Being a Public Scholar is an honour that comes with opportunity and responsibility. I’m interested in the value that science and evidence bring to governance and policymaking. I recognize that evidence is just one factor among many, including societal values and politics, that guides decision-making. In our current era where evidence is increasingly distrusted, I want to use the opportunities of public scholarship to learn to leverage and communicate evidence so that it is accessible, useful and targeted to the right audience.
Research Description
My doctoral research explores the contextual forces that shape, facilitate and hinder the design and delivery of safer supply. Diversion of safer supply medications has emerged as a significant contextual force that is shaping perspectives and actions related to safer supply in clinical, public and policy contexts. To generate knowledge in this area, I will draw from my dissertation to create an issue brief for addiction medicine specialists and general practitioners in BC.
What does being a Public Scholar mean to you?
Being a Public Scholar is an honour that comes with opportunity and responsibility. I’m interested in the value that science and evidence bring to governance and policymaking. I recognize that evidence is just one factor among many, including societal values and politics, that guides decision-making. In our current era where evidence is increasingly distrusted, I want to use the opportunities of public scholarship to learn to leverage and communicate evidence so that it is accessible, useful and targeted to the right audience.
In what ways do you think the PhD experience can be re-imagined with the Public Scholars Initiative?
I hope that the Public Scholars Initiative will enable me to reimagine my dissertation as a suite of outputs that can be taken up in non-academic contexts. I look forward to having a cohort of fellow Public Scholars with whom I can exchange ideas and opportunities, as the PhD experience tends to be isolating and siloed by discipline.
How do you envision connecting your PhD work with broader career possibilities?
As an interdisciplinary student, my PhD work draws from public health and social sciences to combine different methods and data sources to explore an increasingly politicized harm reduction intervention: safer supply. I envision connecting my work to the broader health system, and specifically to clinical education and policymaking. I would like to continue to work in research and evaluation, in a setting that bridges academia with health service design and delivery.
How does your research engage with the larger community and social partners?
My research is supported by the BC Centre on Substance Use, which is responsible for creating prescribed safer supply clinical protocols, practice updates and a provincial safer supply-specific knowledge translation strategy. More broadly, my work engages the prescriber community and people who use drugs, with the aim of improving health and harm reduction interventions.
Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?
Before starting my doctoral studies, I worked in health research in the BC health system. I witnessed the gap that exists between research and policy-making, especially when it comes to drug policy and substance use services. I decided to pursue a graduate degree because I saw an opportunity to leverage my professional experience and networks and ask relevant, community-driven research questions about overdose response, specifically governmental and institutional responsibility. I believe that research should have positive policy impacts for people who use drugs, their families and our collective communities.
Why did you choose to come to British Columbia and study at UBC?
I did my undergraduate degree at UBC and am happy to be back as a doctoral student. I've lived and worked in Vancouver since 2010, and studying at UBC enables me to stay connected and accountable to my community. There are brilliant minds studying and working in my field at UBC and its affiliated research institutions, and I'm grateful to be in close proximity.
