Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Links

• https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/catalyst-seminar-series-february-2026-tickets-1661372904079?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by the Institute of Health Emergencies & Pandemics …

Join us for Catalyst Series, a dynamic seminar series showcasing groundbreaking research funded by the Institute of Health Emergencies & Pandemics Catalyst and Research Development Grants. Since 2023, IfP has provided over $1 million to research teams at the University of Toronto, to support collaborative, interdisciplinary research projects. These presentations spotlight the innovative work of interdisciplinary teams tackling urgent challenges in pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery.

Projects Highlighted:

Evaluating Equity-focused Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Childhood and Youth Mental Health in Canada

• Presenter: Kuan Liu (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
• It is widely understood that the pandemic precipitated an unprecedented mental health crisis among children and youth both in Canada and around the world. However, there is little evidence on the long-term impact that pandemic containment measures have had on childhood and youth mental health. Our study evaluates changes in the mental health of children and youth in Canada pre- and post-pandemic, the potential causal role that education disruption played, and identifies who were most affected. To that end, we analyzed Ontario electronic health records data linked with administrative population data on demographic and socioeconomic variables, to: i) characterize changes in mental health outcomes among school-aged children and youth from before the pandemic to during/after the pandemic, ii) estimate the role that education disruption played on the decline of the mental health, and iii) identify significant unexplained disparities in adverse mental health outcomes between adjacent census tracts within Ontario.

Shedding Light on the “Shadow Pandemic”: Developing a research agenda on gender-based violence during and after COVID-19

• Presenters: Beverley Essue (Dalla Lana School of Public Health) & Sarah Kaplan (Rotman School of Management)
• Background: Before COVID-19, violence against cis and trans women, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people was already a crisis. Globally, the pandemic intensified this crisis through job loss, financial insecurity, and quarantining measures. The United Nations deemed this pandemic-fueled rise in violence as a “shadow pandemic,” with marginalized communities, including low-income, Indigenous, racialized, and LGBT+ people, facing increased risks and worse outcomes from gender-based violence (GBV).
• Objectives: This project addressed the IfP theme of pandemic recovery through the development of research collaborations themed on GBV and pandemic recovery to define and address the effects of this “shadow pandemic.” The project defined the economic and social impacts of the pandemic-fueled rise in GBV on communities facing marginalization, and identified the types of policy interventions that will help society recover from increased GBV and prevent rising GBV in future pandemics and more generally.