Robert Woollard

Wall Associate

Title

Professor

Department/School

Department of Family Practice,

Faculty

Medicine

University

UBC

Geographic Location

Canada
Robert Woollard

Dr. Robert Woollard completed two terms as Head of the Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He has chaired senior committees, councils and task forces for the BCMA CMA and and CFPC in the areas of medical education, environmental health and ethical relations with industry. He is currently CoPI on a large IDRC grant developing a community of practice in ecosystems health and has provided leadership in a number of major initiatives grant-funded through the Science Council of British Columbia, the Tri Council Research Fund, CIHR and a Major Collaborative Research Initiative with SSHRC.  For a diagramic representation of Dr. Woollards’ interest in the Pentagram Partnership model for complex systems, refer to this presentation:  “Building Health Systems Based on People’s Needs”

Primary Recipient Awards

Robert Woollard – International Research Roundtables – 2021

Co-Investigator: Farah Shroff, School of Population and Public Health
During COVID-19, the sustainability of the planet has been catapulted to the forefront while many women have suffered as abuse, violence and hunger have increased.The unexpected gains in cleaner air, water and soil will be a subject of our discussion, particularly examining how these gains can be maintained. We will apply an ecofeminist framework to reflect upon the effects and management of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health and the environment to create policy recommendations towards eco-social justice, by:

1) exploring the challenges and benefits of COVID-19 on women and the environment;

2) opening a dialogue with interdisciplinary academic, community, and policy leaders;

3) writing a policy paper that sets out a framework and policy recommendations that can be used in decision-making for governments, NGOs and other entities; and

4) communicating outside academia , and

5) applying for a SSHRC research grant. Maternal and Infant Health Canada, a UBC collaborative, is proposing this roundtable about the connections between women’s health and the ecosystems in which they live.

There have been co-benefits of the pandemic for the environment, and some communities where social cohesion has brought people together. The negative impacts of the pandemic, however, have been unequally imposed on women and poverty-stricken households (related to exposure and illness, care responsibilities, interpersonal violence, income cessation, etc.).