Meet our Researchers
Dr. Roach is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences, is Director of Indigenous Engagement in the Vice President Research Office at UCalgary, and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Dr. Roach is also Deputy Scientific Director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health Systems Safety with a focus on dementia and brain health. Her program of research examines the intersection of health services, policy and upstream determinants of health in order to improve the health of individuals and populations.
Dr. Pamela Roach
Indigenous people face systemic and interpersonal racism as barriers to treatment within Canadian health systems. Dr. Roach’s research program integrates anti-racism and decolonial approaches to develop culturally congruent brain health services and information, and to improve health system safety for Indigenous people. This is achieved through three overarching research program objectives to: 1) co-create Indigenous measures of dementia healthcare quality (systems); 2) co-design culturally safe family-centred treatments and information for Indigenous dementia care (services); and 3) develop performance indicators for the enhanced understanding of impact for community-based research with Indigenous communities. Dr. Roach’s research also examines dementia prevention and the promotion of healthy brain aging strategies with Indigenous people, with a focus on upstream determinants and enhancing brain health with Indigenous children and youth. Her collaboration with Planet Youth helps to understand how primary prevention models may be adapted with Indigenous youth to improve health and wellbeing outcomes.