Michelle is a Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Environment and Health Risk Communication, in the Department of Community Health Sciences, with an affiliated academic appointment in the Department of Environment and Geography, at the University of Manitoba. Michelle is also a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Network with the Canadian Immunization Research network.
A health geographer by training, her broad areas of research interests include public and health risk communication, risk perception, and knowledge translation under conditions of uncertainty. Drawing primarily on qualitative methods, her research focus involves the study of how new and emerging risk and public health controversies develop in science, policy and public forums. She is particularly interested in how public health risk communicators can meaningfully engage public audiences to enable informed decisions about risk recommendations including protective behaviours that can be adopted for themselves and their family. Her research explores these aspects with both general population and Metis contexts.
Following from some completed projects on pandemic H1N1, her research program has expanded to looking at how risk communication can enable informed decision-making, with a specific focus on vaccination communication and decisions.
Area Expertise
- Risk Communication
- Qualitative Methods
- Public Health
- Knowledge Translation
- Public and Community Engagement Strategies