Annalijn I. Conklin, MSc, MPH, PhD (cantab)
Vancouver, BC
Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar
Associate Professor | Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation | Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Scientist | Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes (formerly CHEOS) | Providence Health Care Research Institute
Investigator | Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging | Faculty of Medicine
Biography
Dr. Conklin is an associate professor in the epidemiology and outcomes research theme in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Conklin leads a Program of Social Epidemiology and Metabolic-Outcomes Research (SEMOR) to support healthy aging and reduce heart health inequities in women in Canada (https://semor.core.ubc.ca), supported by a Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar award (2021-2026) and Tri-Council funding. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, Conklin’s lab examines how broader social determinants, such as social ties or financial hardship, impact cardio-metabolic risk factors differentially for older women and men. Dr. Conklin is an expert in applying sex-and-gender-based analysis (SGBA) to health and healthcare research, and is also an expert in population studies using international survey and prospective cohort datasets (e.g. European Prospective Investigation in Diet and Cancer, Whitehall II Study on Stress and Health, Demographic and Health Survey, Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging).
Dr. Conklin has a background in health policy, epidemiology and public health, life sciences, and philosophy. Dr. Conklin’s research aims to improve the design and evaluation of complex interventions to prevent and manage chronic conditions, particularly for women. Dr. Conklin holds degrees from the University of Toronto (Hon.B.Sc.), Edinburgh (Research M.Sc.), Columbia University (MPH), Cambridge University (PhD) and UCLA (Postdoctoral), with over 80 journal articles and 27 peer-reviewed RAND Technical Reports. Prior to academic work, Dr. Conklin was a policy analyst at RAND Europe in Cambridge, including being the Administrative Coordinator of a large multi-country study on developing and validating disease management evaluation methods and metrics.
Since 2022, Dr. Conklin lives with two rare microvascular autoimmune diseases (ANCA vasculitis glomerulonephritis and thrombotic microangiopathy). Both diseases targeted the microvasculature of the kidneys leading to irreversible damage. Dr. Conklin received conventional hemodialysis treatment with subsequent kidney transplant and now lives as a woman patient at high risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). Her treatment story from a sex and gender perspective can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41581-024-00909-y.
