Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Join us for the Collaborative Specialization in Public Health Policy Rounds – open to all. For a Zoom link please email publichealthpolicy@utoronto.ca.

While the foundations of public health are rooted in promoting health equity, it is clear that these foundations are not promoting meaningful success for Black communities. In 2020 the Toronto Board of Health declared that anti-Black racism is a public health crisis, and research has clearly shown that Black community members across Canada experience disproportionate poor health outcomes as demonstrated by almost any measure of health and wellbeing—e.g., life expectancy; chronic disease prevalence; premature birth rates. I will explore the intersections of the social determinants of health and anti-Black racism as well as interrogate the current crisis of disproportionality faced by the Black communities within the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will allow for an opportunity to challenge the racial neutrality we often experience in public health policy and instead offer concrete ways for the field to become intentional in increasing our ability to radically shift how we promote health and wellbeing for Black communities.

Dr. Notisha Massaquoi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, with a graduate appointment in the Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. She holds a BA in Psychology from Western University and an MSW and PhD in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto. Her early career established several organizations which served Black communities in Canada, including Africans in Partnership Against AIDS, Harambe Family Services, and Taibu Community Health Centre. She designed the health and research programs and served for two decades as the Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto – the only Community Health Centre in North America, which provides specialized primary healthcare for Black and racialized women.