Hello, and thank you for visiting my academic website!

I am a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow, affiliated with the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. At UTSC, I am also a member of The Centre for Global Disability Studies, a new research centre that brings together faculty and trainees across all three University of Toronto campuses conducting anti-ableist, intersectional, and interdisciplinary social science and humanities disability studies research.

I hold a PhD in Public Health Sciences, with an emphasis in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences and a Specialization in Women’s Health, from the University of Toronto.

Primarily drawing on qualitative methodologies, my program of research aims to understand and address inequities in women’s* health across the life course (*trans inclusive). Currently, my program of research focuses on the reproductive and perinatal stages of the life course, and on groups who experience significant social, physical health, and mental health disparities and who are much less studied in reproductive and perinatal health research, notably women with physical, sensory, and intellectual/developmental disabilities and sexual minority women. My research draws on interdisciplinary perspectives, including those reflected within and across the disciplines of public health, psychology, sociology, women and gender studies, and critical disability studies. My approach to research is community-based; I collaborate with people with lived experience in a variety of roles in all stages of the research and knowledge translation process. As well, I often work as part of interdisciplinary teams that include epidemiologists and health care and social service providers.

At present, I lead the qualitative component of a National Institutes of Health-funded study on the perinatal health of women with disabilities in Ontario and my own qualitative research on the preconception health and reproductive life plans of women with disabilities. I am also a Co-Investigator on several CIHR-funded national studies, including a mixed methods study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reproductive health of girls and women and trans people with disabilities in Canada, and The RESPCCT Study, an online survey study of the perinatal health care experiences of over 6,000 people across Canada (Birth Place Lab, UBC). As well, I contribute to other studies on reproductive and perinatal health, including perinatal mental health, with researchers, health care providers, and people with lived experience in Canada and the United States.

In addition to academic publications, I am a co-author of the first known clinical practice guidelines on labour, delivery, and postpartum care for people with physical disabilities and of a growing number of resources for prospective parents with disabilities and health care providers concerning the provision of equitable and accessible perinatal care for people with disabilities.