PROFILE

Kiffer G. Card, Ph.D., is the scientific director of the Institute for Social Connection and an assistant professor with the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. He received his training as a behavioral epidemiologist, social ecologist, and health services researcher from Brigham Young University (B.Sc.), Simon Fraser University (Ph.D.), and the University of Victoria (PDF). Building on this training, Dr. Card’s research is focused on the ecological, political, and social determinants of health—with an emphasis on understanding how emotional distress and coping responses impact health, well-being, and equity. Dr. Card approaches his work by leveraging community-based mixed methods study designs—with an emphasis on theoretically-informed quantitative analyses. He primarily conducts his research among and with marginalized communities, including gay and bisexual men, youth who use drugs, and other populations who experience stigma, discrimination, violence, and social exclusion as a result of their social position and identity. To learn more about Dr. Card’s research works, please visit his Google Scholar profile.

In recognition of Dr. Card’s research excellence, he has received multiple highly competitive awards, including the 2021 MSFHR Scholar Award, the 2020 CIHR-IHSPR Rising Star Award, the 2018 CTN Postdoctoral Award, the 2018 MSFHR Trainee Award, and the 2018 CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship. Over the past six years, Dr. Card’s work has been featured in more than 100 publications and over 90 academic conference presentations. As a rising star in public health epidemiology and health services research, Dr. Card’s research program provides training to future scholars and raises awareness of key social reforms and policies that aim to help Canadian leaders build happier and healthier communities.