Teaching and learning

‘Communities near and far’: UM launches new College of Community and Global Health

The college unites diverse minds across disciplines to advance community and global well-being.

A close up of a young girl smiling at the camera.
Estimated Read Time:
5 minutes
The College of Community and Global Health conducts research across Canada and in countries around the world.
The College of Community and Global Health conducts research across Canada and in countries around the world.
Estimated Read Time:
5 minutes

The Rady Faculty of Health Sciences launched a new college in the summer of 2025, recognizing the growth and prominence of UM’s dedicated work in global and public health. 

The new College of Community and Global Health (CCGH) is the sixth college in the Rady Faculty, joining the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry, Max Rady College of Medicine, and colleges of nursing, pharmacy and rehabilitation sciences. 

Interconnected and interdisciplinary 

 

CCGH’s inaugural dean is Dr. Josée Lavoie, a professor of community health sciences. She began her five-year term on Aug. 1, 2025. She said CCGH is uniquely interdisciplinary. 

“If you think of colleges – mathematics is for mathematicians, engineering is for engineers, nursing is for nurses,” she said. “At our college, we encompass medical doctors, nurses, economists, anthropologists, sociologists, statisticians, computer scientists, Indigenous health scholars and many other disciplines."

Dr. Josée Lavoie smiling while looking at the camera, with small trees in the background.
Dr. Josée Lavoie at the Medicine Garden at the University of Manitoba's Bannatyne campus.
We take all our gifts and skill sets and apply them to real-world problems to improve health and well-being outcomes.

Dr. Josée Lavoie

The college, formerly the department of community health sciences in the Max Rady College of Medicine, transitioned into the new standalone college to better reflect its purpose.  

“Our college works to advance equity, social justice and reconciliation through health and social system transformation,” said Lavoie. “We’re collaborating with policymakers and leaders to help them fine-tune and address health and well-being issues.” 

With over 60 full time faculty members (including those based at the Institute for Global Public Health, George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Ongomiizwin - Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing in the Rady Faculty) and about 110 graduate students, the department-turned-college operates a robust research enterprise. In 2024, it brought in more than $55 million in research funding. 

The new college will continue the four major education programs in community health sciences: the master of public health, the master’s and PhD programs in community health sciences, and its contributions to undergraduate medical education, as well as the postgraduate residency program in public health and preventive medicine.  

Five people read and analyze research data displayed on a wall.
Three people smile at the camera.
Dr. Robert Lorway (left image, centre) and Dr. Souradet Shaw (right image, centre) in African communities where they conduct research.

Public health and wellness 

 

Dr. Kathryn Sibley, a Canada Research Chair focusing on integrated knowledge translation and professor of community health sciences, welcomes the department’s new status as a college.  

“It recognizes the impact of our work in communities near and far,” she said. 

Sibley is researching the delivery of evidence-based exercise programs designed to prevent falls in older adults. 

“Public health focuses on the health of communities and populations,” she said. “It can include initiatives for large populations, like some of the projects that UM partners on in India and Kenya. 

“It can also include preventive programs at the community level, like encouraging older Manitobans to get together near their homes for exercise that supports well-being and maintaining function.” 

A group of seniors doing an exercise at a gym.
Kate Sibley smiles at the camera, in the background you can see a group of seniors working out.
Older adults participate in a Steppin’ Up with Confidence class. The classes are part of a national study on preventing falls through exercise in this age group, led in Manitoba by UM’s Dr. Kathryn Sibley (pictured on the right).

Reaching global communities 

 

Nicole Herpai, a senior PhD student in CCGH, is examining the impact of the Donbas conflict on the HIV and hepatitis C virus epidemic among female sex workers and their clients in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. She uses a feminist economic lens to explore how sex workers experience and navigate safety issues in their daily lives. 

“In much of our global health work, we take the lessons we learn from abroad and bring them home,” Herpai said. “Our partners in Ukraine teach us a great deal, and we share our knowledge with them in return. Our goal is to strengthen research and health programs based on what we learn. It's truly cross-cultural learning.”

A group of people sitting at a table and smiling at the camera.
In 2018, Nicole Herpai with the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research in Kyiv, alongside research partners from Ukraine and UM faculty.

After completing an undergraduate degree in global political economy at UM, Herpai pursued a master’s in community health sciences in the Rady Faculty before starting her PhD in 2021. 

“I love working with a team of amazing people,” Herpai said. “We are truly interdisciplinary, bringing together a medical anthropologist, a phylogeneticist, a social worker and me, with a background in political economy – and that’s just a glimpse of the range of disciplines we work with. 

Herpai has won numerous awards for her PhD research, totalling more than $170,000 in funding. 

Nicole Herpai poses and smiles for the camera.
Nicole Herpai in the Brodie Atrium at the University of Manitoba’s Bannatyne campus.
Even if we may have wildly different ways of thinking about the problem and solving it – I see a lot of innovation through those difficult conversations.

Nicole Herpai

A growing college of innovators and changemakers 

 

A new bachelor’s degree in community health sciences is in development. It will enhance the college’s undergraduate teaching in the Rady Faculty’s bachelor of health studies program. Lavoie said it would help prepare students for the college’s renowned graduate programs.  

Dr. Marissa Becker, professor of community health sciences and director of technical collaborations at the Institute for Global Public Health, welcomes the creation of the new undergraduate program. 

“The bachelor’s program will give learners exposure to community and global public health early on and enable them to learn about different career pathways,” Becker said.

Initiatives that are also being considered includes a new pre-master’s program for non-health sciences graduates and an innovative joint graduate degree program with partner universities in India and Kenya. 

Other Canadian universities also have schools or centres for community and global public health, but Lavoie and Becker say what sets UM apart is its approach to research. 

A group of five people smiling at the camera.
Dr. Marissa Becker (right) with Indian health-care workers.
We try to ensure that the research component is embedded within government or community public health programs, rather than being a standalone effort, so the research and program can work together toward a shared public health goal.

Dr. Marissa Becker

“This model ensures that the research helps to optimize and sustain health services,” Becker said. 

For Herpai, she said the college has given her the tools to do research and more. 

“CCGH trains really great researchers. We’re exposed to many different people, lenses, methods and projects,” she said. “But what I value most is the integrity – our deep commitment to excellence and to ensuring our work is relevant and makes a difference in communities.” 

Learn more about the College of Community and Global Health, visit:

umanitoba.ca/community-global-health 

By

Matthew Kruchak and Danica Hidalgo Cherewyk