Faculty Member
Kate Mulligan
- Email Address(es)
- kate.mulligan(at)utoronto.ca
- Website(s)
- Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing, LinkedIn, Twitter
- Division(s)/Institute(s)
- Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division
- Position
- Assistant Professor
- SGS Status
- Associate Member
Research Interests
I am interested in the role of community and neighbourhood-scale leadership and intervention in the production of health and wellbeing. I lead high-impact research, evaluation and collaborations for healthier, more equitable and more sustainable policy and practice. I am also the founder and Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing and the recipient of the 2024 Lori Chow Memorial Award from Health Promotion Ontario.
My research interests include:
- Evaluation, implementation research and knowledge mobilization
- Community leadership, governance, resilience and self-determination
- Health impact, innovation, advocacy and government relations
- Social prescribing, health equity & determinants of health
- Political ecology & health geography
In the Headlines:
- When did a social prescription work for you? CBC Ontario Today.
- Need a social life? You can get a prescription for that. CBC Metro Morning (starts ~15:50).
- The Walrus Talks at Home: Rx Belonging. The Walrus.
- Social prescribing looks beyond medicine to non-clinical methods of treatment. Broadview Magazine.
- How to Fix Canada’s Loneliness Epidemic, According to a Public Health Expert. Best Health
- ‘A prescription for fun’: How social prescribing is aiming to connect vulnerable Canadians to their communities. The Globe and Mail
- Social Prescribing: Global movement puts a process around referring patients to non-clinical and community-based programs and services. CPSO eDialogue
- Doctors are slammed with non-medical cases. Some say social prescribing could ease the burden. CBC News
- Loneliness as a Health Issue. The Academic Minute
- Loneliness is making us physically sick, but social prescribing can treat it. The Conversation Podcast
- How can socializing benefit my health? CBC The Dose
- We know social connection can make sick people feel better. Is it time to incorporate it into formal recovery plans? Toronto Star
Education & Training History
- PhD, Health Geography, McMaster University
- M.A., Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Toronto
- B Arts Sc., Arts & Science Programme, McMaster University
Other Affiliations
- Scientific Advisory Committee, ICES
- Special Graduate Faculty, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development, University of Guelph
- Special Graduate Faculty, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina
- Mentor, Collaborative Program in Public Health Policy, University of Toronto
- Board Member, Toronto Board of Health (2018-2023)
Consultancies
- Healthcare Excellence Canada
- Diabetes Canada
- Unity Health
- Casey House
- The Bentway
- Canadian Red Cross
- National Collaborating Centre for the Determinants of Health
- Office of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada
- Pan American Health Organization
Primary Teaching Responsibilities
- CHL7001H Social Prescribing in the City, School of Cities & DLSPH
- CHL4007H Public Health Advocacy
- CHL5110H Theory and Practice of Program Evaluation
- CHL5135H Ecological Public Health
- URB431Y1 Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Project, School of Cities
- DLSPH Certificate in Health Impact
- Mentor, Collaborative Program in Public Health Policy
- Canadian Social Prescribing Student Collective
- Research and practicum supervision
Postdoctoral Fellows
- Dr. Nicole D’souza, CIHR Health System Impact Fellow with jack.org
- Dr. Daniel Gan, CIHR Institute of Aging Postdoctoral Fellow
- Dr. Nadha Hassen, MITACS Elevate Fellow with Park People
Doctoral Students
- Iqra Akram, Simon Fraser University
- Le-Tien Bhaskar, McMaster University
- Tara Chen, University of Waterloo
- Jann Houston, OISE/University of Toronto
- Linda Manirambona, University of Ottawa
- Chinaedu Mbonu, University of Regina
- Amanda Mongeon, University of Guelph
- Caitlin Muhl, Queen’s University
- Jianna Quickstad, DLSPH, University of Toronto
Mentees
- Krystle Amog, IHPME, University of Toronto
- Erica Opoku, Supervisor, Community Development, Region of Peel
Masters Students
Research:
- Lavania Jeganathan, IHPME, University of Toronto
- Andrea Wadman, Simon Fraser University
Practicum:
- Eleanor Cornish, MPH, University of Toronto (2023)
- Leo Zhou, MPH, University of Toronto (2023)
Representative Publications
Mulligan, K., Card, K. G., & Allison, S. (2024). Social prescribing in Canada: linking the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion with health care’s Quintuple Aim for a collaborative approach to health. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.9.01
Yu C, Lail S, Allison S, Biswas S, Hebert P, Hsiung S, Mulligan K, Nelson ML, Saragosa M, Welch V, Card KG. (2024). Social prescribing needs and priorities of older adults in Canada: a qualitative analysis. Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. Sep 1;44(9). https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.9.03
Mulligan, K., Card KG, Allison S. (2024). Social prescribing in Canada: health promotion in action, 50 years after the Lalonde report. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2024;44(6):241-3. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.6.01
Mulligan, K. (2024). Social Prescribing in Canada: Coproduction with Communities. In Social Prescribing Policy, Research and Practice: Transforming Systems and Communities for Improved Health and Wellbeing (pp. 131-145). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Saragosa M, Mulligan K, Hsiung S, Biswas S, Card K, Hébert PC, Welch V, Nelson ML.(2024). A Qualitative Study of National Perspectives on Advancing Social Prescribing Using Co‐Design in Canada. Health Expectations. Aug;27(4):e14144. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.14144
Dougherty, M., Tompkins, T., Zibrowski, E., Cram, J., Ashe, M. C., Bhaskar, L. T., … Mulligan, K. & Kothari, A. (2024). Coproduction in Social Prescribing Initiatives: Protocol for a Scoping Review. JMIR Research Protocols, 13(1), e57062. doi: 10.2196/57062
Ghogomu, E. T., Welch, V., Yaqubi, M., Dewidar, O., Barbeau, V. I., Biswas, S., Card, K., Hsiung, S., Muhl, C., Nelson, M., Salzwedel, D. M., Saragosa, M., Yu, C., Mulligan, K., & Hébert, P. (2024). PROTOCOL: Effects of social prescribing for older adults: An evidence and gap map. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 20, e1382. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1382
Bertotti M, Dias S, Gama A, Herrmann W, Husk K, Khan K, Lee KH, Mulligan K, Polley M, Robinson D, Tierney S. The Present and Future of Social Prescribing. Social Prescribing Policy, Research and Practice: Transforming Systems and Communities for Improved Health and Wellbeing. 2024 Mar 10:161-83.
Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Ross-White, A. & Godfrey, C. (2024). Social prescribing for children and youth: A scoping review protocol. PLOS One 19(3), e0297535. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297535
Welch, V. A., Ghogomu, E., Dowling, S., Barbeau, V., Al-Zubaidi, A., Beveridge, E., Bondok, M.,Desai, P., Doyle, R., Huang, J., Hussain, T., Jearvis, A. Jahel, F., Madani, L. Choo, Y.W., Yunus, R.M., Tengku, M.T.A.M, Wadwani, A., Al Ameer, A., Ibrahim, R., Allam, S., Haitas, N., Bomze, S., Dahrouge, S., Garcia, E., Holt-Lunstad J., Lasgaard, M., Lim, K. Mulligan, K., Salzwedel, D.M., Qualter, P., Hebert, P., Mikton, C. (2023, July 14). In-person interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness: An evidence and gap map. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1408
Mulligan, K., Hsiung, S., Park, G., Bloch, G., Elliott, T., Stebbins, L., Richter, A. Social Prescribing in Canada: A Tool for Integrating Health and Social Care for Underserved Communities. Healthcare Quarterly 25(4) January 2023: 17-22. doi:10.12927/hcq.2023.27022.
Vine, M. M., Mulligan, K., Harris, R., & Dean, J. L. (2023). The Impact of Health Geography on Public Health Research, Policy, and Practice in Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(18), 6735. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20186735
Mongeon, A., Deacon, L., & Mulligan, K. (2023). A Conceptual Framework for Governance of Health and Wellbeing in Rural Communities. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 18(3).
Welch V, Tanjong Ghogomu E, Dowling S, Choo WY, Yunus RM, Mohd TAMT, Haitas N, Bomze S, Dahrouge S, Garcia E, Holt-Lunstad J, Lasgaard M, Lim MH, Mulligan K, Salzwedel DM, Qualter P, Hébert PC, Mikton C. PROTOCOL: In-person interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness: An evidence and gap map. Campbell Syst Rev. 2023 Jun 22;19(3):e1340. doi: 10.1002/cl2.1340. PMID: 37361556; PMCID: PMC10286723.
Esfandiari E, Chudyk AM, Grover S, Lau EY, Hoppmann C, Mortenson WB, Mulligan K, Newton C, Pauly T, Pitman B, Rush KL, Sakakibara BM, Symes B, Tsuei S, Petrella RJ, Ashe MC. Social Prescribing Outcomes for Trials (SPOT): Protocol for a modified Delphi study on core outcomes. PLoS One. 2023 May 16;18(5):e0285182. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285182. PMID: 37192189; PMCID: PMC10187912.
Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Godfrey, C. (2023). Establishing Internationally Accepted Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Social Prescribing Through Expert Consensus: A Delphi Study. BMJ Open (accepted June 2023).
Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Godfrey, C. (2023). Supporting the achievement of global goals for health and wellbeing through social prescribing: defining the concept. Population Medicine, 5(Supplement), A1846. https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/165302
Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., & Godfrey, C. (2023). Establishing Internationally Accepted Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Social Prescribing Through Expert Consensus: A Delphi Study Protocol. International Journal of Integrated Care, 23(1), 3. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.6984
Ashe, M; Grover, S; Sandhu, P; Nijjar, GS; Percival, A; Chudyk, AM; Liang, J; McArthur, C; Miller, WC; Mortenson, WB; Mulligan, K; Newton, C: Park, G; Pitman, B; Rush, KL; Sakakibara, B; Petrella, J. (2023). Older Adults and Social Prescribing Experience, Outcomes, and Processes: A Meta-Aggregation Systematic Review. Public Health 218: 197-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.02.016
Mulligan, K. 2022. Digital inclusion, online participation and health promotion: Promising practices from community-led participatory journalism. Global Health Promotion. 2022;0(0). doi:10.1177/17579759221126150
Madani, M.T., Madani, L., Ghogomu, E.T., Dahrouge, S., Hébert, P.C., Juando-Prats, C., Mulligan, K. & Welch, V. Is equity considered in systematic reviews of interventions for mitigating social isolation and loneliness in older adults?. BMC Public Health 22, 2241 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14667-8
Percival A, Newton C, Mulligan K, Petrella R, Ashe M. Systematic review of social prescribing and older adults: where to from here?
Morse, DF; Sandhu, S; Mulligan, K; Tierney, S; Polley, P; Chivas, B; Slade, S; Dias, S; Mahtani, K; Wells, L; Wang, H; Zhao, B; de Figueiredo, C; Meijs, JJ; Nam, HK; Lee, KH; Wallace, C; Elliott, M; Mendive, JM; Robinson, D; Palo, M; Herrman, W; Nielsen, RØ; Husk, K. (2022). Global Developments in Social Prescribing. BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e008524.
Mulligan K. 2022. Strengthening community connections: the future of public health is at the neighbourhood scale. Report to the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Using self-determination theory to understand the social prescribing process: a qualitative study.
Public Health Agency of Canada / Canadian Institutes for Health Research 2020. Best Brains Exchange proceedings report: Strengthening the structural determinants of health post-COVID-19.
Mulligan, K., Bhatti, S., Rayner, J., & Hsiung, S. 2019. Social Prescribing: Creating Pathways Towards Better Health and Wellness. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16249
Rayner, J; Muldoon, L; Bayoumi, I; McMurchy, D; Mulligan, K; Tharao, W 2018. Delivering Primary Health Care as Envisioned – A Model of Health and Wellbeing Guiding Community-Governed Primary Care Organizations. Journal of Integrated Care. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICA-02-2018-0014