Food for Thought: Public Participation in Public Health Decision-Making
A panel discussion with collaborators of the ISSP project @Risk: Trust & Expertise in Risk Decision-Making
Jan 25, 2024 — 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
On Thursday, January 25th, 2024, the Institute for Science, Society and Public Policy (ISSP) hosted a Food for Thought discussion featuring ISSP director Dr. Monica Gattinger with Dr. Michelle Driedger and Dr. Stuart Nicholls, authors and collaborators of the @Risk Research Project, on the topic of Public Participation in Public Health Decision-Making. The panelists discussed the strengths and limitations of public involvement in three areas: screening for breast and prostate cancer, newborn bloodspot screening and decision-making for COVID vaccine priority groups.
About the Event
This panel featured findings from a new open-access edited volume, Democratizing Risk Governance: Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values, which grapples with democratizing risk governance in a variety of policy areas. The book is the culmination of a multiyear study bringing together close to thirty established and emerging risk scholars and practitioners who co-produced research and recommendations. This panel focused on chapters examining public participation in a variety of areas of public health (cancer screening, newborn bloodspot screening and COVID vaccine priority groups).
Learn more about @Risk: Trust & Expertise in Risk Decision-Making.
Dr. Monica Gattinger
Moderator
Director of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy, Professor at the School of Political Studies and Founder/Chair of Positive Energy, University of Ottawa
Dr. Gattinger is an award-winning researcher and highly sought-after speaker, strategic adviser and media commentator in the energy and arts/cultural policy sectors. Her innovative research programme convenes business, government, Indigenous, civil society and academic leaders to address complex policy, regulatory and governance challenges. Gattinger is Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, board member of the Clean Resource Innovation Network, and serves on advisory committees for the National Research Council Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, the Ontario Energy Board, the Ottawa Science Policy Network, the University of Calgary and Women in Nuclear Canada. She Chairs the Council of Canadian Academies’ expert panel on International Science and Technology Partnerships and is a member of the Government of Ontario’s Electrification and Energy Transition Panel. Monica is a columnist for JWN Energy’s Daily Oil Bulletin and she received the 2020 Clean50 Award for her thought leadership in the energy sector. She holds a PhD in public policy from Carleton University.
Dr. Michelle Driedger
Panelist
Professor and Department Head, Max Rady College of Medicine, Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
S. Michelle Driedger, PhD, is a Professor and Department Head in Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in the Social Sciences and Humanities Academy, and a former Tier II Canada Research Chair in Health Risk Communication. She is also a proud Red River Métis citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Although her career path has been fairly traditional from undergraduate to graduate degrees, her journey has been one of curiosity and passion shaped by several experiences. A geographer by training and background, her research questions have often focused on the intersections between people, structures and environment. She started her career at the University of Ottawa, Department of Geography (2002-2005) before being recruited to the University of Manitoba. Her return home to Winnipeg, provided opportunities to develop strong partnerships and relationships with the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) Health and Wellness Department. Her program of research carries a dual trajectory of examining a variety of topics in public health and primary care, through the lens of Manitoba Métis and general population Canadians.
Dr. Stuart Nicholls
Panelist
OMC SPOR Program Facilitator, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Dr. Stuart Nicholls is the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Program Facilitator in the Office for Patient Engagement in Research Activities (OPERA) at the Ottawa Methods Centre. In his capacity as SPOR Program facilitator Stuart consults with researchers to provide methodological guidance regarding all aspects of Patient-Oriented Research. In addition, Dr. Nicholls provides training and education on patient engagement in research and actively contributes to research in this field. Dr. Nicholls obtained his PhD in Social Statistics (Lancaster University, UK), and has an MRes in Social Statistics, an MSc in Healthcare Ethics, and a BSc (Hons) in Genetics. He has over 15 years of health research experience, publishing over 60 peer reviewed articles on topics including public attitudes to population screening, stakeholder perspectives on the ethical challenges in pragmatic clinical trials, and the development of core outcome sets. Dr. Nicholls was a member of the Canadian Clinical Trials Coordinating Centre (CCTCC)/Health Canada working group on developing a pan-Canadian accreditation system for Research Ethics Boards reviewing clinical trials. He is also a member of the Health Canada/Public Health Agency of Canada Research Ethics Board. Prior to his present post he was a Methodologist within the Clinical Research Unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute and completed a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa.