Charlotte Waddell
- Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences
- Director, Children's Health Policy Centre
- CRC Tier 2
Email: charlotte_waddell@sfu.ca
Tel: 778-782-7775
Office: Harbour Centre
Education
- BSc, Biology, University of British Columbia
- MSc, Human Nutrition, University of British Columbia
- MD, McMaster University
- CCFP, Family Medicine, McMaster University
- FRCPC, Child Psychiatry, McMaster University
- Postdoctoral fellowship in children’s mental health policy, Offord Centre for Child Studies and the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University
- Canada Research Chair in Children's Health Policy
Biography
A child psychiatrist with longstanding interests in health policy and population and public health, Charlotte was born in Korea and raised in Manitoba, England, Ontario and BC. She completed a BSc in biology at UBC in 1978, followed by an MSc in human nutrition at UBC in 1981. She conducted her master’s thesis research in Brazil, studying the effects of malnutrition on children of migrant farm workers. Charlotte then joined Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Service, consulting with aboriginal communities and organizations across BC on public health nutrition programs, then on training programs to support First Nations to assume autonomy for their health and healthcare. In 1988, Charlotte went on to McMaster University where she obtained her MD. After residencies in family medicine (CCFP) and psychiatry (FRCPC), she completed a research fellowship in children’s mental health policy with McMaster’s Offord Centre for Child Studies and Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis. She joined the Offord Centre as Assistant Professor in 1998. In 2000, Charlotte then returned to BC to develop a children’s mental health policy research program at UBC, supported in part by a unique long-term research-policy partnership with the BC government. This research program continues to grow at the Children’s Health Policy Centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU, where Charlotte was appointed Associate Professor in 2006.
For more information please see www.childhealthpolicy.sfu.ca.
Research Interests
Charlotte’s research addresses mental health disparities, starting in childhood, by improving the connections between research and policy. She both studies the policy process and conducts research to inform policy-making: addressing the determinants of health; preventing problems in children at risk; promoting effective services; and monitoring our collective progress towards improving the mental health of all children. Charlotte’s work was recently acknowledged with a Canada Research Chair in children’s health policy.
Teaching Interests
Committed to problem-based learning, Charlotte teaches in health policy and children’s mental health in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She also continues to provide clinical care to children involved with the child protection and youth justice systems. In her capacity as a child psychiatrist, she has frequently advocated for disadvantaged children with public policy organizations and the courts. It is working with these children that ultimately informs and inspires Charlotte’s research and teaching in health policy and children’s mental health.
