ABOUT
Leah is a PhD student, health services researcher, freelancer and community organizer. Her research focuses on sexual health and health services.
She started her work in Ottawa before expanding to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Since then she’s worked internationally with health authorities, magazines, newsrooms and universities.
Leah has been commended for her “breadth of work and community, making her a change-maker in introducing folks to the interdisciplinary nature of geography and the opportunities for community-building within it”.
WHAT DOES SHE DO IN ACADEMIA?
Leah collaborates in research with Fraser Health Authority, BC, on older adults and sexual health, especially in Long-Term Care and Assisted Living. With a particular skill in community engagement, she works with stakeholder groups across the healthcare sector. Her past research at York University in Toronto focused on queer youth’s sexual wellbeing, identity and privacy, which was awarded a SSHRC CGS-M, the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Graduate Research Award and the Dr. Eric Jackman Health Scholars Award. Her research at Carleton University looked at intersections between gender identity and environmental attitudes.
She’s spoken at international conferences and events. She has sat on numerous academic committees for research, global affairs, and feminist mobilizing. She is also on the Executive Committee for the Canadian Association of Geographers working group, Feminist Intersectional Solidarity Group (FIGS). She has been a Teaching Assistant throughout her BJ, MA, and PhD, a Peer Mentor, and established York University’s first Graduate Geography Peer Mentoring program. She is also trained and certified as a Research Meets Policy Fellow.
WHAT ABOUT IN INDUSTRY?
Leah has freelanced since the age of 18, working with universities, nonprofits, communication departments, magazines and local newsrooms. She’s worked as a Donor Outreach Campaigner for the NDP, a Resource Development Coordinator and Board Member for PLEDJ, a non-profit dedicated to developing leadership amongst marginalized communities in Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
WHY WORK WITH HER?
Through study, research, non-profit work and volunteering, Leah builds resilience and empowers communities, especially that of marginalized groups, like young women, older women, and LGBTQ folx.
Her research has centered around community-based participatory research with young people and her work has focused on empowering, organizing, and mobilizing communities internationally, in collaboration with policy-makers, academics, and activists. She has designed community organization models, programs, and research projects.
Her community-based approach to work, school and life is founded on a commitment to a feminist ethic of care.