Dr. Justine Dol Appointed Tier 2 Canada Research Chair at Mount Saint Vincent University
Dr. Justine Dol will begin a five-year appointment as the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Women’s and Gender Diverse Health at Mount Saint Vincent University in January, while continuing her role at IWK Health Centre.
Dr. Justine Dol has been appointed as the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Women’s and Gender Diverse Health at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) in Halifax, with her new role beginning in January. She was selected by MSVU following an interview process and subsequently underwent another interview with the Canada Research Chairs Program.
Dol will hold appointments in both the psychology and communication studies departments at MSVU. During the winter term, she will teach a fourth-year psychology seminar course on women’s health. Her priorities include increasing health research for women and gender-diverse people and ensuring fact-based digital health information is available for new parents.
The federally funded Canada Research Chairs Program invests over $311 million annually to advance research across the country. For Tier 2 chairs, the host institution receives $100,000 annually along with an additional $20,000 annual research stipend over a five-year appointment.
One of Dol’s ongoing projects is the Essential Coaching Postpartum text message program, which delivers child-care health information via timed text messages. An evaluation of the program found that parents who received the messages during the first six weeks postpartum reported greater confidence in their parenting and reduced anxiety. Dol is working to expand the program beyond the initial six weeks and add language options including French, Arabic, and Chinese.
Dol currently serves as the inaugural Dr. Margaret Oulton Accelerate Chair in Women+ Health Research at the IWK Health Centre, a position she will continue to hold alongside her new appointment at MSVU. Her work at IWK included a study that gathered input from 2,000 people—among them community members, health-care workers, and policy makers—to identify research priorities.