Faculty Member

Kate Mulligan

Email Address(es)
kate.mulligan(at)utoronto.ca
Website(s)
Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Twitter
Division(s)/Institute(s)
Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division

Research Interests

I am interested in understanding and systematizing the role of community and neighbourhood-scale leadership and intervention in the production of health and wellbeing. I lead high-impact research, evaluation, policy development and implementation collaborations for healthier, more equitable and more sustainable policy and practice. I am also the founder and Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing and the recipient of the 2024 Lori Chow Memorial Award from Health Promotion Ontario.

My research interests include:

  • Evaluation, implementation research and knowledge mobilization
  • Community leadership, governance, resilience and self-determination
  • Health impact, innovation, advocacy and government relations
  • Social prescribing, health equity & determinants of health
  • Political ecology & health geography

In the Headlines:

Education & Training History

  • PhD, Health Geography, McMaster University
  • M.A., Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Toronto
  • B Arts Sc., Arts & Science Programme, McMaster University

Other Affiliations

Consultancies

  • Healthcare Excellence Canada
  • Diabetes Canada
  • Unity Health
  • Casey House
  • The Bentway
  • Canadian Red Cross
  • National Collaborating Centre for the Determinants of Health
  • Office of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Pan American Health Organization

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

Past Teaching Responsibilities

Postdoctoral Fellows

Doctoral Students

Mentees

Practicum Students & Research Assistants

Recent Grads

Representative Publications

Muhl, Caitlin, Cornish, Eleanor, Zhou, Xin Ang, Mulligan, Kate, Bayoumi, Imaan, Ashcroft, Rachelle, Ross-White, Amanda, Godfrey, Christina, Social Prescribing for Children and Youth: A Scoping Review, Health & Social Care in the Community, 2025, 5265529, 17 pages, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/526552.

Esfandiari, Elham, Chudyk, Anna M., Mulligan, Kate, Miller, William C., Mortenson, W. Ben, Newton, Christie, Rush, Kathy L., Petrella, Robert J., Ashe, Maureen C., Looking Back and Moving Forward: Exploring Community Connectors’ Experience With Implementing Social Prescribing, Health & Social Care in the Community, 2025, 4355122, 13 pages, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/4355122

Mulligan, K., Card, K. G., & Allison, S. (2024). Social prescribing in Canada: linking the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion with health care’s Quintuple Aim for a collaborative approach to health. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.9.01

Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Giurca, B. C., Polley, M. J., Bloch, G., Nowak, D. A., … & Husk, K. (2024). Building common understanding: seeking consensus and defining social prescribing across contexts–a collective commentary on a Delphi study. BMC health services research, 24(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11603-x

Yu C, Lail S, Allison S, Biswas S, Hebert P, Hsiung S, Mulligan K, Nelson ML, Saragosa M, Welch V, Card KG. (2024). Social prescribing needs and priorities of older adults in Canada: a qualitative analysis. Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. Sep 1;44(9). https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.9.03

Mulligan, K., Card KG, Allison S. (2024). Social prescribing in Canada: health promotion in action, 50 years after the Lalonde report. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2024;44(6):241-3. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.6.01

Mulligan, K. (2024). Social Prescribing in Canada: Coproduction with Communities. In Social Prescribing Policy, Research and Practice: Transforming Systems and Communities for Improved Health and Wellbeing (pp. 131-145). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Saragosa M, Mulligan K, Hsiung S, Biswas S, Card K, Hébert PC, Welch V, Nelson ML.(2024). A Qualitative Study of National Perspectives on Advancing Social Prescribing Using Co‐Design in Canada. Health Expectations. Aug;27(4):e14144. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.14144

Dougherty, M., Tompkins, T., Zibrowski, E., Cram, J., Ashe, M. C., Bhaskar, L. T., … Mulligan, K. & Kothari, A. (2024). Coproduction in Social Prescribing Initiatives: Protocol for a Scoping Review. JMIR Research Protocols, 13(1), e57062. doi: 10.2196/57062

Ghogomu, E. T., Welch, V., Yaqubi, M., Dewidar, O., Barbeau, V. I., Biswas, S., Card, K., Hsiung, S., Muhl, C., Nelson, M., Salzwedel, D. M., Saragosa, M., Yu, C., Mulligan, K., & Hébert, P. (2024). PROTOCOL: Effects of social prescribing for older adults: An evidence and gap map. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 20, e1382. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1382 

Bertotti M, Dias S, Gama A, Herrmann W, Husk K, Khan K, Lee KH, Mulligan K, Polley M, Robinson D, Tierney S. The Present and Future of Social Prescribing. Social Prescribing Policy, Research and Practice: Transforming Systems and Communities for Improved Health and Wellbeing. 2024 Mar 10:161-83.

Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Ross-White, A. & Godfrey, C. (2024). Social prescribing for children and youth: A scoping review protocol. PLOS One 19(3), e0297535. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297535

Welch, V. A., Ghogomu, E., Dowling, S., Barbeau, V., Al-Zubaidi, A., Beveridge, E., Bondok, M.,Desai, P., Doyle, R., Huang, J., Hussain, T., Jearvis, A. Jahel, F., Madani, L. Choo, Y.W., Yunus, R.M., Tengku, M.T.A.M, Wadwani, A., Al Ameer, A., Ibrahim, R., Allam, S., Haitas, N., Bomze, S., Dahrouge, S., Garcia, E., Holt-Lunstad J., Lasgaard, M., Lim, K. Mulligan, K., Salzwedel, D.M., Qualter, P., Hebert, P., Mikton, C. (2023, July 14). In-person interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness: An evidence and gap map. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1408

Mulligan, K., Hsiung, S., Park, G., Bloch, G., Elliott, T., Stebbins, L., Richter, A. Social Prescribing in Canada: A Tool for Integrating Health and Social Care for Underserved Communities. Healthcare Quarterly 25(4) January 2023: 17-22. doi:10.12927/hcq.2023.27022.

Vine, M. M., Mulligan, K., Harris, R., & Dean, J. L. (2023). The Impact of Health Geography on Public Health Research, Policy, and Practice in Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(18), 6735. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20186735

Mongeon, A., Deacon, L., & Mulligan, K. (2023). A Conceptual Framework for Governance of Health and Wellbeing in Rural Communities. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 18(3).

Welch V, Tanjong Ghogomu E, Dowling S, Choo WY, Yunus RM, Mohd TAMT, Haitas N, Bomze S, Dahrouge S, Garcia E, Holt-Lunstad J, Lasgaard M, Lim MH, Mulligan K, Salzwedel DM, Qualter P, Hébert PC, Mikton C. PROTOCOL: In-person interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness: An evidence and gap map. Campbell Syst Rev. 2023 Jun 22;19(3):e1340. doi: 10.1002/cl2.1340. PMID: 37361556; PMCID: PMC10286723.

Esfandiari E, Chudyk AM, Grover S, Lau EY, Hoppmann C, Mortenson WB, Mulligan K, Newton C, Pauly T, Pitman B, Rush KL, Sakakibara BM, Symes B, Tsuei S, Petrella RJ, Ashe MC. Social Prescribing Outcomes for Trials (SPOT): Protocol for a modified Delphi study on core outcomes. PLoS One. 2023 May 16;18(5):e0285182. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285182. PMID: 37192189; PMCID: PMC10187912.

Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Godfrey, C. (2023). Establishing Internationally Accepted Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Social Prescribing Through Expert Consensus: A Delphi Study. BMJ Open (accepted June 2023).

Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., Godfrey, C. (2023). Supporting the achievement of global goals for health and wellbeing through social prescribing: defining the concept. Population Medicine, 5(Supplement), A1846. https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/165302

Muhl, C., Mulligan, K., Bayoumi, I., Ashcroft, R., & Godfrey, C. (2023). Establishing Internationally Accepted Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Social Prescribing Through Expert Consensus: A Delphi Study Protocol. International Journal of Integrated Care, 23(1), 3. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.6984

Ashe, M; Grover, S; Sandhu, P; Nijjar, GS; Percival, A; Chudyk, AM; Liang, J; McArthur, C; Miller, WC; Mortenson, WB; Mulligan, K; Newton, C: Park, G; Pitman, B; Rush, KL; Sakakibara, B; Petrella, J. (2023). Older Adults and Social Prescribing Experience, Outcomes, and Processes: A Meta-Aggregation Systematic Review. Public Health 218: 197-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.02.016

Mulligan, K. 2022. Digital inclusion, online participation and health promotion: Promising practices from community-led participatory journalism. Global Health Promotion. 2022;0(0). doi:10.1177/17579759221126150

Madani, M.T., Madani, L., Ghogomu, E.T., Dahrouge, S., Hébert, P.C., Juando-Prats, C., Mulligan, K. & Welch, V. Is equity considered in systematic reviews of interventions for mitigating social isolation and loneliness in older adults?. BMC Public Health 22, 2241 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14667-8

Percival A, Newton C, Mulligan K, Petrella R, Ashe M. Systematic review of social prescribing and older adults: where to from here? Family Medicine and Community Health 2022;10:e001829. doi: 10.1136/fmch-2022-001829

Morse, DF; Sandhu, S; Mulligan, K; Tierney, S; Polley, P; Chivas, B; Slade, S; Dias, S; Mahtani, K; Wells, L; Wang, H; Zhao, B; de Figueiredo, C; Meijs, JJ; Nam, HK; Lee, KH; Wallace, C; Elliott, M; Mendive, JM; Robinson, D; Palo, M; Herrman, W; Nielsen, RØ; Husk, K. (2022). Global Developments in Social Prescribing. BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e008524.

Mulligan K. 2022. Strengthening community connections: the future of public health is at the neighbourhood scale. Report to the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) at the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Bhatti S, Rayner J, Pinto AD, Mulligan K, Cole DC. Using self-determination theory to understand the social prescribing process: a qualitative study. BJGP Open 9 March 2021; BJGPO.2020.0153. DOI: 10.3399/BJGPO.2020.0153

Public Health Agency of Canada / Canadian Institutes for Health Research 2020. Best Brains Exchange proceedings report: Strengthening the structural determinants of health post-COVID-19.

Mulligan, K., Bhatti, S., Rayner, J., & Hsiung, S. 2019. Social Prescribing: Creating Pathways Towards Better Health and Wellness. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16249

Rayner, J; Muldoon, L; Bayoumi, I; McMurchy, D; Mulligan, K; Tharao, W 2018. Delivering Primary Health Care as Envisioned – A Model of Health and Wellbeing Guiding Community-Governed Primary Care Organizations. Journal of Integrated Care. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICA-02-2018-0014 

Muntaner, Carles
Mowat, David L.
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Muntaner, Carles
Mowat, David L.