Katrina Plamondon, PhD

(She, Her, Hers)

Associate Professor

Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Health and Social Development, Indigenous Knowledges, School of Nursing

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1000-1400 Pacific Time
Email: katrina.plamondon@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Connecting knowledge with action for equity; global public health; equity science; critical pedagogy; methods for relational, responsive research; methodologies include engaged/co-production approaches, dialogic methods, arts-informed approaches, narrative inquiry, critical discourse and policy analysis

Courses & Teaching

KTEA Knowledge to Equity Action Professional Development Course (Winter 2024)
Deliberative Dialogue Methods (Winter 2024; Spring 2025)
HINT 429/529 Advance Global Health (Fall 2024)
NURS 4429 Advanced Global Health Practice (Fall 2023)
HEAL 307 (Winter 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
CCGHR Knowledge Translation Summer Course (Summer 2020, 2021)

Biography

Dr. Katrina Plamondon (she/her) is an Associate Professor, Michael Smith Health Research BC scholar, and co-director of the Equity Science Lab in the Faculty of Health & Social Development at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Syilx People. A woman of Cree and Irish and German-Jewish-French settler ancestry, and Registered Nurse with 20 years of practice and health systems leadership, she is an equity scholar grounded in critical anti-oppressive pedagogy and relational approaches. In Canada and internationally, she plays a leadership role in promoting health by advancing equity. Her program of research aims to overcome inertia in reducing health inequities and promote equity across social ecosystems through coherent, planned action. The Equity Science Lab is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves to live with dignity, across all social and geographic locations. Her work is intentionally relational and service-orientated, aiming to cultivate a supportive and collaborative learning environment focused on leveraging resources and evidence to spark equitable futures. She leads local, national, and international dialogues about equity, with a special focus on  Canada’s role in global health and issues of issues of vaccine equity, planetary health, and health research systems. Dr. Plamondon sits on Canada’s National Scientific Advisory Committee on Global Health.

Degrees

PhD University of British Columbia
MSc University of Saskatchewan
BN University of Calgary

Research Interests & Projects

BRIDGE Dialogue Platform (NPI; 2024-2028): Funded by the Canada Biomedical Research Fund, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and BC Knowledge Development Fund (through the Bridge Research Consortium, and Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Bio-manufacturing Hub led by UBC), this complementary, responsive thread of support ignites consensus-building dialogue research and knowledge mobilization supports to convene people affected by or connected to priorities within the nexus of science (including emergent therapeutics, such as the use of mRNA technology in vaccines), knowledge mobilization, civic engagement, accessibility, and acceptability in Canada. Through this platform, we also offer dialogue-based professional development opportunities, particularly those in the life and engineering sciences, regulators, and industry partners, with support and tools for integrating evidence-informed equity principles and practices in their efforts.

OPEN (Operationalizing Equity iN) Canada’s Global Health Research Ecosystem (NPI; 2024-2027): Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, this project examines how actors working across Canada’s global health research ecosystem understand and operationalize their commitments to equity and evaluates an intervention to promote evidence-informed equity practices. This national project is a learning-intervention, using critically reflective dialogue to developing and testing tools to evaluate the equity impacts of capacity-building interventions designed to strengthen capability to connect knowledge with planned equity action. 

SOLVE (Solutions for Vaccine Equity; 2020-2023) Research Project, Learning from Vaccine Nationalism (NPI): Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, this project explores issues of ethics, governance, and obligations to equity during the pandemic. Knowledge synthesis included systematic equity-analysis of ethical frameworks and Canada’s foreign policy trajectory for vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Insights from a series of deliberative dialogue informed evidence- and equity-informed interventions at the World Health Organization and United Nations, proposing equity-advancing policy directions for the elaboration of the Pandemic Instrument, and reimagining governance during times of global health crisis. Publications for this work are remain in progress (2025-2025). 

Advancing Health Equity Action (PI; 2020-2025): This Michael Smith Health Research Scholar Award encompasses a broad program of research that blends a number of projects together to generate evidence about how to support the integration of evidence-informed principles and strategies across research practices and policy in the field of health equity. Questions focus on understanding the determinants of knowledge use and uptake of principles and strategies for equity action.

Equity Integration in Global Health Research Funding (PI; 2020-2022): This CIHR-funded project is exploring the integration of equity considerations in global health research funding, examining both Canadian and international funders for policies and practices that can advance equity.

Experiences of Inclusion (PI; 2019-2022): As part of a larger study about methods for arriving at consensus funded through the BC SUPPORT Unit, this dialogue-based and arts-informed study brings people together to develop insights about how people experience feeling included (or not) when they are invited into decision-making or research tables, particularly because of a perspective they bring. Participants in this study self-identify as part of a group that experiences historical and systemic exclusion or -isms.

Community-Led Action Important for Resiliency in Youth (CLARITY) (co-PI; 2018-ongoing): This community-led and youth-engaged study brings people together to explore what community-based factors contribute to creating environments that support youth in their paths toward resiliency. In 2022, CLARITY work focuses on knowledge dissemination, bringing community together in conversation about community-driven resilience. Funding for CLARITY is generously offered through the KGH Foundation, Blenk Family Foundation, and SSHRC.

Pacific Northwest Health Equity Network (Neé BC Coalition Institute (co-founder, past co-Lead, currently act as host): This community of practice is working toward synergy and harmony among people interested in issues of climate, equity, and health, funded through a variety of small grants.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Knowledge Mobilization Products 

1. Plamondon, K. & Shahram, S.Z. (2024). How to equity in inviting participation. The Toolbox Series. Equity Science Lab, University of British Columbia: Syilx Territory; Kelowna, BC, Canada.
2. Plamondon, K. & Shahram S.Z. (2024). How to equity in health research co-production. The Ripple Effect Series. Equity Science Lab, University of British Columbia: Syilx Territory; Kelowna, BC, Canada.
3. Plamondon, K. & Shahram S.Z. (2024). How to equity in municipalities. The Ripple Effect Series. Equity Science Lab, University of British Columbia: Syilx Territory; Kelowna, BC, Canada.

Books & Book Chapters

1. Plamondon, K. & Cava, M. (2025). Ethical foundations of public health nursing; The history and future of public health nursing in Canada. In Public Health Nursing in Canada: A Comprehensive Perspective on Population and Community Health, Schofield, R. & Coutrney, E. (Eds). Canadian Scholars.
2. Bisung, E. & Plamondon, K. (Eds.). (2023). Equity in Global Health Research. Geographies of Health Series.Routledge. Co-author on the following chapters: Intruction (Chapter 1); Weaving ways of knowing into pathways toward equitable futures (Chapter 2); Equity-centred and relational learning (Chapter 11); Drawn Onward (Chapter 13).
3. Astle, B.A., Plamondon, K.M., & Oladunni Salami, B. (2023). Global & Planetary Health (Chapter 11). In Astle, B. & Duggleby, W. (Eds.), Potter & Perry’s Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing, Seventh Edition. North York, ON: Elsevier.

Peer-reviewed articles

1. Plamondon, K. M. & Shahram, S. Z. (2024). Defining equity, its determinants, and the foundations of equity science. Social Science & Medicine, 351, 116940. *IHSPR-CAHSPR Top Ten Article of the Year!*
2. Plamondon, K., Banner, D. … & Wick, U. (2024). Relational practices for meaningful inclusion in health research: Results of a deliberative dialogue study. Health Expectations.
3. Brisbois, B., & Plamondon, K. M. (2024). Learning from the lobster and making space for transformation in planetary health. The Lancet Planetary Health.
4. Sriram, V., Shipton, L., Smith, J. & Plamondon, K. (2024). The health and care workforce in the Pandemic Agreement: Championing equity and protecting collective capacity for future pandemics. The Lancet Global Health. 
5. Plamondon, K., Dixon, J., Bisung, E., Brisbois, B., Curty-Pereira, R., Graham, I., Elliott, S., Nixon, S., Ndube-Eyoh, S., & Shahram, S. Turning the tide on inequity through Systematic Equity Action-Analysis. BMC Public Health.
6. Larson, C.P., Plamondon, K.M., …, Gyorkos, T.W. (2022). The Equity Tool for valuing Global Health Partnerships (EQT-GHP): Mixed methods development of the tool. Global Health: Science and Practice.
7. Plamondon K., Brisbois, B., Dubent, L. & Larson, C. (2021). Assessing how global health partnerships function: An equity-informed critical interpretive synthesis. Globalization & Health. 
8. Labonté, R., Johri, M., Plamondon, K., Murthy, S. (2021). Canada, global vaccine supply, and the TRIPS waiver. Canadian Journal of Public Health (invited editorial). 
9. Plamondon, K. (2021). Equity at a time of pandemic. Health Promotion International-Special Issue on COVID-19.
10. Plamondon, K. (2020). A tool to assess alignment between knowledge and action for health equity. BMC Public Health.
11. Plamondon, K. & Bisung, E. (2019). The CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research: Centering equity in research, knowledge translation, and practice. Social Science & Medicine.
12. Plamondon, K., Bottorff, J.L., Caxaj, C.S. & Graham, I. (2018). The Integration of Evidence from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health in the field of Health Equity: A scoping review. Critical Public Health.
13. Plamondon, K. M., Bottorff, J. L., & Cole, D. C. (2015). Analyzing data generated through deliberative dialogue: Bringing knowledge translation into qualitative analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 25(11):1529-39.

Selected Grants & Awards

(2024-2027) CIHR Project Grant (Co-PIs Susan Elliott, Elijah Biasing, Élyseé Nouvet) “Advancing research excellence, building capacity, and mobilizing knowledge for equity in Canada’s global health research ecosystem”

(2022-2024) IDRC WomenRise Grant (PIs Susan Elliott, Canada; Diana Karanja, Kenya) “Women Rise Across the LifeCourse”

(2021-2022) CIHR Special COVID-19 Operating Grant “Learning from Vaccine Nationalism: Advancing ethically-coherent policy action for equitable responses to inherently global health crises”

(2021-2022) SSHRC Connection Grant “Gaining CLARITY in the prevention of youth suicide: from pilot to partnership”

(2020-2021) CIHR Project Grant “Toward Equity- and Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice in Global Health Research”

(2020-2021) UBC Aspire-2040 Learning Transformations Grant “Committing to a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion: Building a pathway towards the development of culturally competent BSN prepared nurses”

(2020-2025) MSHR Scholar Award “Advancing Health Equity Action”

(2014-2019) Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship “Knowledge Translation in Global Health”

(2019-2021)* CIHR Planning & Dissemination Grant “Scaling up Principles for Equity-Centred Global Health Research”

(2019-2021)* MSFHR C2 Grant “Setting Research Priorities for Rural Health in British Columbia”

(2018-2021)* BC SUPPORT Unit Methods Cluster Grant “KT Methods Cluster: Studying consensus methods in integrated knowledge translation to promote patient-oriented research”

(2018-2020) Canadian Partnership for Women & Children’s Health-Canadian Collaborative for Global Health Initiative “Harmonized Health Impact & Partnership Metrics to Accelerate Knowledge Sharing and Utilization”

*Timelines extended due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

Scientific Advisor, Canada’s National Scientific Advisory Committee for Global Health

Associate Editor, International Journal of Equity in Health

Network Member, Integrated Knowledge Translation Network

Media

Plamondon, K. (2023, April 6). B.C.’s investing $750 million over 3 years to set reach new mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios [Pre-recorded radio interview]. CBC BC Today, On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko.

Plamondon, K. (2023, February 4). A global pandemic treaty; communication vulnerabilities; and talking to the animals. ABC Radio National.

Plamondon, K., Valverde, M., & Elliott, S. (2022, July). Canada is foolish to snub international graduate students and scholars [Op-ed]. The Conversation.

Shahram, S., & Plamondon, K. (2022). Democracy is a team sport: What the Olympics can teach us about politics. The Conversation.

CAGH (Sep 2021). Open letter to the Government of Canada: Vaccine equity and booster shots. Lead writer

CCGHR (March 2021). Open letter to the Government of Canada: Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine. Lead writer.

CCGHR (December 2020). Open letter to the Government of Canada: Canada, COVID-19, and Development Countries. Lead writer.