological conditions of people's lives shape health. Across all three, the goal is the same: to understand how health inequities are produced, and to design scalable responses that distribute health more fairly.
Loneliness and isolation are not spread evenly. They fall hardest on people whose social position, income, age, or health already limits their access to connection. This program treats social connection as a modifiable determinant of health and works to close those gaps, designing and evaluating social-prescribing pathways for older adults and other underserved populations. Anchor projects include the Canadian Social Connection Guidelines, the Canadian Social Connection Survey, the Addressing Loneliness mHealth intervention, and multi-province implementation studies with the Canadian Red Cross and Fraser Health.
Explore this programClimate change is a health-equity crisis. Its mental-health toll concentrates among communities with the fewest resources to adapt and the least responsibility for the problem, deepening existing disparities. This program measures climate-related ecological distress and builds interventions that prioritize those most exposed. Anchor projects include the BC Ministry of Health's $1.8M provincial intervention, the Automated Climate-Change Distress Monitoring System (NFRF), and the Climate Emotions Course delivered through the Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance to clinicians, educators, and the public.
Explore this programOverlapping epidemics - HIV/STBBI, substance use and overdose, COVID-19, mpox, and the toxic drug crisis - converge on the same marginalized populations, where stigma, criminalization, and material disadvantage multiply their harm. This program studies those structural conditions in order to interrupt them and direct care toward the people systems most often leave out. It also includes a philanthropically funded body of work on recreational and therapeutic psychedelic medicine as a frontier intersecting substance use, mental health, and emerging clinical regulation. Built on long-running collaborative cohorts (Momentum, Engage, Sex Now, COAST) and rapid-response work with provincial, federal, and community partners to inform policy and care.
Explore this programThe complete, searchable record of publications, funding, public engagement, and presentations lives on dedicated pages - each filterable so you can drill down by topic, year, or contribution type.
121 refereed journal articles, 3 book chapters, 2 editorials, and 127 non-refereed pieces - filterable by research area, author position, and keyword.
Browse the publications record83 funded projects since 2018 from CIHR, SSHRC, PHAC, Michael Smith Health Research BC, the BC Ministry of Health, and philanthropic partners - with PI, Co-PI, and Co-I roles.
See the funding portfolioInvited talks, conference presentations, and posters - including briefings to the UN OHCHR, the Office of the Governor of California, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
View presentations & lectures1 documentary, 15 television features, 29 radio & podcast appearances, 60 print pieces, and op-eds in The Conversation, The Globe and Mail, and Chatelaine.
Browse the media recordBeyond the academic literature, I build tools and policy products that make findings usable. These outputs reach decision-makers, practitioners, and the public.
National guidelines developed through an international Delphi process and Canadian community consultation.
socialconnectionguidelines.orgA self-guided mHealth tool translating the Guidelines into everyday practice.
addressing-loneliness.vercel.app30+ short, plain-language briefs synthesizing the evidence on social health for community partners, decision-makers, and the public.
casch.orgRecent submissions and briefings to the UN OHCHR, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Office of the Governor of California, and the Lancet Loneliness Series.
