“It was Exhilarating!”: U of T Students Become Lay Vaccinators
August 24/2022
By Heidi Singer and Françoise Makanda When the first person walked through the door of the makeshift clinic on U of T’s St. George campus, half a dozen students in red polo shirts and purple medical gloves were sitting at long tables, waiting to make history. Akash Kothari, a Master’s...
$3.5 Million Gift to Expand Critical Qualitative Health Research at DLSPH
June 29/2022
A girl stands alone in the middle of an empty desert. A woman looks directly at the viewer, her mouth covered with band-aids. These artworks are helping public health researchers understand more about the lives of young mothers during COVID and systemic barriers that reinforce health inequities. Qualitative research like...
World’s First MPH Program in Black Health
June 28/2022
by Françoise Makanda, DLSPH What should have taken 18 months was done in five, thanks to the leadership of DLSPH’s Black Health Lead, Prof. Roberta Timothy. In Fall 2023, DLSPH will welcome its first cohort of 10 students in the very first MPH in Black Health program, which Timothy believes...
Research finds influenza in humans is seasonal in Bangladesh
June 13/2022Avian influenza in poultry, less so By Elaine Smith New research by a University of Toronto PhD graduate has determined that human influenza infections in Bangladesh have a high season in the summer months, while avian influenza in poultry is present at similar levels year-round. In a paper published recently...
Two Prestigious Awards for DLSPH’s Investigative Journalism Bureau
June 07/2022
By Elaine Smith Within two short years of its launch, the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health has already garnered two prestigious journalism awards and received a nomination for a third. In 2021, the bureau’s inaugural year, it was named a finalist for the...
PhD Candidate Wins Big With Queer Online Dating Apps Research
June 01/2022
By Françoise Makanda, DLSPH Jad Sinno is researching how Queer people date online when these applications often simulate the oppressions they experience offline. “How do online dating apps shape Queer identities and why do Queer people of colour continue to return to the space, when so many of us have...
Let’s Really Talk: Stigma Still Clouds Suicide Numbers
March 23/2022
by Françoise Makanda, DLSPH PhD Candidate C. Dalrymple-Fraser wants the conversation on suicide to change. Dalrymple-Fraser [they/their] does not have answers—just questions about statistics, personal responsibility and disability that could help spark a frank conversation about how the stigma around suicide has not changed. Recent studies have shown that suicide...
DLSPH Welcomes Inaugural Registrar
March 02/2022
By Elaine Smith Throughout her career, Jabeen Aslam has cherished the opportunity to work closely with students. Now she brings her nearly 10 years of experience in student support and enrolment management to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health as its inaugural Registrar and director of Student Services. “The...
‘Always give back’: trainee develops research opportunities for youth amidst doctoral studies
February 03/2022By Alisa Kim As an undergrad studying kinesiology, Troy Francis thought he might become a physiotherapist or a chiropractor. As he continued his studies, however, Francis, currently a PhD student in the Health Services Research program at IHPME, was drawn to a big-picture view of the health system. His...
A vision realized: trainee leads pilot project to deliver eye care to Indigenous children in Toronto
January 17/2022
By Alisa Kim, IHPME A study by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind found one-third of Indigenous Canadians have not had an eye exam within the last two years. Moreover, research has shown Indigenous children experience high levels of astigmatism, an irregularity in the shape of the cornea...