Queen’s Health and Human Rights Conference

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Queen’s Health and Human Rights Conference

Queen's Health and Human Rights Conference is a student-run initiative promoting an interdisciplinary conversation in the Kingston community and beyond.

The Health and Human Rights Conference has run annually for the past 20 years. We host a range of students from a wide variety of professions, including law, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, public health, and policy studies. In the past, we have welcomed speakers such as Samantha Nutt, the Hon. Charlie Angus, Albert Schumacher, Jacalyn Duffin, Beverley Chalmers, and many more. In 2012, the conference was awarded the Queen’s University Human Rights Initiative Award.

02/02/2026

📣 Registration for HHRC 2026 is now open!! Marking its 25th year, this year’s theme, “Belief at the Bedside: How Faith Shapes Healthcare”, focuses on how beliefs, values, and personal worldviews—religious and non-religious—shape patient care, clinical decision-making, and the healthcare system more broadly.

Through keynote speakers, panel discussions, small-group sessions, and the Travill Debates across a two-day program, the conference will explore topics such as consent, MAiD, vaccine delivery, cultural safety, clinician wellness, and the historical and ongoing role of faith in healthcare institutions.

By bringing together clinicians, ethicists, scholars, advocates, and individuals with lived experience from Queen’s and beyond, HHRC aims to create a respectful space for thoughtful discussion, support the development of religious literacy in clinical settings, and encourage reflection on how personal values intersect with professional practice in the pursuit of equitable, patient-centred care.

✅ Mark March 28-29 in your calendars! Visit our website https://www.queens-hhrc.com/ for more information! Register at link in bio.

07/02/2022

Excited to introduce Rosemary Georges, one of our panelists who will be speaking on "Immigrant and Refugee health and Mental health; Navigating the health care system and sponsorship"! ❤

Rosemary conducted a qualitative investigation on the mental health needs of Syrian refugees and immigrants as part of her MSc Thesis in Health Services Research at the University of Toronto (2018). In 2016 she participated in the Hult Prize Foundation challenge where she co-designed a conceptual app to support the integration of newcomers in the Greater Toronto Area. She has supported many newcomers as they immigrated to Canada, both through sponsorship efforts and community-level supports. She is currently working on sponsoring a Syrian family that has been living in Lebanon for over 7 years in asylum. Rosemary works as a Research Advisor at the Ontario Hospital Association and has interests in mental health, digital health, and misinformation.

Reminder to get your tickets below and enter our giveaway on our Instagram! Only 5 MORE DAYS!! 😊

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/refugee-and-immigrant-health-tickets-228932030867?fbclid=IwAR1GiFef6EhNFR0cRidihesXA2yoAx-yoLTeFJrovHor-fAjT50v3sfWcPM

06/02/2022

GIVEAWAY ALERT!! 🎁🎁🎁

Have you been wanting an Air Fryer for a while now? Are you a fan of Lululemon or Starbucks? If you answered yes to either one of those questions, we have exciting news for you!!

Queen’s HHRC is beyond excited to launch our giveaway this year with the following prizes:
1st place - A brand new AIRFRYER
2nd place - $50 Lululemon Gift Card
3rd place - $25 Starbucks Gift Card

Head to our Instagram page to participate! (https://www.instagram.com/queenshhrc/)

There are only 3 easy steps to try your hand at winning:
1. Buy your ticket for $5 here:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/refugee-and-immigrant-health-tickets-228932030867?fbclid=IwAR1GiFef6EhNFR0cRidihesXA2yoAx-yoLTeFJrovHor-fAjT50v3sfWcPM
2. Like our Insta post and tag 2 friends in the comments
3. For an extra entry: Share this post on your Insta story and tag us!!

Winners will be selected at random and announced during our conference; enter now to secure a seat at our conference and hopefully win some awesome stuff 🥳

31/01/2022

Another speaker's announcement coming at you! 🥳

Introducing Dr. Praseedha Janakiram, MD, CCFP, FCFP who is part of our Clinical Experience series:

Praseedha Janakiram is a Family Physician at Women’s College Hospital Crossroads Refugee Clinic and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. With Sri Lankan origins, an immigrant to Canada herself from a youth spent in West Africa, her primary care practice is focused on the care of refugees, with special interests in women’s health, HIV primary care, global health education and capacity strengthening initiatives.

She is a former Program Director of the Enhanced Skills Program in Global Health and Vulnerable Populations, and current Faculty Lead for the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine – an innovative collaboration at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto supporting the launch and development of the first family medicine training program in Ethiopia.

Praseedha has former clinical experience in Malawi, Pakistan, Nunavut, and Yellowknife. She served an interim role as Acting Vice Chair Global Health and Social Accountability at the Department of Family and Community Medicine in 2019.

Praseedha is a single mother of a bright and energetic 6 year old, who motivates and inspires her work and her many diverse roles in life. Praseedha has been recognized with several faculty awards at the University of Toronto and was awarded the Federation of Medical Women of Canada Reproductive Health Award in 2015, and the Yves Talbot Award for Excellence in Global Health Leadership in 2020.

We're ecstatic to have Dr. Janakiram join the HHRC family this year; reminder to get your tickets if you haven't already and turn on your post notifications for the chance to win some cool free stuff starting tmr! 😉

28/01/2022

Drum Roll for our 1st KEYNOTE ANNOUCEMENT.....🥁🥁🥁

Introducing Dr. Eva Purkey who is the first keynote address this year, presenting "Home: Reflections on Migrant Health in Canada"!
Dr. Purkey has worked in family practice in a small northern community and in Kingston Community Health Centres prior to coming to Queen’s University in 2014. She has worked with refugee and migrant communities on the Thai-Burmese border providing clinical care and education around women’s health and human rights as well as research capacity building for community-based healthcare organization since 2002. She has also worked briefly in Inuit communities in Quebec and Nunavut. She is passionate about working with people experiencing structural violence, and about examining and advocating to change the structures that perpetuate this violence including those within the healthcare system. She has completed an MPH at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a specialization in Global Health.
We are so excited to have Dr. Purkey to speak to us this year and we hope you are too!

Sign up NOW to secure your spot to hear her and many other incredible speakers on Feb. 12 and 13; free UberEats and snacks included 💛 Link below!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/refugee-and-immigrant-health-tickets-228932030867?fbclid=IwAR03YqWK9WCTEiCzs-k1Oz7hAoSfXjZdY4ljhPlzS2D19_5LBXeQesuhiuw

28/01/2022

The conference is only 2 WEEKS AWAY... Remember to register if you haven't already done so using the link below! Sign up is only $5, but you will also be getting a $5 Uber Eats gift card, $5 off your purchase at Score Pizza, AND a free baked good & coffee from Sens Cafe in Kingston! Hope to see you guys there :)

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/refugee-and-immigrant-health-tickets-228932030867?fbclid=IwAR0tO4t6t6zVGbO7zVuVwvz1HosN3T9q7hfnVk9uLPHkkENoRGrwt_1oa6Y

26/01/2022

Introducing our next 2 speakers!..... Dr Colleen Davison, who will be presenting on "Family Separation in Contexts of Migration: Understanding global patterns and potential implications of this child health concern" & Dr. Susan Bartels who will be presenting on "The Gendered Intersection of Poverty, Immigration, and Safety for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon"!

Dr. Colleen Davison is a PhD trained Social Epidemiologist and Global Population Health Researcher who has a tenured appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences, with cross appointment in the Department of Global Development Studies. She is also the Associate Dean for Equity and Social Accountability at Queen’s Health Sciences. Dr. Davison’s overarching research interests are in global child and adolescent health including issues of child and family health equity, social justice and public health, child protection and child rights. As Associate Dean she champions work to enhance equity, diversity, inclusion, Indigeneity, and accessibility at Queen’s Health Sciences and beyond. She is a founding member of the ARCH research collaboration for global health equity and is very committed to the application of research and to teaching and mentorship.

Dr. Susan Bartels is a Clinician-Scientist and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Humanitarian Health Equity at Queen’s University. In addition to practicing emergency medicine, she conducts global public health research focused on how women and children are impacted by humanitarian crises. While much of her work has been in Sub-Saharan Africa, she has also worked in the Middle East as well as in Asia and Latin America. Dr. Bartels is interested in using innovative methods to improve understanding of the social determinants of health in complex environments such as armed conflict and natural disasters. After completing fellowship training in international emergency medicine and a Masters of Public Health degree at Harvard University, Dr. Bartels was faculty at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative where she conducted research for the Women in War program. Dr. Bartels has been faculty at Queen’s in 2014 and is currently Director of the Queen’s Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship, the first program of its kind in Canada.

18/01/2022

Introducing what you've all been waiting for.... OUR FIRST SPEAKER REVEAL! We're excited to have Dr. Ripudaman Minhas, who will be giving a presentation titled "Stitching a New Garment: Improving Equity and Access for Child Development in Marginalized Communities" as part of our Clinical Experience Series.

Dr. Ripudaman Singh Minhas is a Developmental Paediatrician with the Women’s and Children’s Health Program at St Michael’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto. His research interests are in the development, behaviour, disability, and rehabilitation of children in urban settings and in newcomer immigrant and refugee families. He is currently working to develop interventions to support the developmental potential of children in the unique context of their social determinants of health and inequity. His team uses Community-Based Participatory Research principles to guide the co-creation and implementation of family-based interventions and the evolution of health systems.

His current focus is in supporting parenting in communities experiencing marginalization. This includes the Maple Circle program which aims to support the parenting journey of families of refugee background, and Punjabi Kids’ Health, a social media-based health literacy program to support families in the global Punjabi diaspora.

Dr. Minhas completed the Developmental Pediatrics subspecialty training program at the University of Toronto and the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. He was a Global Health Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, and completed his Master of Public Health and a certificate in Global Health there. Dr. Minhas completed his medical degree at the University of Toronto, with General Paediatrics residency at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

17/01/2022

CALL FOR RESEARCH ABSTRACTS HAS BEEN EXTENDED!!

If you missed your chance to put forward your research, have no fear; lucky for you the date has been extended! Get your submissions in by the new revised deadline of JANUARY 21st, this upcoming Friday!

Don't forget to register for the conference if you haven't already and stay tuned; we have some exciting announcements coming tomorrow :)

10/01/2022

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!

The time has come! For those looking to secure a seat at the conference registration has opened for $5, and will remain open until Thursday, February 10th. Sign up with the link below if you are interested in learning more about the experiences of newcomer health and how to advocate for equitable care. You will have the opportunity to be a part of discussions, presentations & workshops hosted by professionals within the healthcare system, political, and educational space.

Not only that… sign up now to receive a $5 gift card to UberEats, $5 off your purchase at Score Pizza, AND a free baked good & coffee at Sens Cafe!

We know it’s hard to pass up so make sure to register, we’re excited to see you guys there 🙂

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/refugee-and-immigrant-health-tickets-228932030867

04/01/2022

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

This year’s Health and Human Rights Conference (HHRC), entitled “Refugee and Migrant Health,” is focused on understanding the context of health for newcomers, both in Canada and globally.

The objectives of this conference are to;
(1) Share evidence-based knowledge and experience of newcomer health.
(2) Discuss how to build capacity by understanding barriers newcomers face when seeking healthcare and how to remove them.
(3) Advocate for equitable care and improved health outcomes for newcomers.

During this conference, we would like to showcase the important work being done by undergraduate and graduate students in the field of newcomer health. Please submit your abstract using this submission form by January 14, 2022 by 4pm EST. You will be notified of the status of your abstract by January 17, 2022. If selected, you will be asked to record a 2-minute thesis that will be played during the Health and Human Rights Conference on February 12, 2022.

https://forms.gle/F1fK7LnxF3RUvdk38

Thank you for your interest in our conference! We look forward to reading your submission!

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http://www.queens-hhrc.com/

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