Dr. Henry Harder came to UNBC in 2001 to help create the MA in Disability Management degree. He was been in the field of vocational rehabilitation, disability management and psychology for over 20 years.
Dr. Harder’s research interests are in occupational psychology, specifically in mental health in the workplace and in aboriginal mental health, specifically suicide prevention.
He also has an interest in research ethics and is Chair of the UNBC Research Ethics Board.
1) Use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for
non-invasive, real-time monitoring of tissue metabolism.
2) Adaptability of the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal
systems to injury, disease, and exercise.
3) Roles of inflammation, oxidative stress, and ischemia
in tissue injury and repair.
My laboratory at UNBC is investigating 3 questions that
arose from my experience, above.
1) How can we use NIRS to measure injury, exercise, and
repair processes in the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems?
2) What is the role of growth factors in bone and
vasculature in the development of jaw bone necrosis as a long-term consequence
of bisphosphonate medications combined with oral trauma?
3) How do neuromuscular and musculoskeletal tissues
respond to surgery-associated ischemia and oxidative stress, and how can we
promote their recovery from these events?
Dr. Josée Lavoie became a faculty member at the University of Northern British Columbia in July 2006. Prior to pursuing an academic career, she spent 10 years working for indigenous controlled primary health care services in Nunavut and northern Saskatchewan. Broadly speaking, her research interests lie with the engagement of the non-government and indigenous sectors in health care delivery, health care policy and financing, and in primary health care delivery, health care policy and financing, and in health care planning and implementation challenges in remote environments.
Dr. Lavoie maintains an active research program in British Columbia, Manitoba and in Australia (Flinders University and the George institute in Alice Springs) and New Zealand.
She leads the international Contracting at the Margins Research Group, a group of scholars and trainees interesting in contracting practices with the NGO sector involved in the delivery of primary healthcare services. [link to report]
Dr. Lavoie retains an affiliation with the University of Manitoba Centre for Aboriginal Health Research and a Faculty Appointment with the Department of Community Health Sciences. She is also affiliated with the UBC Centre for Health Sciences and Policy Research.
Martha MacLeod - Professor
PhD (Edinburgh) MA BA (Toronto) RN
Dr. Martha MacLeod comes from a professional and practice background in nursing management and continuing education. She has been at UNBC since 1994, and is professor in both the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences.
She is currently the Chair of the School of Nursing and Coordinator of Nursing Graduate Studies and Research. Martha teaches in the areas of leadership, qualitative research, knowledge development and moving knowledge into practice.
Dr. MacLeod leads the Rural and Northern Practice Research Team, and her research, broadly speaking, takes a qualitative approach to examining health services and health human resources. Specifically, she studies the nature of everyday experience and practice, and how professional practice may be developed or hindered within health care organizations, particularly those in rural, remote and northern settings. She has published and presented widely on rural and northern nursing issues, nursing practice, education, knowledge translation, and network development. Currently, Dr. MacLeod is undertaking partnered research with BC's Northern Health Authority in primary health care, and she is active in national and regional research and knowledge translation networks.
PhD (Alberta) & MA (UBC) in Educational Psychology with a Measurement and Evaluation specialty; Education Certificate - Secondary; BSc. - Chemistry (UBC).
Current research interests are focused on Rasch and Classical analyses of Curriculum Based Measurement systems.
Dr. MacMillan's teaching areas include univariate, and multivariate statistics, numeracy, and measurement. He has a record of research and service involvement with school district(s) since his arrival at UNBC. Prior to UNBC, he taught science and mathematics in rural secondary schools for 17 years, all the while maintaining active involvement with Ministry of Education and the BC Teachers Federation.
Margot Parkes - Assistant Professor
Canada Research Chair in Health, Ecosystems, and Society
Dr. Margot Parkes came to UNBC in October 2009 from UBC where she was with the Department of Family Practice and College of Health Disciplines. Her past work includes studying watersheds and health in New Zealand, Ecuador, and Hawaii and investigating how the management of droughts, floods, biodiversity, and contamination has influenced health.
Dr. Parkes comes to northern BC to examine the effect of changing ecosystems of the health and well-being of communities, with a focus on water as a common resource for livelihoods, food security, culture, and economies.
Dr. Ken Prkachin's research deals with health psychology, clinical psychology, pain expression, and the biobehavioural determinants of heart disease. Dr. Prkachin also directs the activities of the Psychophysiology Laboratory.
Dr. David Snadden was appointed to lead the development of the Northern Medical Program at UNBC in the Summer of 2003. He has been involved in all aspects of the expansion of medical education in BC. He is part of the MD undergraduate Associate Dean's group at UBC and works with UBC on all aspects of MD undergraduate education from admissions, curriculum development and assessment to clinical education. His current areas of research interest are in the areas of student selection for northern and rural practice and the impact of new rural medical programs on their communities. He is a published author in medical education and in the areas of patient medicine taking.
An avid mountaineer, biker and skier, Dr. Snadden and his wife really enjoy living in Prince George and exploring the northern BC's vast wilderness and recreational opportunities.
Anne Sommerfeld began her career in nursing after graduating with an Honours Bachelor Science in Nursing at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Her nursing career included rotations in pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiac telemetry, palliative care, general medicine and emergency room in Fergus and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Completing her Master’s of Science in Community Health Science in 2012 has been her latest goal. She volunteers in the community with youth and enjoys gardening.
Dr. Mamdouh Shubair is a population and public health epidemiologist. Dr. Shubair started his faculty appointment in the Health Sciences Programs at UNBC in January 2009. He came from McMaster University where he was teaching at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. At UNBC, Dr. Shubair's research and teaching interests are focused around chronic disease epidemiology, particularly obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Rural/Remote and Aboriginal populations. He is also interested in Disability Management issues where he supervises graduate students in the Disability Management (DISM) program.
Dr. Shannon Wagner is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences as well as a registered psychologist working in private practice. Her research focus is occupational mental health, especially as it relates to disability management, occupational stress, trauma and family-work interface. She has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and chapters on occupational mental health and continues to work actively on her chosen program of research.
Dr. Wagner’s teaching interests are focused on topics of occupational health and safety, disability management, psychological assessment and methodology (e.g., statistics and epidemiology). She also maintains active service commitments via her long-term appointment to University Senate, ongoing participation in peer-review activities, executive membership to the Human Early Learning Partnership and other similar activities.
In addition to her research, teaching and service, Dr. Wagner maintains a small clinical practice. Her practice provides general psychological assessment for both children and adults and provides specific local expertise for issues of occupational mental health, especially workplace related traumatic stress.
Staff in the Health Sciences Programs:
Irma Watt
Administrative Assistant, Health Sciences Programs
Irma Watt originally hails from Finland and is quite comfortable with our northern climate. She has worked at UNBC since 1995 in a variety of roles. Currently she supports all four programs within the School of Health Sciences, and in particular the graduate programs.
Shauna Stanyer is the Instructional Designer for the on-line courses in the School of Health Sciences. She also supports distance students in the Disability Management program from all over Canada and beyond.
Her interests and expertise include web design, photography, social media and educational technology tools. Prior to this position she has worked in other UNBC departments including the Geoffrey R. Weller Library, Finance, and the Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology.
R. Luke W. Harris
Josée Lavoie
