Collaborative Core Members
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong, RN, PhD, Professor and Research Chair in Urban Health, has extensive experience in critical public health and urban health promotion, including the development of access and equity policy, public health practice frameworks, and community-based capacity building programs to promote health equity. Read More
Mandana Vahabi
Mandana Vahabi is a professor at Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing and co-director of the Centre for Global Health and Health Equity. Mandana Vahabi’s research and scholarship focuses on health equity and social determinants of health, particularly in the areas of cancer screening, food security, mental and sexual health. Drawing on Mandana Vahabi’s extensive experience in social epidemiology and community health, Read More
Alan Tai-Wai Li
Racialized and newcomer communities exhibit incredible ability to cope with adversities and lead healthy and successful lives despite facing disproportionate HIV burden and complex service barriers. Alan Li works with community members to support and enhance this resiliency. Alan Li’s research work with marginalized communities has led to the creation of crucially needed programs, Read More
Kenneth P. Fung
Dr. Kenneth Fung is Staff Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health Program at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. He is Professor and Director of Global Mental Health with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. His research, teaching, and clinical interest include both cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy, Read More
Collaborative Members
Roger Antabe
Dr. Roger Antabe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate appointment in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto. He is a health geographer whose research interests span the Global South and North (specifically, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Canada), where his work contributes to health promotion and health equity. In SSA, his research examines environmental exposures, population health inequalities, healthcare access, and utilization of health services among marginalized and structurally exposed populations. His research focus in Canada is on the poor health outcomes of racialized populations and immigrants at the nexus of behavioral and structural risk factors. His current research examines HIV vulnerability and resilience of Black and other racialized populations in Ontario and Canada. His teaching interests include health promotion and education, health policy, social determinants of health, critical race theory, and health research methodology. He is passionate about community engagement and mobilization and is involved in ongoing community projects that seek to promote health equity for vulnerable groups in Canada. Read More
Priscilla Boakye
Priscilla Boakye is an assistant professor in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Toronto Metropolitan University. She obtained her PhD in nursing from the University of Toronto in 2020. She also holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Ghana and a master’s in health professions education from the Suez Canal University, Egypt. Her doctoral work examined the social-moral dimension of midwifery practice in Ghana. Boakye is currently focusing on understanding the impact of systemic injustice on motherhood aspirations among vulnerable populations. Boakye previously taught in Ghana and has led a midwifery and pediatric nursing curriculum development program under the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Building in Higher Education in Ghana. Before joining Toronto Metropolitan University, Boakye worked as a public health nurse-immunizer under the Region of Peel COVID-19 mass immunization program. Read More
Carla Hilario
Dr. Carla Hilario is an Assistant Professor with the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health and Social Development at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan), which is located on Syilx Okanagan Nation Territory. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. Her research is in the area of child and youth health, with a focus on social determinants of health and healthcare experiences of equity-deserving groups. Read More
Roula Hawa
Dr. Roula Hawa is an Associate Professor at Western University. She brings vast experience in community-based participatory research and intervention research engaging racialized and immigrant women and youth communities in the area of HIV prevention, resilience, stigma reduction, and mental health. Dr. Hawa is the Principal Investigator for the YSMENA Study, a research program focused on the resilience and well-being of diaspora Middle Eastern and North African youth in Canada, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and CIHR/Canadian HIV Trials Network (CIHR/CTN). Read More Project
Jenny Jing Wen Liu
Dr. Jenny Jing-Wen Liu is a postdoctoral associate working with the MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre and the Department of Psychiatry, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. With a background in psychological science, her scholarship bridges research in stress and resilience with community-based applications. She is a co-investigator of the Linking Hearts project. Read More
Salima Meherali
Dr. Meherali is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. As a principal investigator, she has been involved in community-based participatory action research projects to actively engage with women, adolescents/youth that enhance their healthcare decision-making and improve health and wellbeing. Dr. Meherali has a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence-based interventions in community settings, and knowledge translation research. Read More LinkedIn Project
Miya Narushima
Miya Narushima obtained her BA in English Literature from Waseda University, Tokyo, and her MA and PhD in Adult Education and Community Development from the OISE/ University of Toronto. Her research interests include aging and well-being, community-based education for health promotion, lifelong learning and development, voluntarism and community capacity building, the social determinants of health and equity, Read More
Nadia Prendergast
Nadia Prendergast RN, PhD Nadia Prendergast is an assistant professor in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Toronto Metropolitan University. She completed her Ph.D. in Education and Women’s studies at the University of Toronto. Her area of research is in intergenerational relationships through the lens of anti-Black racism resistance. Addressing the experiences of Black nurses, she works towards bridging intergenerational gaps and promoting wellness within the Black community. Nadia also collaborates with other racialized groups in dismantling racism by incorporating an arts-based approach as a positive path for healing. One of her favourite quotes is, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” (MLK.Jr) .
Bukola Salami
Professor Bukola Salami received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Windsor, Master of Nursing from the University of Toronto, and PhD in Nursing from the University of Toronto. In July 2023, she became a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary and a research chair in an area relevant to Black and racialized people’s health. Previously, she held the rank of Full Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. She is the former Director of the Intersections of Gender Signature Area in the Office of the Vice President Research at the University of Alberta (September 2021 to March 2023). Read More
Rosanra Yoon
Rosanra (Rosie) Yoon’s (she/her) research area focuses on health services implementation and evaluation with a particular focus in integrated care for people experiencing structural vulnerabilities, inequities, and marginalization. Yoon employs participatory and collaborative evaluation methods for system improvement that is community-embedded and centred on equity. Her clinical area of expertise is in the areas of substance use, concurrent mental health conditions, trauma and gender-informed care. Read More LinkedIn
Collaborative Research Fellows
Joseph Adu
Joseph Adu, MPhil, MSc, PhD is a Post-doctoral Scholar at Toronto Metropolitan University with a research focus on mental illness stigma in Black Families and Communities. He has extensive research experience in mental illness stigma, issues in maternal health, and non-communicable diseases with over 20-years of experience working in the fields of healthcare and education. Project
Egbe Etowa
Egbe Bassey Etowa, M.Sc. Ph.D, Associate Scientist of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and Research Fellow in Community Services at the Toronto Metropolitan University. Egbe’s current research is focussed HIV and health equity is built on the the principles of community-based research and knowledge mobilisation. He holds Winston Husbands Leadership Award in Strengthening the Response to HIV among Black Communities (2022-2024). He is the Nominated Principal Investigator of an HIV-Response Intergenerational Participatory Project. He has made significant contributions in terms of co-leading projects, peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, technical and community report writing, community engagements, etc. Read More LinkedIn
Rui Hou
Dr. Rui Hou is a postdoctoral fellow in Faculty of Community Services at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). He achieved my Ph.D. degree in sociology from Queen’s University. His research examines how the innovation of digital technology impacts social spheres such as public health, political governance, and cultural production. Read More Weblink Project
Rade Zinaic
Dr. Rade Zinaic, MA, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is currently leading a collaborative CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant on vaccine access and hesitancy amongst racialized communities in Toronto which includes a collaborative multi-sectoral and cross-cultural Community Dialogue and Collective Action Forum which identifies initiatives towards facilitating equity in pandemic recovery and preparedness. Read More LinkedIn Project
Collaborative Graduate Fellows / Trainees
Yamini Bhatt – Bridging Divides
Yamini Bhatt is a PhD scholar in Urban Health. Her research focuses on women’s cardiovascular health and its profound influence on offspring health to unveil the hidden roots of these ailments. With a PhD in Human Nutrition from GBPUAT, India, she brings a rich experience of research particularly in the areas of traditional food practices, maternal and child nutrition, and public health nutrition. Read More LinkedIn
Michael Butac – Bridging Divides & Urban Health Equity
Michael Butac (he/him) is a PhD student in the Urban Health program at Toronto Metropolitan University. His dissertation focuses on the experiences of LGBTQ+ racialized youth transitioning out of youth social services, which is inspired by his frontline work with LGBTQ+ youth. Michael’s research and frontline experience also includes youth experiencing homelessness and adults living with HIV/AIDS. He hopes to continue building his scholarship with marginalized communities that is focused on health equity and social determinants of health. He is also dedicated to increasing representation of LGBTQ+ racialized voices in health research and academic environments. LinkedIn
Si Yinn Lu – Urban Health Equity
Si Yinn Lu is a PhD student at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research interest focuses on utilizing critical qualitative approaches to examine how older adults’ perceptions of health and illness intersect with their experiences of precarity and socio-structural inequities. Before pursuing her doctoral research, she led the qualitative evaluations of various community-based social and healthcare interventions within research and hospital settings in Singapore. Through her dissertation, she plans to understand how older adults’ conceptions of loneliness and social isolation in their everyday lives are shaped by broader social and institutional processes. LinkedIn
Esther Olukayode – Bridging Divides
Esther Olukayode, RN, MN, Professor in Practical Nursing and Personal Support Worker Program, brings valuable expertise in medical and surgical care, clinical operations management, and nursing education. Esther’s research interests focuses on health equity, community capacity building, and social determinants of health, particularly in areas of employment and working conditions, education and health literacy, and access to health services. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Health at Toronto Metropolitan University, where her research centers on, applying a critical phenomenological approach, to understand the lived experiences of Internationally Educated Health Care Providers (IE-HCPs) living and working in a White settler nation, such as Canada. LinkedIn
Yemisi Onilude – Bridging Divides
Yemisi is currently a PhD Urban Health student at Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Toronto Metropolitan University. She obtained a MASc with specialization in Health with Distinction from TMU; MA in Health Policy, and Equity with Distinction, and a BHS in Health Management with Cum Laude/Dean’s Honor Roll from York University Toronto. She was a research associate and data analyst at the faculty of design for health, OCAD University Toronto; department of geography and environmental studies at TMU; and school of health policy and management at York University. Her areas of research interest include health policy and equity, social determinants of health, health financing, healthcare management, environmental health, qualitative and quantitative health research. Yemisi is a recipient of fifteen different awards and co-authored two publications pertaining to equitable access to health.
Raliat Owolabi – Bridging Divides
Raliat Owolabi is a Doctoral student Of Urban Health at Toronto Metropolitan University, a Research Assistant and a Program Coordinator with years of experience in community program planning, development and coordination. With a background in Child and Youth Care, Raliat has research experience in the role of informal cultural wealth in Black students’ educational engagement and retention. For her doctoral research, she is focusing on Uninsured African immigrant women’s experiences of cancer care in Canada. LinkedIn
Minhui Yang – Urban Health Equity
Minhui Yang (She/They) is a PhD Candidate in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences at University of Toronto. Her doctoral study takes the lenses of Bourdieusian theories of social practices and Chinese indigenous social theories to investigate the keeping-well practices of older Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Minhui received her Master’s degree in Global Health from Duke University in 2015. Read More Project