Jenna van Draanen PhD, MPH
The aim my research is to improve science and address health disparities through the rigorous evaluation of interventions and their methods of implementation. My research agenda advances scientific understanding of the social forces influencing mental health and substance use disorders, and I do this through a focus on the harms of socioeconomic marginalization and childhood adversity and in a way that includes the perspectives of people with lived experience. I approach my research with a life course perspective that ensures phenomena like childhood adversity are properly contextualized and situated with an understanding of the way adversities build over time and across generations, through the concept of linked lives. While my primary appointment is in the School of Nursing, I am an interdisciplinary researcher at heart, coming to the UW from a postdoctoral fellowship in Sociology at the University of British Columbia (in Vancouver, Canada), and holding a PhD in Community Health Sciences from UCLA.
Education:
University of British Columbia, Department of Sociology, 2017-2020, Postdoctoral Fellowship
University of California Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, 2013-2017, PhD
University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, 2009-2011, MPH
University of Waterloo, School of Public Health and Health Systems, 2004-2009, BSc
Awards, accolades and distinguished memberships: APHA Mental Health Section Lutterman Award, 2017
What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?
I love how open, welcoming, and supportive everyone is. I am inspired by the SON’s commitments to value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity and justice.
Department
Child, Family, and Population Health NursingResearch Areas
- Innovative Interventions
- Health Equity
- Lifespan Health