Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Suzanne F. Jackson Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc.

Research Interests

• Global health promotion
• Community resilience in disaster response
• Realist evaluation-linked coding method
• Health Promotion planning and evaluation
• Participatory Action Research, participatory evaluation processes
• Qualitative research
• Economic evaluation in health promotion
• First People’s Health/circumpolar health promotion
• strategic planning and group process
• Mental health promotion
• Centre for Health Promotion (historical)

Other Affiliations

Co-Director, WHO Collaborating Centre in Health Promotion

Editor-in-Chief, Global Health Promotion 2010-2019

Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Public Health Association 2017-2018

External Examiner, MPH University of West Indies, Jamaica 2010 – 2017

Distinguished Professional, Republic Polytechnic University, Singapore 2017

Visiting Professor, University of Brighton, UK 2020-2023

Honours & Awards

• Life membership in the Ontario Public Health Association
• John Hastings Award for Excellence in Service to the University and the Community (2014 recipient)

Current Research Projects

• 2020-2021 – Connected Communities in a time of Physical Distancing: Community-led responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in City of Toronto, Co-investigator, funded by Toronto COVID Action Initiative and School of Cities, led by Blake Poland and in partnership with Centre for Connected Communities.
• 2019-2020 – Healthy & Resilient Cities: Exploring a Connected Community Approach Literature Review, Co-applicant with CIHR funding led by Blake Poland and in partnership with Centre for Connected Communities .
• 2013-2020 – Improving Cancer Screening Among First Nations and Metis in Ontario – Co-applicant on CIHR-funded project led by Jill Tinmouth at CCO
• 2014-15 – The Role of Creative Arts in the Health of Street-Involved Female-Identifying Youth – Intervention research funded by Women’s XChange
• 2015-16 – Creating a ‘Town Centre” in a Tower Neighbourhood – Co-Investigator with Clean Air Partnership examining a participatory co-design process with Flemingdon Park community
• 2007-2015 – Canadian Best Practices Portal – creation of background documents and quality assessment protocols related to promising and best practices
• 2013-2017 – Working together to Achieve Healthier Lifestyles in Yukon and Northwest Territories Communites – evaluation of collective impact and small programs under PHAC Innovations Strategy funding led by Arctic Institute of Community-Based Research in Whitehorse, Yukon
• 2000-2012 – Early Parenting Program Evaluation – role of community parents, Realist Evaluation, linked coding
• 2001-2018 – Mental Health Promotion – partnership with Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and others around guides, policy development

Representative Publications

• Ardene Vollman and Suzanne F. Jackson (Eds). Canadian Community as Partner: Theory and Multidisciplinary Practice. Fifth Edition. Wolters Kluwer, December, 2020.
• Alyssa Kelly, Sanjana Mitra, Justus Elung’at, Julia Songkok, Suzanne F. Jackson, Astrid Christoffersen-Deb. “Can the Financial Burden of Being a Community Health Volunteer in Western Kenya Exacerbate Poverty?” Health Promotion International, 35(1):93-101. 2020
• Suzanne Jackson, Nadia Fazal, Genevieve Gravel, Heather Papowitz. “Evidence for the Value of Health Promotion Interventions in Natural Disaster Management” Health Promotion International, 32(6): 1057-1066, 2017.
• Suzanne Jackson, Gillian Kolla, “A New Realistic Evaluation Analysis Method: Linked Coding of Context, Mechanism and Outcome Relationships.” American Journal of Evaluation 33/3, 339-349, September 2012.
• Suzanne Jackson,”A Participatory Group Process to Analyze Qualitative Data.” Progress in Community Health Partnerships 2.2, 161-170 Summer 2008.
• Suzanne Jackson, Fran Perkins, Erika Khandor, Lauren Cordwell, Stephen Hamman, Supakorn Buasai “Integrated Health Promotion Strategies: A Contribution to Tackling Current and Future Health Challenges.” Health Promotion International Vol 1-S1, pp 75-83, 2007.
• Suzanne Jackson, Valery Ridde, Helene Valentini, Natalie Gierman. “Canada’s Role in International Health Promotion” Chapter 13 in Health Promotion in Canada: Critical Perspectives Michel O’Neill, Ann Pederson, Sophie Dupere, Irv Rootman, (eds). Canadian Scholar’s Press: Toronto. June 2007.
• Suzanne F. Jackson, Blake Poland, David Burman, Richard Edwards, Shelley Cleverly and Ann Robertson. “Working with Toronto Neighbourhoods Toward Developing Indicators of Community Capacity.” Health Promotion International, 18/4, 2003.