Black Mental Health: What does equity have to do with it? with Professor Notisha Massaquoi
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences hosts Grand Rounds, designed as scientific seminars for research communication. These sessions cover a wide range of topics related to mental health, featuring presentations by experts in the field followed by engaging discussions. The goal is to enhance knowledge, share best practices, and foster collaboration among mental health professionals.
About the speaker:
Dr. Notisha Massaquoi is an Assistant Professor in Health Education and Promotion with the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC). She also holds a graduate-level cross-appointment to the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW). She holds a BA in Psychology from Western University, an MSW from FIFSW and a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in Social Justice Education.
In 2020-2021, Dr. Massaquoi was a Provost Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at FIFSW, where her research focused on violence as a determinant of health in Black communities with an emphasis on health services for survivors of homicide victims in Canada. Dr. Massaquoi is a community-based researcher utilizing Mixed methods to interrogate anti-Black racism and highlight the experiences of Black communities navigating institutional structures and systems in Canada, with a primary focus on the social determinants of health and health disparities.
Dr. Massaquoi is also the founder and director of the Black Health Equity Lab (The BHEL) which conducts community-based health research and works with Black communities to develop advocacy tools, strategies and programs to improve health outcomes, wellbeing and success in Canadian systems.
In her early social work career, Dr. Massaquoi initiated several organizations serving Black communities in Canada — including Africans in Partnership Against AIDS, the African Resource and Communications Centre and TAIBU Community Health Centre. She also established and served for two decades as the Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto — the only Community Health Centre in North America to provide specialized primary healthcare for Black and racialized women.