Advancing Health Equity Action Lab

Lead Investigator Dr Katrina Plamondon

Despite a vast body of evidence and practical policy solutions, systematic differences in health and health outcomes persist along social gradients—both within and between countries. These differences, or health inequities, are human-caused and unfair. My research lab focuses on supporting people to develop meaningful ways to align their good equity intentions with the evidence about what causes health inequities. It brings together the fields of health equity and integrated knowledge translation to examine how to more effectively connect knowledge to action. This work is grounded in equity-centred principles, critical pedagogy, and relational theory. In this research dialogue and arts-informed methods are used to bring people together to grapple with complex ideas in ways that cultivate mutual understanding, reciprocity, and shared pathways forward.

In this research, projects are situated in a variety of settings, ranging from micro, or individual-level action, to macro, or global-level. This means working directly with teams, municipalities, policy bodies, universities, health systems, and communities—always bringing an equity lens and using dialogue-based methods to support collective reflection and planning.

Collaborators:

  • CCGHR: Vic Neufeld, University of Victoria; Jennifer Hatfield, University of Calgary; Charles Larson, McGill University and Theresa Gyorkos, University of Montreal; Elijah Bisung, Queens University; Susan Elliott, University of Waterloo
  • Rural Health Research: Stefan Gryzbowski, Jude Kornelsen, University of British Columbia
  • KT Methods, BC Support Unit–Heather Gainforthand Nelly Oelke, University of British Columbia; Davina Banner, University of Northern British Columbia
  • Dialogue & Arts in Nunavut: Colleen Davison, Eva Purkey, Susan Bartels–Queens University
  • There & Back Again + Equity- and Evidence-Informed Agenda for Rural Health Research: Interior Health, Patient Voices Network, Rural Health Services Research Network of BC, Centre for Rural Health Research
    Migrant Workers Study: Susana Caxaj, Western University; Amy Cohen, Okanagan College; Luis Aguilar, University of British Columbia

Current students:

  • Gail Crockford, MSN student
  • Fatima Al-Roubaiai, MSN studen