Our research team

INTERACT is recruiting students!

We offer graduate students and postdoctoral fellows advanced training opportunities for population health intervention research and collaborations. The program trains students in GIS, GPS, accelerometry, epidemiology, statistics and qualitative and mixed methods, all of which are essential for urban intervention research.

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Principal Investigators

Daniel Fuller, PhD

University of Saskatchewan

Daniel Fuller is a Principal Investigator on the INTERACT team and Associate Professor in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. His research is focused on using wearable technologies to study physical activity, transportation interventions, and equity in urban spaces. Dan has an MSc in Kinesiology from the University of Saskatchewan, a PhD in Public Health from Université de Montréal. Dan is the Neighbourhood Factors Team co-lead of the Canadian Urban Environmental Health (CANUE) Research Consortium. He spends free time chasing his two rambunctious kids, and relives his youth playing recreational basketball on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Physical activity, natural experiment studies, transit impacts, equity

Yan Kestens, PhD

Université de Montréal

Yan Kestens, Professor at École de Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal is a Principal Investigator on INTERACT. His research focuses on improving our understanding of how urban changes influence population health, considering converging objectives of sustainability, improved quality of life and reduced health inequalities. Yan develops new tools to collect and analyse spatial data and processes, including wearable sensors, and map-based online questionnaires. Offline, Yan turns to his other projects involving brewing, french sausage, and kids!

Intervention research, urban health, activity space, gentrification and health, science to policy

Meghan Winters, PhD

Simon Fraser University

Meghan Winters is a Principal Investigator on INTERACT, and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. Her research focuses on ways that cities and their infrastructure can play a role in promoting healthy and safe transportation, for people of all ages and abilities. She is happiest when working in close collaboration with cities and stakeholders to conduct research and create tools that address real-world challenges. Meghan is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and a core investigator at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. Meghan has a PhD from the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. Out of the office, Meghan aims to spend the maximum time outside, biking, camping, picnicking and exploring with her family in tow.

Active transportation, healthy ageing, mobility, equity, gender

Co-Investigators

Scott Bell, PhD

University of Saskatchewan

Spatial equity, GIScience, health geography

Ehab Diab, PhD

University of Saskatchewan

Land use and transportation, perceptions of transit users – GIScience

Sébastien Lord, PhD

Université de Montréal

Participatory planning, mobility, neighbourhood design

Kevin Manaugh, PhD

McGill University

Mobility justice, transportation planning, active transportation

Heather McKay, PhD

University of British Columbia

Active aging, implementation, mobility

Nazeem Muhajarine, PhD

University of Saskatchewan

Maternal and child health, access to healthy food, neighbourhoods and health

Trisalyn Nelson, PhD

University of California Santa Barbara

Active transportation, cycling infrastructure, spatial equity, big data

Martine Shareck, PhD

University of Sherbrooke

Health geography, youth, health equity

Kevin Stanley, PhD

University of Saskatchewan

Computer science, human mobility, big data, movement patterns

Marie-Christine Therrien, PhD

École nationale d'administration publique

Resilience, municipal governance, climate readiness, policy

Collaborators

Catherine Morency, PhD

Polytechnique Montréal

Mobility – Active Transportation – Transit Planning

Paul Lewis, PhD

Université de Montréal

Planning policy – Transportation – Urban Design

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Geetanjali Datta, PhD

Université de Montréal / CRCHUM

Methods – Cancer prevention – Physical Activity

Lise Gauvin, PhD

Université de Montréal / CRCHUM

Collaborator

Physical Activity – Health Equity – Built Environment

Caislin Firth, PhD

Socio-spatial equity, health promotion, knowledge translation

Joanie Sims-Gould, PhD

Active aging – Qualitative Methods – Knowledge Translation

Michael Cantinotti, PhD

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Mixed Methods, Mental Health, Psychology of Tech and Privacy

Avipsa Roy, PhD

University of California Irvine

Urban Systems, Fairness in AI, Transportation Patterns, Accessibility Issues, Urban Networks.

Behzad Kiani, PhD

Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Spatial Epidemiology, Geoinformatics, Gentrification

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Jaimy Fischer, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto

Spatial Equity, Mobility Justice, GISc

Hiroshi Mamiya, PhD

McGill University

Environmental Epidemiology, Health Informatics

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Students and Trainees

Meridith Sones, MPH

Simon Fraser University - PhD Population Health

Meridith is a knowledge translation strategist and PhD candidate whose research aims to advance how cities measure and understand the impact of urban change on social connectedness, health, and equity.

Built environment, social connectedness, knowledge translation

Julie Karmann

Université de Montréal - PhD Health Promotion

Julie is pursuing her PhD in Public Health, informed by her previous work as a landscape architect. She is interested in how walkable neighbouroods relate to social connections.

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Célia Kingsbury

Université de Montréal - Public Health PhD

A kinesiologist by training, Célia is a doctoral student in public health (health promotion option) and is interested in the effect of cycle paths in urban centers on the levels of physical activity related to transport among different socio-economic groups as well as their potential gentrifying effect on neighbourhoods.

Sadun Khezri

Université de Montréal

Sadun has a Master’s degree in health economics and is now pursuing a MSc in Public Health at the University de Montreal. He is exploring the relationship between built and social environments, social interactions, and well-being among different socio-economic groups.

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Research Staff

Zoé Poirier Stephens, M.Urb

National Research Coordinator

Zoé brings together key people, resources, and data to advance and promote our research. She’s worked in political communications and research, before becoming a community organizer, where she focused on urban revitalization and ageing. She holds a Master’s of Urban Planning from McGill University. Zoé organizes her free time around food, transit, and friends.

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Meridith Sones, MPH

Manager of Knowledge Mobilization

Meridith is a knowledge translation and communications strategist with a passion for mobilizing evidence and people around bold solutions to public health challenges. Meridith has spent the past ten years leading knowledge translation and evaluation strategies for health organizations aspiring for greater reach and impact. Her work has spanned multiple disciplines and settings, from government agencies in Canada to community organizations in Brazil and Botswana. Meridith spends most weekends playing in the mountains around Vancouver and park-hopping with her sushi-loving kids and mischievous yellow lab Kona.

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Karen Laberee, MSc

Project Coordinator Victoria

Karen Laberee is the Project Coordinator in Victoria. She is also the Executive Director of BikeMaps.org. Karen has enjoyed drawing upon her experience in developing creative approaches for promoting BikeMaps.org to recruit participants in Victoria for Team Interact. When she’s not talking about biking, Karen can be found running the spectacular trails that are found just outside of Victoria.

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Benoit Thierry, MSc

GIS Specialist

Benoit is principally responsible for managing the spatial data collected as part of INTERACT. The rest of the time, he contributes to the work of the team by developing innovative spatial analysis techniques and geographic information systems related to population health. He also implements solutions for research and clinical interventions using multi-sensors combining GPS and accelerometers. Firmly claiming a generalist profile, he holds a telecommunications engineering degree (France) and a master’s degree in geomatics (Université Laval, Québec). From time to time, satiated with bits and bytes, he uproots himself to southern latitudes.