2025 Highlights

A Year in Review

This year brought meaningful changes to our Department as we continued hosting hybrid events and celebrated numerous successes. We’re excited to share some of the highlights from the past year.

We are delighted to welcome the newest member of the EpiBio family, Dr. Ellen Kuenzig. Before joining our Department, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and ICES, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, and Mitacs Canada.

Dr. Kuenzig’s research focuses on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) epidemiology and health services research using routinely collected health data. Her work aims to identify environmental factors associated with increased risk of developing IBD, understand contributors to more severe disease progression, and explore how patients interact with the health care system. She is also interested in improving the reporting of research that uses these data.

As usual, we also welcomed several new cross-appointees and adjunct members. We look forward to all the success they will achieve here in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Notable achievements from our faculty:

Working with colleagues at Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA), Karen Lee and Alex Haines, Dr. Shehzad Ali contributed to the ongoing debate on incorporating disease severity into drug reimbursement decisions. Their discussion explores key arguments for considering disease severity, the common approaches HTA agencies use to quantify it, how these approaches are applied through decision modifiers, their influence on cost-effectiveness analyses, and the remaining knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research. The original article can be found here.
Dr. Kelly Anderson’s project, “Understanding the Evolution of Psychotic Disorders and Related Outcomes among First-Generation Migrant Groups,” has been awarded a CIHR Project Grant. With this new funding, she will examine a range of factors—including care-related outcomes such as hospitalizations, the impact of neighbourhood and geographic factors on psychosis risk, and the unique experiences and needs of migrant populations.
Dr. Kelly Anderson was also selected by the Faculty Selection Committee, chaired by the Provost, as a recipient of the Faculty Scholars Award, recognizing her significant recent scholarly achievements in both teaching and research.
Dr. Nicole Redvers’ team completed a project mapping climate-related impacts on Indigenous communities around the world—from the Ogiek People of Kenya’s Mau Forest to communities in Uganda, Thailand, India, and northern Europe. Their findings revealed a troubling aspect of climate policy: Indigenous Peoples being displaced from their ancestral lands in the name of conservation or carbon offsetting.
Dr. Nicole Redvers has been nominated as one of two Coordinating Lead Authors for the Health and Well-being chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II Contribution to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) under the United Nations.
Dr. Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala, one of SSACAB’s Principal Investigators, participated in a landmark event in Dakar, Senegal (April 14–16, 2025), hosted by the Senegalese Minister of Health. This high-level meeting marked both the official launch of the 2025 Countdown Lancet Report and the start of regional discussions for the Africa-specific edition of the Lancet Report on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health.
Dr. Janet Martin received the Teaching Excellence Award in April, recognizing her outstanding contributions to students’ academic development.
Dr. Saverio Stranges, in his role as President of the Chronic Disease Section of the European Public Health Association, served as one of the organizers of the international symposium “Society, Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention: Time for a Paradigm Shift.” The event brought together approximately 200 professionals both in person and virtually.
Dr. Yun-Hee Choi and Dr. Piotr Wilk have been promoted to the rank of Professor. This milestone reflects their outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and service within the Department and beyond.
Dr. Ava John-Baptiste led an all-day outbreak simulation workshop for the Master of Public Health Program shortly after the Pan American Health Organization confirmed that Canada had lost its measles elimination status. Dr. John-Baptiste created a synthetic data set of measles cases modeled on the Ontario outbreak that concluded in October. Students analyzed the case data and presented conclusions based on their findings.
Dr. Joel Gagnier co-chaired the second Joint Research Symposium hosted by the Departments of Surgery and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This half-day event provided an opportunity for members of both departments to strengthen collaboration and foster rigorous, impactful research. It featured research-focused presentations and a panel discussion examining shared interests, challenges, and opportunities for future interdisciplinary work.

Many of our Graduate and Undergraduate students received awards this year:

CIHR Travel Awards: Three of our students — Paige Vowels, Surim Son, and Alex Esemezie — received the CIHR Travel Award, which supports students, postdoctoral fellows, early career researchers, and knowledge users in presenting their research at national and international meetings, workshops, and conferences
Dr. M. Karen Campbell Undergraduate Award: Awarded to Nicole Bryant.
Dr. Carol Buck Graduate Scholarship: At this year’s Annual Carol Buck Lecture, Victoria Lebedeva received the Dr. Carol Buck Graduate Scholarship. This scholarship, established with Foundation Western to honour Dr. Carol Buck, a former professor in our Department, is awarded following the annual lecture delivered by a distinguished academic in Epidemiology.
Dr. Jim Robertson Award: Awarded annually to a full-time Master’s or Doctoral student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics based on academic excellence and research merit. This year’s recipient is Diya Patel.
WEBSC Travel Award: Created to support student participation in academic conferences and workshops, this award was granted to Nicole Bryant, Atefeh Jafari, Bahareh Kheiri, and Edith Otalike.
Inspiring Minds Features: We are proud of our students who continue to make meaningful research contributions and were featured in Inspiring Minds. These students are: Giuliana Gadoni, Giovanni Borges, Atefeh Jafari, Emma Loeschnik, and Gillian Young.

2025 was a successful year for WEBSC fundraising initiatives and academic events.

In February, WEBSC held a Valentine’s Day Candy Grams Fundraiser where students, faculty and staff could purchase treats for family and friends.

In April, WEBSC hosted the Third Annual EpiBio Research Day, attracting 70 attendees. At the end of the day, the best student projects were recognized and awarded in the following categories: Undergraduate Oral Presentation Award, MSc Oral Presentation Award, PhD Oral Presentation Award, Undergraduate Poster Award, MSc Poster Award, and PhD Poster Award.

To honor the remarkable achievements of students, faculty, and staff within the Department, WEBSC organized the annual EpiBio Gala, where Dr. Janet Martin won the 2024-2025 EpiBio Teaching Excellence Award.

In the summer, the Western University Epidemiology and Biostatistics Student Council presented the EpiBio Summer Workshop, giving attendees the opportunity to enhance their research methodology and grant writing skills under the guidance of Dr. Egide Kalisa and Dr. Marnin Heisel.

In the fall, WEBSC welcomed a new team for the 2025/2026 academic year. The new wellness coordinators planned a headshot session for the graduate and undergraduate students and hosted the Department's Fall Bake Sale, where everyone could enjoy a variety of delicious sweets.

To wrap the year up, WEBSC held a Fall Wellness Week for students to de-stress with activities and snacks during the exam season, and the WEBSC Instagram featured an equity diversity and inclusion (EDI) awareness post which highlighted EDI-related research conducted within the department.

Welcomed Guests

We were honoured to welcome Dr. Allan Donner, his wife, and this year’s speaker, Dr. Robert Petrella, at our Annual Allan Donner Lecture. Dr. Petrella is currently Professor and Head (Chair) of the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is also a Professor of Kinesiology and the sports medicine physician lead at the UBC Sport and Exercise Medicine Clinic in the Chan Gunn Pavilion.

During our Weekly Seminar Series, we were pleased to host a variety of distinguished Faculty, External, and Internal guests. We extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Lawrence Loh, Dr. Mabel Carabali, Dr. Richard Larouche, and Dr. David Fisman for visiting our Department and delivering engaging lectures.

The final seminar — the Carol Buck Lecture — is held annually to honour Dr. Carol Buck, whose affiliation with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics spanned from 1952 to 2004. This year’s lecture was delivered by Dr. Mark Ferro, a Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health. His talk, “Drops of Prevention: Approaches to Reducing the Burden of Physical-Mental Multimorbidity in Children,” provided valuable insights into improving child health outcomes.

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