BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Nancy Young is a full Professor in the School of Rural and Northern Health at Laurentian University and holds a Research Chair in Rural and Northern Children's Health. In addition to her primary appointment, she is an Adjunct Scientist at SickKids and ICES. Dr. Young is Clinician Scientist: licensed Physiotherapist and Clinical Epidemiologist. Her research focused on the development, evaluation and application of children’s health related quality of life questionnaires. Since health and quality of life are specific to the perspective of the reporter, child-centric methods are of critical importance to her research. Many of these questionnaires have been adopted internationally. Her work ensures that children’s voices contribute to scientifically rigorous health research. Her research at ICES completes the picture of health by layering on information related to health services utilization. Dr. Young’s current program of research focuses on Aboriginal children. She has developed strong collaborative research with Aboriginal communities in Canada, and is working to implement culturally relevant measures that will inform the planning and evaluation of local programming on-reserve. A primary example is the development of the Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-being Measure. She is also a leader within the Laurentian University research community where she formed the ECHO Research Centre (Evaluating Children’s Health Outcomes) in 2012. This centre brings together child health research experts from Laurentian University and beyond. She is primary supervisor to a cadre of Masters and PhD students. Training the next generation of HQP is essential to her mandate. This is particularly critical in rural and northern communities, where health inequities are apparent.