SPECIAL ISSUE: URBAN WOMEN AND

PROBLEMATIC SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Cathy Banwell (Ph.D.) is a Public Health/medical Anthropologist.  Her research has covered the socio-cultural determinants of health inequities particularly related to gender and the health risks associated with the consumption of food, alcohol and drugs.  Recently, she has explored sexual and reproductive health issues for women who use illegal drugs.

Susan C. Boyd (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Studies in Policy & Practice. She is the author of Hooked: Drug Films in Britain, Canada & the U.S.; From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law & Policy; Mothers & Illicit Drugs: Transcending the Myths and co-editor With Child: Substance Use During Pregnancy: A Woman-centred Approach.

Donna Bulman (Ph.D.) currently works as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of New Brunswick. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in 2004. She currently teaches mainly in the area of community health. Her research interests are primarily around HIV/AIDS, risky behaviours, informal learning, women’s health and technology readiness.

Vicky Bungay (Ph.D.) is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, School of Nursing and Nursing Education Leader, STI/HIV Prevention and Control, BC Centre for Disease Control. Her research focuses on how the interrelationships between gender, race, and class influence women’s strategies and opportunities to manage their health.

Jane Buxton is a Physician Epidemiologist at the BC Centre for Disease Control and Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Health Care & Epidemiology. Her research includes communicable disease control, outbreak investigation, breast cancer risk, hepatitis A, B and C, transfusion transmissible diseases, illicit drug use epidemiology and harm reduction, and the social context of health behaviour.

Lauren Casey (Ph.D.) is a human rights activist striving for the advancement of equality and justice for sex workers. She has worked with regional, national and international organizations dedicated to empowering individuals through harm reduction strategies. She is the recipient of the 2009 Excellence in Addictions Programming Award.

Phyll Dance has been conducting research in Canberra since 1989. The majority of her research has involved investigations of people who use illegal drugs. Although much of the focus of her work has been on the harms associated with drug use, she has also conducted ethnographic work with people who use illegal drugs. Phyll also has clinical experience working with clients experiencing problems related to alcohol or other drug use.

Jane Dixon is a Public Health Social Scientist and food sociologist based at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University. Her current research takes place within Australia and Thailand, with a focus on the socio-cultural determinants of inequities in health and wellbeing. The research includes a focus on how cities act as incubators of ‘dangerous consumptions’.

Lorraine Greaves (Ph.D.) is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia. She is also the Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.

Diana L. Gustafson (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Social Science and Health in the Faculty of Medicine and affiliate faculty in the Department of Women’s Studies at Memorial University. Together these positions allow her to pursue her commitment to health-related social justice issues in research, teaching, and community life.

Joy L. Johnson (Ph.D.) is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, School of Nursing and Scientific Director of the Institute of Gender and Health of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her research focuses on the social context of health behaviour, particularly how gender, diversity and place influence the use of addictive substances.

Jodi Loudfoot is an Outreach Worker with Oak Tree Clinic at BC Women’s Hospital. She works in partnership with the Vivian Transitional Housing program for Women. She has been working in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for the last 10 years in the areas of harm reduction, women’s health and addictions with a focus on women who are infected and affected by HIV.

Leslie Malchy is a research project manager at the University of British Columbia. Her research areas include mental health, addictions and knowledge translation with a focus on marginalized populations. She has worked in the community with individuals with concurrent disorders as well as with women living in poverty.

Anna Olsen (Ph.D.) recently completed her doctoral degree in socio-cultural and medical anthropology at the Australian National University. Her theoretical background lies in the anthropology of health and illness, social research and illicit drug policy. Her recent research and publications include work on socio-political understandings of injecting drug use, hepatitis C and health inequalities.

Nancy Poole (Ph.D. Candidate) works as a Research Associate with the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, is a doctoral student with the University of South Australia, has fellowships with IMPART (www.addictionsresearchtraining.ca) and NEXUS (www.nexus.ubc.ca), and is a co-editor with Lorraine Greaves of Highs and Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use.

Deborah Rutman (Ph.D.) is an Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Research Associate with the School of Social Work at the University of Victoria. Recent projects focus on adults living with FASD and young people’s transitions from care. Deborah has extensive experience in program evaluation and was privileged to undertake the pilot SWAT evaluation.

Susan Strega (Ph.D.) teaches social work at the University of Victoria and is a member of the Canadian National Coalition of Experiential Women. Her research interests include child welfare, sex work and violence against women. She is the co-editor, with Leslie Brown, of Research as Resistance: Critical, Indigenous & Anti-oppressive Approaches (CSPI).

The Women’s Health & Urban Life: An International & Interdisciplinary Journal is permanently housed at the University of Toronto. The founder and the first general editor is Aysan Sev’er, University of Toronto. The journal is generously supported by SSHrC (Social Sciences & Humanities research Council of Canada).  The WH & UL is an open access electronic journal  and  is simultaneously published in subscription-based hard-copies.