Mathieu Poirier, assistant professor of social epidemiology in York University’s Faculty of Health, will serve as the new associate director at the Global Strategy Lab where he previously worked as an investigator and research director of global legal epidemiology.
The Global Strategy Lab is a bi-campus interdisciplinary research lab that brings cutting-edge science and scholarship to bear on three research programs in global antimicrobial resistance, global legal epidemiology, and public health institutions. Directed by York University Professor Steven J. Hoffman and based at York University and the University of Ottawa, the lab advises governments and public health organizations on how to design laws, policies and institutions that make the world a healthier place for everyone.
“The Global Strategy Lab is a highly productive and dynamic interdisciplinary lab, and I’m honoured to be taking on a leadership role in ensuring that it continues to produce world-leading research to create better policies and a healthier world,” said Poirier.
Poirier joined York in 2019 in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science as an assistant professor and is also a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaboration Centre on the Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. His research ranges from evaluating the impact of international laws to developing health equity metrics and generating policy-relevant research on socially and politically determined inequities in health.
“The Global Strategy Lab is a highly productive and dynamic interdisciplinary lab, and I’m honoured to be taking on a leadership role in ensuring that it continues to produce world-leading research to create better policies and a healthier world.”
Mathieu Poirier
He received his PhD in health policy from McMaster University, where his research focused on applying innovative health equity metrics across national boundaries to uncover transnational gradients of health, as well as examining the impact of health policy on these socially and politically determined inequities.
His recent work at GSL has focused on evaluating the impact of the Framework Convention on Tobacco, which will continue to expand with a policy analysis of European tobacco control and a quantitative evaluation of gender-specific patterns of global cigarette consumption. His work also extends to comparative policy analysis, infectious disease epidemiology, and global legal epidemiology.
“Dr. Poirier is a brilliant thinker and leader whose research is already changing the way people think about improving global health equity,” said Hoffman. “His leadership at the Global Strategy Lab will support the continued growth of our research programs and will help us achieve even greater policy impacts for those who need change the most.”
In September, Poirier was recognized with Faculty of Health’s Dean’s Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership, Pedagogical and/or Curricular Innovation. He was highlighted as an “innovative educator” and a leader in internationalizing pedagogical approaches to experiential learning. He is noted as a York leader in the Globally Networked Learning Environment (GNLE) partnership with universities in Germany, Romania, and Kenya, and as a founding member of the Grounded Project.
For more on the GSL, visit the website.