My research program focuses on population surveillance, developing, implementing, and evaluating population-level health interventions, and creating the infrastructure required to facilitate population studies in chronic disease prevention. My work has a strong applied focus, purposefully designed to actively engage program and policy stakeholders at multiple-levels (local, regional, provincial and national) as well as researchers from across Canada and internationally. I seek to have an impact on improving the health of large segments of the Canadian population (particularly focusing on primary prevention among youth), and place a substantial emphasis on training and mentorship. The main objectives of my current and future research are twofold: (1) to understand the relationships between environmental contexts (both social and physical environments) and modifiable chronic disease risk factors (obesity, tobacco use, physical inactivity, substance use, and poor diet); and (2) to develop infrastructure and systems to facilitate the uptake of evidence-based practices and to develop practice-based evidence in population-based chronic disease prevention programming.
