Dr. Jennifer McWhirter, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Public Health Promotion and Communication in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph, the Co-coordinator of the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, and the Director of the Health by Design Lab. Her applied public health research focuses on the design and assessment of health information and built environments, and the systems that shape them, to promote health and well-being at the population level. Current research topics include: public health competencies; climate, health, and environmental design; cancer prevention; risk communication; and AI and public health. She completed her PhD with a focus on health communication in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo and has cross-training in Landscape Design from the University of Guelph and New York Botanical Gardens.
As a Principal Investigator and applied public health scientist, Dr. McWhirter’s research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and more.
Dr. McWhirter is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Core Competencies for Public Health and sits on the Prevention System Quality Index Expert Panel for Ontario Health. She’s been recognized by Health Promotion Canada with a Rising Star Award.