Butler | Public Health Sciences | School of Medicine

Dr. Lisa Butler PhD, MPH, PhD

Position(s)

Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity

Contact Info

lisa.butler@queensu.ca

613-533-6000 x79643

About

Lisa M. Butler, PhD, MPH, PhD is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity at Queen's University. She is a behavioural scientist and epidemiologist whose research examines the factors that shape health, wellbeing and human development, particularly among children, young people and populations experiencing social and structural disadvantage. Her work has addressed HIV prevention and treatment, HIV- and HPV-associated cancers, food security, child nutrition and development across sub-Saharan Africa, alongside global programme evaluation and research capacity strengthening. She has also evaluated HIV-sensitive social protection programmes and studied exemplary responses to HIV prevention and treatment internationally. Her methodological expertise centres on intervention design and trial testing, complemented by implementation science, design thinking, programme evaluation, and participatory and visual elicitation methods such as photovoice.

Her current research focuses increasingly on the structural, social and environmental determinants of health, including climate change, urban planning, the built environment, and the ways that place, land and connection to the natural world influence health and wellbeing across the life course. Drawing on her early training in education and child development, she is also developing work at the intersection of place, early learning and K-12 education.

Across these areas, Butler is interested in transdisciplinary approaches that bring scientists, designers, artists, policymakers and communities into shared inquiry. A particular focus is the use of storytelling, film, photography, immersive media and other creative practices to generate, interpret and communicate evidence about global development, planetary health and human wellbeing. Her work is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those concerned with health and wellbeing, inequality, sustainable communities, climate action and strong institutions. She welcomes collaborations that bridge rigorous science, implementation and evaluation with creative practice and public engagement.

Education

PhD, Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley (2009)

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Traineeship in AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco (2002–2005)

MPH, Epidemiology & Biostatistics; Health & Social Behavior, University of California, Berkeley (2002)

PhD, Education, University of California, Los Angeles (2000)

MA, Education, University of California, Los Angeles (1999)

BA, Psychology and Development Studies, Smith College (1992)

Courses (2026-2027)

EPID 806               Applied Research Methods for Program Planning and Evaluation

EPID 829               Foundations of Global Health

EPID 499               Undergraduate Research Project in Epidemiology

LISC 594/595       Undergraduate Independent Project Course

MEDS 232            Critical Enquiry tutor for second-year medical students

Team