Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Anita C. Benoit

Research Interests

• First Nations, Métis, and Inuit health
• Indigenous women’s health and wellbeing
• Collaborative health research with racialized communities
• Determinants of health
• Indigenous research methodologies
• Mixed methods research
• Community-based research
• Health services, outcomes, prevention and evaluation research
• Intervention research particularly those grounded in Indigenous knowledge

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Trainee Opportunities

Not currently accepting doctoral students.

Currently have postings for master’s practicum students.

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Education & Training History

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship, Aboriginal Research Methodologies
• Master of Science with concentration in Health Services Research, University of Toronto
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship, Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health Quantitative Research
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canadian HIV Trials Network – ViiV Healthcare Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canadian HIV Trials Network – James Kreppner Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa
• Master of Science in Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University
• Honors Certificate in Biology, Mount Allison University
• Bachelor of Science with Major in Biology and Minor in Mathematics, Mount Allison University
• Diplôme en Sciences de la Santé, Université de Moncton au Campus de Shippagan

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Other Affiliations

• Assistant Professor, Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough, https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/healthsociety/anita-benoit
• Adjunct Scientist, Women’s College Research & Innovation Institute, Women’s College Hospital

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Teaching Responsibilities

• CLH5203H – Survey Design and Social Research Methods in Public Health
• HLTD23H3 – Indigenous Peoples: Pandemics, Epidemics and Outbreaks
• HLTC48H3 – Indigenous Women’s Health
• HLTB15H3 – Introduction to Health Research Methodology

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Selected Grants – Nominated Principal Investigator

Culture in Movement: The Management and Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes. CIHR Project Grant 2025-28: $803,251.

Revitalizing ancestral knowledge: Co-creating a culturally grounded game to support Kichwa youth mental health. Community Partnership Research Program 2025-27: $52,751.

Walking for Harm Reduction through Street Engagement (WHiSE) 2.0: Assessing Indigenous-specific harm reduction needs and increasing access and knowledge of harm reduction. CIHR Project Grant 2022-24: $971,550.

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Selected Publications

Simon D*, Aden M, Greene S, O’Brien-Teengs D, Loutfy M, Benoit AC. 2025. The need to change the narrative, to change the context: Urban Indigenous women surviving-or-thriving responses to stressors. Wellbeing, Space & Society, 8: 100249 (9 pages). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2025.100249

Quelch J*, Aden M, Toombs E, Sanders C, Sinoway C, Mushquash C, Barkman L, Deschamps M, Pooyak S, Young M, Gauvin H, Benoit AC. 2025. Understanding the circle of care: Indigenous service providers’ perspectives on health and wellbeing. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 21(1): 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801251319274

Hunter Porter NR*, Burns N*, Benoit AC, Auger J, Maddox R, Jull J, Linton J, Nemeth J, Brascoupé S, Préfontaine N*, Simon D*, Lanceleve T, Herkimer J*, Weber-Pillwax C, George N, Friesen M, Bourque Bearskin L, Morton Ninomiya M. 2024. How Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Indigenous Knowledges are centered in research: An Indigenous-informed realist review protocol. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 18(4): 561-572. https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2024.a948680

Roher S*, Martin DH, Yu Z, Pride T, Amirault M, Rand JR, Benoit AC. 2024. How Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing is used in Indigenous health research: A scoping review. PLoS One, 19(9): e0310247 (24 pages). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310247

Quelch, J*, Jackson R, Toombs E, Robinson M, Serghides L, Aker A, Gauvin H, Sinoway C, Barkman L, Mushquash C, Gesink D, Amirault M, Benoit AC. 2023. Evaluating facilitators’ experience in a stress-reducing intervention for Indigenous women. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2023(1): 9219287 (10 pages). https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9219287

Simon D*, Burns N*, Hunter-Porter NR*, Lanceleve T, Prefontaine N*, Herkimer J*, Roan S, Auger J, Benoit AC, Morton Ninomiya ME, Bourque Bearskin ML. 2023. Embodied in Indigenous research: How indigeneity, positionality, and relationality contribute to research approaches and understanding. Healthy Populations Journal, 3(1): 30-43. https://doi.org/10.15273/hpj.v3i1.11475

Lin JC*, Toombs E, Sanders C, Sinoway C, Amirault M, Mushquash CJ, Barkman L, Young M, Deschamps M, Gauvin H, Benoit AC. 2023. Looking beyond the individual – the importance of accessing health and cultural services for Indigenous women in Thunder Bay, Ontario. PLOS One, March 1, 2023, 18(3): e0282484 (19 pages). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282484

Aker A*, Serghides L, Cotnam C, Jackson R, Robinson M, Gauvin H, Mushquash C, Gesink D, Amirault M, Benoit AC. 2023. The impact of a culturally-grounded community-based stress management intervention on stress biomarker levels and mental health indicators in an Indigenous community. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 46: 594-608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-023-00391-0

Roher SIG*, Yu Z*, Martin DH, Benoit AC. 2022. Limits and possibilities: Understanding and conveying Two-Eyed Seeing through conventional academic practices. Healthy Populations Journal, 2(2): 13-18. https://doi.org/10.15273/hpj.v2i2.11295

Moses C*, Brown HK, Prabhakar P*, Eltayeb N*, Benoit AC. 2022. Systematic review of interventions addressing suicide among Indigenous adults and reporting Indigenous-specific content and involvement in the interventions. AlterNative, 18(3): 445-454. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801221117164

Kodeeswaran J*, Campaigne M, Benoit AC. 2022. “I’ll struggle, and I’ll fall…I’ll have my days, but it’s okay” Indigenous women surviving the sixties scoop. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 13(1): 33 pages. https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2022.13.1.13570

Lee RS*, Brown HK, Salih S*, Benoit AC. 2022. Systematic review of Indigenous involvement and content in mental health interventions and their effectiveness for Indigenous populations. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 1-22. doi: 10.1177/00048674221089837

Roher S, Yu Z, Martin D, Benoit AC. 2021. How is Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing being used in Indigenous health research? A scoping review. PLoS ONE, 16(7): e0254612. doi: 1371/journal.pone.0254612

Benoit AC, Cotnam J, Beaver K, Greene S, O’Brien-Teengs D, Zoccole A, Loutfy M. 2019. Racism experiences of Urban Indigenous women in Ontario, Canada: “We all have that story that will break your heart”. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 10(2):1-27. doi: 10.18584/iipj.2019.10.2.1

Xavier, C.G., Benoit, A.C., Brown, H.K. 2018.Teenage pregnancy and mental health beyond the postpartum period: A systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 72(6): 451-457. doi: 1136/jech-2017-209923

Xavier, C.G., Brown, H., Benoit, A.C. Teenage pregnancy and long-term mental health outcomes among Indigenous women. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 21(3), 333-340. doi: 10.1007/s00737-017-0799-5