Dr. Apondi J. Odhiambo is a community-engaged and global health scholar. She brings years of experience embedded in applied research, public service, policy, and community environments to advance equity and social justice.
She has a PhD in Public Health from Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) specializing in Health Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, a Master of Science specializing in Organizational Psychology and Development from Walden University, and an undergraduate degree majoring in Sociology and Communication from University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Currently, a Senior Policy Analyst at Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
Dr. Odhiambo is an innovator in using critical social paradigms, sociological foundations and materialist research strategies including post-colonial, medical sociology, critical race, gender, transnationalism, intersectionality, institutional ethnography, and implementation science to develop and implement research interventions and advocate for policy reforms. Her interdisciplinary scholarly work focuses on identifying and examining contextual factors producing inequities, social injustice, and structural violence, and shaping the day-to-day lives and realities of individuals and communities. Specifically, she explores how legislative frameworks, policies, and institutional practices at the nexus of health, immigration, social welfare, and criminal justice systems interface to impact the health and well-being of marginalized and racialized communities, and more particularly Black communities. She unmasks structural violence within these systems and the resultant effects of systemic and anti- Black racism, inequities, and social exclusion on Black communities.
As a strong community-based researcher, leader and advocate, Dr. Odhiambo has been passionate about engaging in projects that advocate for social justice, health equity, human rights, diversity, inclusion, anti-oppression, and anti-racism. She has served on several Board of Directors positions and advisory groups in Canada. Currently, she is the Co-Chair of the Toronto Police Service Race-Based Data Collection Advisory Panel. The panel is tasked with ensuring transparency and accountability in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of race-based data as per the provincial Anti-Racism Act of 2017. Dr. Odhiambo continues to advocate for equity and social justices through different initiatives nationally and globally.
