Raywat Deonandan
Raywat Deonandan
Associate professor

2001, Ph.D., Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario
1993, M.Sc., Physiology, University of Toronto
1993, B.Ed., Math and Sciences Education, University of Toronto
1990, B.Sc., Physics and Physiology and Anthropology, University of Toronto

Room
THN 208
Phone
613-562-5800 ext. 8377


Biography

Dr Raywat Deonandan is an epidemiologist and science communicator specializing in global health. His research involves, most prominently, the emerging global industry of so-called reproductive tourism, along with the creative analysis of administrative data, the epidemiology and ethics of assisted reproductive technologies and the exploration of novel avenues of medical education.

Dr. Deonandan embraces new media to engage in public education. He is the co-host of the science education podcast Science Monkey and the creator of a series of online epidemiology educational videos in partnership with private industry. He also writes regularly for the lay media, including a regular blog with the Huffington Post Canada.

Dr. Deonandan is the founder and executive editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Health Sciences, a peer-reviewed science journal run by students. In 2014, he founded Intanjible Press, to provide inexpensive e-textbooks to low income learners. And in 2011, he founded the HSS Buddies Program, an initiative to reduce anxiety among new university students by connecting them with advanced students for social support in light of increasing campus emotional stress.

Learn more about Dr. Deonandan’s students and supervisory activities.

Quick links

Research interests

  • The epidemiology and ethics of international reproductive tourism
  • Social media and other non-traditional data sources in epidemiological investigation
  • Innovations in teaching medical and health sciences students locally and globally
  • Measuring the impact of science publishing through bibliometrics and altmetrics

Publications

  • Deonandan, R. "Managing COVID — now it’s up to individuals” The Ottawa Citizen, March 1, 2022
  • Deonandan, R. "Why should the vaccinated care that the unvaccinated are unvaccinated?” The Ottawa Citizen, Feb 15, 2022
  • Deonandan, R. "Here’s why aerosol transmission of COVID matters to us all.” The Ottawa Citizen, Oct 19, 2021
  • Deonandan, R. "COVID-19 — How Ontario fell into the myth of the balanced response,” The Ottawa Citizen, April 28, 2021
  • Deonandan, R. "No, you shouldn’t wait for a better vaccine,” The Ottawa Citizen, Mar 15, 2021
  • Deonandan, R. “COVID-19 is not a health crisis, it is a health systems crisis“, The Toronto Star, April 7, 2020
  • Deonandan R. Thoughts on the ethics of gestational surrogacy: perspectives from religions, Western liberalism, and comparisons with adoption. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2020 Feb;37(2):269-279. doi: 10.1007/s10815-019-01647-y. Epub 2020 Jan 2. PMID: 31897847; PMCID: PMC7056787.
  • Deonandan R, Jones S. Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Drugs for the Treatment of Retinal Conditions: A Review of the Safety [Internet]. Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2017 Feb 28. PMID: 28825785.
  • Deonandan R, Sangwa N, Kanters S, Nsanzimana S. Writing skills enhancement for public health professionals in Rwanda. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2017 Mar 31;8:253-256. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S128403. PMID: 28408856; PMCID: PMC5384692.
  • Deonandan R, Khan H. Ethics education for pediatric residents: a review of the literature. Can Med Educ J. 2015 Apr 20;6(1):e61-7. PMID: 26451231; PMCID: PMC4563622.
  • Deonandan R. Recent trends in reproductive tourism and international surrogacy: ethical considerations and challenges for policy. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2015 Aug 17;8:111-9. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S63862. PMID: 26316832; PMCID: PMC4544809.
  • Deonandan R, Green S, van Beinum A. Ethical concerns for maternal surrogacy and reproductive tourism. J Med Ethics. 2012 Dec;38(12):742-5. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2012-100551. Epub 2012 Oct 9. PMID: 23047836.
  • Deonandan RS. The mandatory census: tension between individual rights and the public good. Can J Public Health. 2011 Nov-Dec;102(6):414-6. doi: 10.1007/BF03404189. PMID: 22164548; PMCID: PMC6973742.
  • Deonandan R, Al-Sulaiti G, Gajaria A, Suh KN. Factors associated with staff and physician influenza immunization at a children's hospital in Ontario, Canada. Int J Gen Med. 2012;5:719-24. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S33362. Epub 2012 Aug 23. PMID: 22969304; PMCID: PMC3437913.
  • Deonandan R, Campbell K, Ostbye T, Tummon I, Robertson J. A comparison of methods for measuring socio-economic status by occupation or postal area. Chronic Dis Can. 2000;21(3):114-8. PMID: 11082347.