Under the overall supervision of Professor Mark Rosenberg, Canada Research Chair in Development Studies, Master’s, Doctoral and Post-doctoral Students are welcome to join the GAPLab. The students are working under the direct supervision of Professor Rosenberg and/or their research focuses on some aspect of aging and/or access to health and social services.

Current Graduate Students and Postgraduate Members

Master’s Candidates

[Shyra Barberstock]

Shyra Barberstock

PhD Candidate

As an Anishinaabe (Indigenous) Master’s student and entrepreneur, I am interested in exploring the roles that Indigenous social enterprise and Social Innovation can play in decolonization and reconciliation in Canada.

Since launching my company in 2013, I have met several successful Indigenous entrepreneurs that have contributed to decolonization and reconciliation through their Indigenous-inspired products and services that are aimed at educating the public about Indigenous culture.

To date, much of the literature has focused on Aboriginal Economic Development (AED) and negative stories associated with business relations in Indigenous communities (e.g., pollution and contamination due to resource extraction).

My aim is to tell ‘another story’ about Indigenous entrepreneurs who are helping to change the cultural landscape through their ability to be social innovators and progressive thought leaders through entrepreneurship.

[Nicole Haywook]

Nicole Haywook

M.A. Candidate, co-supervised by Dr. Kristan Aronson

PhD Candidates

[Janette Leroux]

Janette Leroux

Ph.D. Candidate, co-supervised by Dr. Michael Tschakovsky

People with inadequate income are unable to secure food without compromising other basic needs (e.g., housing). In Canada, older people are least likely to experience food insecurity, largely due to federal income supports. However, these benefits are under constant threat, and food security among older adults is largely unexplored.

The aim of my research is to examine the nature and extent of food security among older people in Canada. I will draw on data from the Canadian Community Health Survey to quantitatively explore social and geographic factors that lead to differences in food security within this population.

These findings are intended to contribute to policies and programs that support equitable opportunities for healthy aging into the later years.

Postdoctoral Fellows

[Vincent Kuuire]

Vincent Kuuire

SSHRC Post-doctoral Fellow 2015-2016

Broadly, my research interests straddle two fields in human geography —

  1. urban geography
  2. health geography.

Within urban geography, I am interested in housing and settlement patterns of immigrants within cities. Housing consumption choices and settlement patterns in cities are intricately linked to several outcomes including health and wellbeing, educational attainment, political/community participation, and labour market engagement among others.

Among immigrants, these outcomes to a large extent symbolise successful integration into the new society. The aim of this research is to further the understanding of immigrant integration by examining the impact of transnational behaviours on housing consumption.

Within health geography, I have interests in healthcare access inequalities and emerging health conundrums in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). My research on healthcare access examines the extent to which the recent introduction of a pro-poor national health insurance scheme in Ghana has succeeded in bridging the health care access gap between the rich and poor.

My interest in emerging health challenges focus on aging and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Ghana. Aging trends and projections in Africa suggest that starting from the next decade the continent will be home to an increasing number of older people — numbers that have never been observed on the continent.

These changes will have profound effects on several areas of research including healthcare systems, urban planning and transportation, and labour market strategies among others. My research in this area focuses on the increasing importance of NCDs as cause of morbidity and mortality in a context where infectious diseases still have an influence on population health (i.e. the double burden of disease).

Past Graduates

Year Student Name Degree Thesis Title
2021 Joseph Braimah Ph.D. An examination of the lived experiences of older people in Ghana
  Danielle Gionnas M.A. Is Service Provision Always Equitable? Analyzing Access to Dental Services and Oral Health of Older Adults in Ontario
2020 Xiaojun Deng Ph.D. The Healthy Immigrant Effect on Older Chinese immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area
  Kyle Plumb Ph.D. Placing Person-Centred Care
  Curtis Towle M.A. An Exploratory Analysis of Access to Specialist Dermatological Care in Ontario
2019 Prince Amegbor Ph.D. Uncharted Paths: The Use of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) among Sub-Saharan Africans living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
2018 Nicole Raymer M.A. Can Rural Communities Support Aging Populations? A Case Study in South Frontenace Township, Ontario, Canada
  Breah Talan M.A. Access and Wait Times: A Geographic Exploration of Diagnostic Imaging in Ontario
2017 Shyra Barberstock M.A. "A New Way Forward": Reconciliation through Indigenous Social Innovation
  Stephanie Coen Ph.D. A critical geography of physical activity: Investigating the role of gender in gym environments
  Mengqi Yang Ph.D. Health inequalities of older people in China
2016 Rajendra Subedi Ph.D. Healthy Immigrants? Healthy Workers? High-Skilled Immigrants Working in Low-Skilled Jobs in Ottawa, Canada
2015 Jie Yu Ph.D. Old age, place and care: The experiences of aging in place in Beijing, China
  Rachel Herron Ph.D. Caring places for dementia: examining the continuum of care in rural and small town Ontario
  Gurveer Bains M.A. Mixing health and geography: A study of risks associated with cardiovascular disease for the Punjabi Sikh population in the Regional Municipality of Peel
2014 Janette Brual Ph.D. Later-life Filipino immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area: A case study of health status and utilization of services
  Natalia Harhaj M.A. "They come here because it's a place of refuge": Residential care facilities with cultural affiliations
2013 Natalie Waldbrook Ph.D. Homelessness, stable housing, and opportunities for healthy aging exploring the relationships
  Keltie Gale M.A. Aging, deprivation, and health: A "triple jeopardy" faced by the older population
  Candice Christmas M.A. Disentangling the effects of material and social deprivation on early childhood development in the KFL&A Public health planning area
2012 Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz Ph.D. Experiences of young adults with intellectual disabilities in small town and rural Ontari
2011 Jie Yu M.A. Home care utilization patterns among the elderly population: A case study of Ontario, Canada
2010 Katya Herman Ph.D. The burden of obesity and physical inactivity across the lifespan, with a focus on health-related quality of life
  Yang Cheng Ph.D. Residential care for elderly people in Beijing, China: A study of the relationship between health and place
2009 Catherine Fraser M.A. Physician-community integration: A case study of practitioner experiences and retention challenges on British Columbia's Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands
  Jennifer Bridgen M.A. Seniors as volunteers at the Kingston Region - Seniors Association
2008 Afshin Vafaei M.A. Relationships between income inequality and health: An ecological Canadian study
2007 Sarah Lovell Ph.D. Engaging communities in health geography? Assessing the strategy of community-based participatory research
2006 Alison Coyle M.A. Planning for long-term care: A qualitative study of the past, present and future of long-term care in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Area
  Jennifer Goy M.A. Health risk behaviours: Explaining social inequalities in bladder, colon and rectal cancers and stillbirth outcomes
2005 Mark Skinner Ph.D. Voluntarism and long-term care in the countryside: Exploring the implications of health care restructuring for voluntary sector providers in rural Ontario (1995-2003)
  Nicole Yantzi Ph.D. Balancing and negotiating the home as a place of caring: The experiences of families caring for children with long-term care needs
2003 Janice Harper M.Sc.  
  Michael Kolba M.A. The migration preferences of nursing students preparing to enter the healthcare workforce and the registered nursing shortage in Ontario, Canada
2002 Kristin Dall M.A. Privatization of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) services: A study of general practitioner attitudes in Southeastern Ontario
2001 Janine Wiles Ph.D. Performative production of homes as places for care: Narrative experiences of people caring informally for seniors in Kingston, Ontario, Canada
2000 Marnie Lindsey M.A.  
1999 Margaret Moores M.A. The local state and voluntary sector in transition: Municipal reorganization and the future of community-service nonprofit organizations
  Natsuko Chubachi M.A. Geographies of Nisei Japanese Canadians and their attitudes towards elderly long-term care
1998 Neil Hanlon Ph.D. Administering the trim line: Restructuring in three Ontario hospital settings
  Nicole Yantzi M.A. The critical role of distance on the subjective and objective impacts of families caring for a child with a chronic condition
  Michael McDermott M.A. Reasonable access? The geographic distribution of physician resources in Ontario, Canada, 1993
1996 Paula Saunders M.A. Linking northern native communities and economic development: Assessing the role of air transportation
  Heather McNiven M.A. ​Counselling services for teens: A geographic study of access in Frontenac County, Ontario
1995 Stephen Jackson M.A. A geographical study of the utilization of home care nursing services in Frontenac, Lennox and Addington counties in 1993
1994 Amanda James Ph.D. Aging in urban and rural areas: Where are the differences? A study of health care utilization by the elderly population of Eastern Ontario
  Neil Hanlon M.A. Geographical perspectives on the links between social support networks and health care utilization among the elderly population of Ontario
1993 Greg Halseth Ph.D. Communities within communities: Local residential change and conflict in the rural-recreational countryside
1992 Michael Butler M.A. A geographic analysis of Parkinson's disease in Southeastern Ontario
  Nancy Ross M.A. Women's access to health care: A case study of the Ontario Breast Screening Program, Kingston, Ontario
1990 Dan Buchanan M.A.  
1989 Greg Halseth M.A. The conversion of summer homes to permanent residences and its impact on local government provision of services
1988 Henry Kus M.A. Housing and mobility of elderly women: Characteristics and expectations of elderly women living alone in the City of Kingston, Ontario
1985 Andrea Young M.A. Organizational change and economic development in rural Newfoundland
  Michael Neals M.A. Housing in Canada : An analysis of interurban variation in the concentration of Canadian Home Ownership Stimulation plan grants
1984 Richard Vincent M.A. Duty-free zones: The reality and the promise
  William Osei M.A. Forest conservation in Ghana

Students