Dr. Margot Parkes

Canada Research Chair in Health, Ecosystems, and Society

Dr. Margot Parkes is a Canada Research Chair in Health, Ecosystems, and Society and an Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). Margot’s work probes our understanding of the environment as a context for health, and seeks to integrate social and ecological determinants of health. Her work brings together organizations, communities, and researchers to focus on watersheds as settings for health, and to design education, research and governance options that foreground the relationships among health, social equity, and ecosystem sustainability. Margot’s past work as a medical doctor and subsequent training in human ecology and public health have also fuelled innovative teaching and leadership roles in the field of ecohealth. Dr. Parkes moved to Northern BC in 2009, where she has had the opportunity to work with a variety of groups who share the converging goals of “healthy people, living in healthy communities and healthy environments.”