About Me

Dr. Denise L. Spitzer (she/her/elle) is a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor in the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa where she was the Canada Research Chair in Gender, Migration, and Health from 2005-2015. 

As a critical feminist medical anthropologist, Dr. Spitzer is interested in the impact of marginalization on health and wellbeing and in the myriad of ways in which people and communities resist its effects. Using a dynamic, multi-scalar lens, Denise is interested in examining how global processes—intersecting with gender, racialization, migration status, sexuality, ethnicity, and other social identifiers—are implicated in people’s lives. In collaboration with community partners, graduate students, and academic investigators, Dr. Spitzer’s work is primarily participatory and employs qualitative, including arts-based methods with a view to informing policy, advocacy, and community action.