Advocating for a just recovery for all as we mobilize
for a brighter post-pandemic future
Planetary change poses complex problems for public health never more apparent than during the SARS coV2/COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges demand an interdisciplinary approach both in research and action. To address this Takaro leads the Planetary Health Research group at SFU and along with researchers across all eight of SFU’s Faculties co-leads the Climate Futures Initiative at SFU. This initiative promotes interdisciplinary research to understand the biophysical and socio-economic impacts of climate change and assess mitigation and adaptation strategies to limit climate change risks.
Maya Gislason, PhD
Co-Director and current Team lead
Dr. Gislason is an Assistant Professor in SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences, Co-Lead of the EcoHealth Knowledge to Action Research Group, and longstanding advocate for health equity in Planetary Health. A longstanding champion of ecosystem approaches to health, Dr. Gislason works upstream on public health issues by addressing the interconnection between human, animal and ecosystem health alongside her colleagues and community partners, including the First Nations Health Authority. She teaches on and guides research teams in developing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) informed evidence generating tools, is a Sex and Gender Champion on tri-agency funded research, and is actively engaged in the dynamic space of intersectionality research and Gender-based Analysis Plus approaches to policy formation and evidence building.
Tim Takaro, MD MPH MS
Founder and Co-Director
Dr. Takaro is a Professor and physician-scientist in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Trained in occupational and environmental medicine, public health and toxicology, at Yale, the University of North Carolina and University of Washington, Dr. Takaro’s research is primarily about the links between human exposures and disease, and determining effective public health based preventive solutions to such risks. He helps direct the exposure assessment component of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort. His current research on human health and climate change focuses on water quality and quantity, extreme weather events and gastro-intestinal illness and the role of aero-allergens in the development of asthma and allergy in children.
Jaclyn Parks, MSc
Webinar Coordinator, Web Manager, Tech Support
Jaclyn Parks is an early-career health researcher with a passion for studying the link between indoor and outdoor environmental exposures and childhood asthma and allergies, learning new statistical methodologies, and working to support works that explain the links between climate change and public health. She recently completed a Master of Science in SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences, where she used data from the CHILD Study to research secondhand and thirdhand tobacco smoke, frequent cleaning product use, and household mold exposure as it relates to childhood asthma.
