2019 Graduates

Heather Bullock
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis
Dissertation: How do systems achieve their goals? The role of implementation in mental health systems improvement 
Current Position: Vice President, Partnerships and Chief Strategy Officer, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care

Young Jung
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Christopher Longo
Dissertation: The burden of cancer: individual and societal outcomes 

Firas Khalid
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis
Dissertation: Supporting the use of research evidence to inform decision-making in crisis zones 
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the School of Global Health, York University

Mathieu Poirier
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Michel Grignon
Dissertation: Measuring international health inequalities using household survey data 
Current Positions: Associate Director, Global Strategy Lab (Ontario, CAN); Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology, York University (Ontario, CAN).

Donya Razavi
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Lydia Kapiriri
Dissertation: Public and vulnerable populations' participation in health-system priority setting 
Current Position: Mitacs Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Technical Advisor with the Canadian Red Cross

Jennifer Reddock
PLACEHOLDER TITLE
Marcela Velez
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Michael Wilson
Dissertation: Understanding the role of values in Latin American health systems
Current position: Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia (Columbia)

 



2018 Graduates

Neil Barr

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Glen Randall
Dissertation: Physician communication via information and communication technology: Understanding its role in health system performance
Current position: Assistant Professor in the Health Policy and Management area at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University (Canada)

Avram Denburg

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Julia Abelson
Dissertation: The politics of child health technologies: Social values and public policy on drug funding for children in Canada
Current position: Staff Oncologist and Clinical Scientist, Haematology/Oncology and Scientist-Track Investigator, Child Health Evaluative
Sciences at the Hospital for Sick Children (Canada) & Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

Christina Hackett

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Gillian Mulvale
Dissertation: The health of Indigenous peoples living in Canada: Understanding distal, intermediate and proximal determinants of health
Current position: Senior Research Associate at the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (Canada)

Valerie Ulep
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisors: Jerry Hurley and Arthur Sweetman
Dissertation: Essays on subsidized health insurance and health-related quality of life
Current position: Economist at The World Bank in Washington, DC (United States)

Marjan Walli-Attaei
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Jeremiah Hurley
Dissertation: On the measurement and interpretation of health inequality, income inequality and income-related health inequality 

 

Sarah Newell
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Nancy Doubleday
Dissertation: Social, cultural and ecological systems' influence on community health and wellbeing
Current position: Post-doctoral fellow, working with Nancy Doubleday and Brent McKnight on the Boreal Water Futures project

Melodie (Yun-Ju) Song
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Julia Abelson
Dissertation: Making sense of social media for public health decision-makers - the case of childhood immunization in Ontario
Current Position: CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellow at Public Health Ontario (Canada)



2017 Graduates

Cristina Mattison

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis 
Dissertation: The Roles of Midwives in Health Systems
Current position: Post-doctoral fellow, McMaster Midwifery Research Centre (Canada)

Leigh-Anne Gillespie 
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Lisa Schwartz
Dissertation: "Ethics is a part of that as well": Navigating the Landscape of Humanitarian Healthcare Policy
Current position: Liaison Officer - Federal with the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health(CADTH)

Mark Embrett
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Glen Randall
Dissertation: Developing a better understanding of resource withdrawal from medical services through examination of its characteristics, government policies, and an initiative
Current position: Health Outcome Scientist, Nova Scotia Health Research, Innovation & Discovery



2016 Graduates

Elizabeth Alvarez

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis 
Dissertation: Developing and evaluating the use of a workbook for contextualizing health systems guidance
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University (Canada)

Sandra Milicic

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Phil DeCicca
Dissertation: Economic conditions, health and health behaviours of Canadians 
Current position: Analyst, Health Reports, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) (Canada)

Mustafa Ornek

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisors: Paul Contoyannis and Arthur Sweetman
Dissertation: The Body Mass Index (BMI): Measurement, physician costs and distributional decomposition
Current position: Policy Analyst, Health Canada



2015 Graduates

Denis Ako-Arrey

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Melissa Brouwers
Dissertation: Designing a knowledge translation tool for the development, appraisal and reporting of health systems guidance
Current position: Director of Operations/Project Manager, Cameroon Population Based HIV Impact Assessment Project, ICAP Columbia University (Cameroon) 

Leslie Malloy-Weir

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Lisa Schwartz
Dissertation: Definitions of health literacy and numeracy and their relevance for patient-physician communication and treatment decision making in the medical encounter
Current position: Post-doctoral fellow, University of Saskatchewan (Canada)

Junying Zhao
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Jeremiah Hurley
Dissertation: Three essays in welfare and health economics: social choice, health capital and health expenditure
Current position: Assistant professor of health policy and economics at the University of Oklahoma School of Public Health (U.S.A.)



2014 Graduates

Jessica Shearer

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis
Dissertation: Social networks, research evidence and innovation in health policymaking in Burkina Faso
Current position: Senior Monitoring & Evaluation Officer at PATH and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (U.S.A.)

Daniel Patino
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis
Dissertation: Supporting the use of research evidence in the Colombian health system
Current position: Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Antioquia (Columbia)

 
Kaelan Moat
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: John Lavis
Dissertation: Evidence briefs as a mechanism for knowledge transfer and exchange: Assessing views about, experiences with, and influences of policy-relevant research influences on low-and middle-income countries
Current position: Assistant professor at McMaster University, Managing Director at the McMaster Health Forum (Canada)

Stephanie Montesanti
PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor: Julia Abelson
Dissertation: The participation of marginalized populations in health services planning and decision making
Current position: Assistant Professor with the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta (Canada)



2013 Graduates

Kathy Li

PLACEHOLDER TITLE

Supervisor:  Julia Abelson
Dissertation: Public involvement use in health-policy decision-making
Current position: Senior Policy Advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Toronto (Canada)

Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act (AODA)

 

The Faculty of Health Sciences is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience. If there is an accessibility issue with this website, please contact us at fhsaoda@mcmaster.ca.