Western Hemisphere profiles

May 2012 (update)- Candace Nykiforuk, Assistant Professor, Centre for Health Promotion Studies (CHPS), School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB Canada. Candace’s research focuses on investigating "context" in chronic disease prevention, with a particular interest in the role of place on the development and success of community interventions and policy changes to support health.

Candace Nykiforuk was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After being bit by the geography bug in an introductory human geography course as part of her undergraduate anthropology degree, she switched her major and went on to complete a BA in geography (University of Alberta, 1997). She then earned an MA in Recreation and Leisure Studies (University of Waterloo, 1999) and a PhD in Health Studies and Gerontology (University of Waterloo, 2004), where she used quantitative modeling and GIS to explore relationships between municipal tobacco bylaws and community characteristics. Following her interests in health geography, policy, and chronic disease prevention, she then undertook a post-doctoral fellowship in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences, McMaster University.

Candace has been in her position at CHPS since 2006. Her research program, entitled “Policy, Location and Access in Community Environments (PLACE)”, consists of three primary areas of investigation: (1) policy interventions for chronic disease prevention, as policy shapes how people behave in particular settings (e.g., neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, communities); (2) community-based studies of opportunities for and barriers to healthy choices in the environment; and (3) healthy aging-in-place in Canadian communities. These are all applied research areas that emphasize capacity-building and knowledge exchange with project partners.

Candace may be contacted at candace.nykiforuk@ualberta.ca and her research profile can be viewed at: http://www.publichealth.ualberta.ca/en/research/researchers_supersivors/faculty/nykiforuk.aspx