Andrea Mellor

I am a cisgender woman of Chinese and British ancestry, born and raised a Treaty 7 person in Southern Alberta, Canada. I am a recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal for Top Dissertation (2021), a Canadian Institutes Health Research Post-Doctoral Banting Fellow (2023-2025), research associate with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria.

The goal of my research is to increase access to health and social services for marginalized populations, including services that enrich social belonging and cultural continuity. These include Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth who may be experiencing multiple complexities in their lives including poverty, substance use, and mental illness; youth living in foster care; people living with disabilities; and people who sell sexual service.

My research practice involves community-based and participatory research methodologies, critical knowledge mobilization, and knowledge syntheses to develop evidence-based strategies that support promising practices and healthy public policy.