Dr. Claire Kendall is the Associate Dean, Social Accountability with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She is a Professor with the Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, a Clinician Investigator at the Bruyère Health Research Institute, and practicing family physician with the Bruyère Health Academic Family Medicine. She holds a University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Chair in Strengthening Primary Care for Integrated Health Equity.

She is also Clinicienne Chercheure at the Institut du SavoirMontfort, Senior Scientist at ICES, Affiliate Investigator in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and Affiliate Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Kendall is co-Chair of the Association of Faculties of Medicine Social Accountability Network and a member of the City of Ottawa’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan Advisory Committee.

Kady Carr (they/them) brings over 10 years of experience in team leadership, data insight generation, research, and strategic partnership development. They hold an MBA from the Telfer School of Management, with certifications in Management Consulting and Business Analytics.

At Bruyère Health Research Institute, Kady leads the operations of the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS) and spearheads efforts to integrate community data into city planning, health services research, policy, and practice. They build and maintain strategic relationships with community partners, government agencies, and academic collaborators to advance the mobilization of knowledge and improve health outcomes at the neighbourhood level.

Kady also serves as co-chair of Ottawa’s Data for Good chapter, contributing to data-driven solutions for complex social challenges.

Dr. Michael (Mike) Sawada is a full Professor in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts at the University of Ottawa. A geomatics expert, his research centres on spatial analysis, GIS applications, and remote sensing, with over 15 years of experience addressing urban, environmental, and health-related questions. He co-founded the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS) in 2006 with Dr. Betsy Kristjansson and continues to serve as a co-investigator. His transdisciplinary work has contributed to the development of spatial analytical methods and tools that inform pressing social and environmental policy issues, including disaster mitigation, air quality, and population health. He also directs the Laboratory for Applied Geomatics and GIS Science (LAGGIS) at uOttawa and is a member of the Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management Research Centre.

Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Kristjansson is a full Professor in the School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. A health measurement expert, her place-based research has focused on the socio-economic determinants of health, with a primary interest in systematic reviews on nutrition and food security interventions. Dr. Kristjansson co-founded the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS) in 2006 with Dr. Mike Sawada. Under her leadership, ONS grew into a strong intersectoral partnership and one of the world’s largest datasets on contextual and compositional determinants of health, health behaviour, and health outcomes. Though now retired from the Principal Investigator role, she remains an active supporter of ONS and its mission. She was also the lead university investigator on Food for All, a community-university research partnership focused on Community Food Security. Betsy is dedicated to her family. She is also a passionate cyclist, cross-country skier, and nature-lover.

Centretown

Anzo Nguyen is a Research Coordinator at the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study. Having started at ONS as a summer practicum student, he is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with a Master of Public Health. He is experienced in a wide variety of research methods involving statistical analysis, interviews, and data visualization. He applies these skills to better understand the social determinants of health in Ottawa through data analysis, visualization, and dissemination. Anzo is particularly interested in the roles that housing, transportation, and the built environment play on human health.

David Hole is the community liaison and knowledge broker for the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study. He has been involved with ONS since shortly after its inception in 2005, initially as a representative of the Coalition of Community Health & Resource Centres but more recently as a consultant. A social worker by profession, throughout his career David has been committed to social change through community development. His interest is finding ways and means for research to be both relevant and empowering to local residents committed to improving their quality of life and the health of their community. David is a graduate of the University of Southampton UK (Politics/Sociology) and Carleton University (Social Work) and worked in England and Jamaica before coming to Canada. He has experience in child welfare, family counselling, services for children with special needs, and within the education sector. After 24 years as Executive Director of South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre he “retired” in 2008 to work as a consultant, play with the grandkids, and travel (mostly in that order).

José Dimayuga is a GIS analyst at the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study. Some of his research interests include community-based indices, geoprocessing automation, and site suitability analysis. José has several years experience in both the private and public sector, and is currently teaching in the GIS Graduate Certifate program at Algonquin College.

Elyse Varney is a student of the University of Ottawa in International Development. As a research assistant with the ONS, they work on data collection and analysis from neighbourhoods across Ottawa. Their work has covered themes of food and nutrition accessibility, access to greenspaces, homelessness and social housing, and early years and child care accessibility within Ottawa. Elyse is passionate about social and environmental issues and data-backed policy development.