Dr. Julia Smith is an interdisciplinary social scientist trained in policy analysis and political economy, with a focus on gender and health inequities. She has over 15 years’ experience working with health and development programs in Canada, Europe and Africa, and frequently works in consultation with government and civil society at both the local and global level. Her research has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and US National Institutes of Health, among others. She has authored dozens of peer reviewed articles, chapters and reports as well as the book Civil Society and the Global Response to HIV/AIDS. She is a Faculty Member at the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity and alumni of the Rotary Peace Fellowship.
Research Interests
Dr. Julia Smith’s research centres around the social, political and commercial determinants of health, often applying an intersectional feminist and critical political economy lens to better understand the intersections between policy fields and how they structure health inequities. She is deeply interested in the care economy, gender dynamics of the health and social assistance sector, intersectionality-based policy analysis and Canadian foreign policy. A qualitative researcher, Julia has worked with mixed methods team to conduct robust and innovative analysis of pandemic response, Indigenous Peoples’ health, tobacco control policy and global health governance.