Jim Dunn
Professor | Associate Dean, Research of the Faculty of Social Sciences | Director of McMaster Institute for Healthier Environments | Senator Wm McMaster Chair in Urban Health Equity
Madison Brydges
PhD Candidate
Madison Brydges is a Health Studies Ph.D. student in the Department of Health, Aging & Society at McMaster University. Madison uses qualitative research methodologies to study the delivery of health and social care in the community, and issues impacting the healthcare workforce. She is currently working on her dissertation research studying the professionalization of paramedics in Ontario, Canada.
Ellie Yu
PhD Candidate
Ellie is a PhD candidate, in the Health Policy Program, under the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. Her research aims to better understand the concept of social mix and its function as a health policy intervention to address the effects of concentrated poverty for low-income children and families. More specifically, to evaluate how social mix policies in the form of socially-mixed public housing revitalization operate and can improve the living conditions of disadvantaged populations.
Michelle Wyndham-West
Dr. Michelle Wyndham-West is a postdoctoral Fellow at the Health, Aging and Society Department in the Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University. Dr. Wyndham-West is a critically applied medical anthropologist specializing in aging, health, emerging technologies, and public policy. Dr. Wyndham-West is currently deploying design anthropology, and specifically co-design methodologies, to develop a digital qualitative tool for capturing emergent lived experiences of housing and mobility among low-income older adults. This research project aims to provide an avenue through which participatory older adult housing related data can be captured and analyzed in real-time and an iterative fashion, thereby providing policymakers with topical and timely data to create equitable older-adult focused housing policies. Prior to attending graduate school, Dr. Wyndham-West worked in the technology sector for start-ups, including a medical device company that developed an artificial heart.
Jane Parry
PhD Candidate
Jane Parry is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health, Aging and Society, researching primary care-based interventions to address the health impact of poverty. Her research interests include poverty and health, health equity, health policy, and social justice. Having moved to Hamilton from Hong Kong, she is particularly interested in examining how interventions in urban settings in the US, Canada and other advanced economies could inform future policies and programmes in the mega-cities of Asia and the Pacific. Jane has a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Hong Kong, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Leeds, UK.
Gum-Ryeong Park
PhD Candidate
Gum-Ryeong completed a Bachelor of Health Science from Korea University (2011), and a Master of Public Health, Korea University (2014). Gum-Ryeong is now completing a PhD in Health Studies, at McMaster University. Research interests include health equity; housing and homelessness; social and health policy.
Rachel Weldrick
PhD Candidate
Rachel Weldrick is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University and is supervised by Dr. Jim Dunn. Her doctoral research, for which she has received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, investigates social isolation among urban-dwelling older people using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her work touches on issues of social engagement, neighbourhoods, and social inequalities. She is also the co-founder of Seniors of Canada, an intergenerational community engagement project housed within the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging at McMaster.
Sarah Adjekum
Master of Social Work, McMaster University
PhD Candidate
Sarah Adjekum is a PhD student in the Health and Society Program of the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University. She's passionate about bridging social justice and research, specifically around issues pertaining to mental health, health equity, housing, race, and the experiences of newcomers to Canada. Sarah has a Bachelor of Social Work, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and a Masters of Social Work from McMaster University.
Sabrina Campanella
Research Assistant
Sabrina is a research assistant at the Health, Aging and Society Department at McMaster University. Sabrina completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Health Studies and Gerontology at McMaster University. Most recently, Sabrina explored the impact of Hamilton’s Neighbourhood Action Strategy on food insecurity in Hamilton, Ontario. Sabrina is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at the University of Toronto, specializing in the social and behavioural health sciences stream. Research interests include food security, knowledge mobilization, health equity, health policy, mental health, and housing.
Myfannwy Pope
Research Assistant
Myfannwy is a research assistant at the Health, Aging and Society Department at McMaster University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences (Honours) with an interdisciplinary minor in Community Engagement from McMaster University. Myfannwy will begin her Master of Resource Management Planning at Simon Fraser University in the fall. Research interests include environmental and public health, Indigenous-Canadian relationships, and education