Advancing Inclusive Research in Medicine: Anti-Racist and Decolonial Approaches

Dr. Ninan Abraham is a father, immigrant settler and Professor in the UBC Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Zoology. His research focuses on the regulatory points in immune cell control in airway immunity to pathogens and in lung cancer. As the former Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the UBC Faculty of Science, he had responsibility for EDI initiatives, including the training of faculty search committees, faculty data analysis and reporting on EDI progress for the Faculty of Science. He served as Director of EDI&I for CoVaRR-Net, a national network of COVID researchers and has keen interest in health equity, racial inequities in research and how science serves society equitably.

Dr. Nitasha Puri is a clinical assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and staff physician in the Department of Addiction Medicine and Substance Use Services at Fraser Health .

Her research interests broadly centre upon substance use among racialized populations, healing and recovery, and health equity. Originally trained in family medicine, she completed the clinical and research fellowships at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, and is currently involved in teaching, clinical research, clinical service provision, and policy and guideline development.

Dr. Scott Ramsay is Métis, an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, and a nurse clinician scientist within BC Children’s Hospital. He uses his lived experience having sustained multiple concussions and clinical experience providing care to children and their families to guide research, policy, care, and education for children with brain injury in British Columbia. Scott is committed to community-based research principles through active engagement of individuals, clinicians, service providers, and organizations. Dr. Ramsay directs a research programme on health care delivery and nursing practice with children and adolescents experiencing mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion. His focus is on preventing and reducing injury. As a specific interest within that he aims to measure the impact of concussions on children and youth, their families, and the health care system. He has expertise in population data, health services, and clinical research studies.

Dr. Michelle Montgomery (enrolled Haliwa Saponi/descendant Eastern Band Cherokee) is a Professor at the University of Washington Tacoma, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences in American Indian Studies and Ethnic, Gender and Labor Studies. She is also the Assistant Director for the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Director for the Muckleshoot Doctoral Cohort and Adjunct Professor in the School of Education. Dr. Montgomery’s research focuses on Indigenizing and decolonizing the climate justice narrative, environmental ethics connected to Indigenous Peoples’ place-based identities and eco-critical race theory to eliminate racial and environmental oppression.

Dr. Montgomery held the role of interim Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Washington Seattle Department of Bioethics and Humanities through Spring 2024.

Dr. Maï is the Associate Director of the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) in the Faculty of Medicine. She provides leadership to the REDI team in the development and delivery of our education and training programming. She collaborates with leaders in departments, centres, and administration units, and staff, and faculty to identify institutional and individual barriers to inclusion and to foster long-term socio-cultural change towards justice, equity, decolonization, indigenization, and inclusion (JEDII). Previously, she worked at the Equity & Inclusion Office at UBC, where she led initiatives such as the JEDII STEM Series and the IBPOC STEM Network and supported the integration of the JEDII principles into teaching, research, and faculty and staff recruitment. Prior to her work at UBC, she was a faculty member at Quest University Canada for over a decade, teaching interdisciplinary courses in conservation and geography and advocating for transparency, equity, and inclusion through various leadership roles.

Maï, a second-generation immigrant from Japan, holds an MSc in Zoology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Geography from the University of Victoria. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she has published over 40 articles in academic fields such as conservation, geography, zoology, education, behavioral ecology, economics, and psychology. She is grateful for having spent most of her life on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Stó:lō Nations.

Harpreet Ahuja (She/Her/Hers) is an Equity Advisor at the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) within the Faculty of Medicine. In her capacity at REDI, she offers strategic guidance and supports capacity-building for department heads, faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to implementing decolonization, anti-racism, and inclusive practices.

Harpreet is the daughter of an immigrant father from India and a Labradorian Inuit-Polish mother. She was born and raised in Montreal studying in French, then spent her teenage years in downtown Toronto. Her culturally diverse upbringing ignited her curiosity and fueled her passion for social justice.

Her journey into Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) awareness began as a law student when she was nominated by the faculty of law to serve as the Vice President of Equity for the Common Law Student Society. She carried her EDI change management experience into her role as an Investigator in the Critical Injuries and Deaths Division with BC’s Office of the Representative for Children and Youth, where she worked to prevent the deaths of vulnerable children in government care.

Harpreet’s approach to embedding EDI is informed by an international context. She has worked on death penalty cases in Malawi, studied genocide education in Rwanda, and Holocaust education in Poland and Germany. She provided legal assistance to migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border and resettled LGBTQI+ Syrian refugees, working out of a satellite office in Israel. She wrote children’s books for schools in Honduras and taught English to university students in Ecuador. Most recently, in October 2022, she worked as an Electoral Observer for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Harpreet is a lawyer by training, holding a law degree from the University of Ottawa (2017) and a Master of Laws degree in International and Comparative Law from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law (2019). During her time at UCLA, she was honoured with the Dean’s Tuition Fellowship Award, UCLA School of Law’s Public Interest Award, and a post-graduate fellowship at Yale Law School. Her legal career began with Legal Aid Ontario, where she gained experience in refugee law, aboriginal law, and criminal litigation. She was subsequently Called to the Bar in Ontario and British Columbia.

Prior to joining our team, Harpreet served at arms-length for BC Corrections in the Adult Custody Division, where she was appointed by the Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General as an independent decision-maker presiding over disciplinary hearings within the 10 provincial correctional centres in BC.

Harpreet acknowledges that she is on the stolen lands of the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). She expresses gratitude to Indigenous Peoples for their enduring connection to their lands and is committed to learning how to work in solidarity as an accomplice in shifting the colonial default.ce and supports capacity-building for department heads, faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to implementing decolonization, anti-racism, and inclusive practices.