Colleen has more than 40 years of experience in the area of community health and development, adult education and social justice. She has practiced and taught nursing and community health in Canada, Africa and the Middle East.

 

Colleen spent 26 years teaching both in the School of Nursing and at the Coady International Institute. Her areas of teaching, research and writing have been focused on the social determinants of health (SDOH), community development, gender, building resilient communities and community driven health impact assessments.

 

Since 1997, Colleen has been involved in the People Assessing Their Health (PATH) Network and consequently has been involved in assisting communities in the PATH process and developing and using a Community Health Impact Assessment Tool to assist in decision making in Canada, India, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

 

Since her retirement from teaching in the university she is actively involved in affordable housing, poverty reduction, and food security initiatives.