Elizabeth McGibbon

Headshot of Elizabeth McGibbon

Elizabeth McGibbon

Professor
Department
School of Nursing
Campus Location
Camden Rm 255
Email
emcgibbo@stfx.ca
Phone
(902) 867-5889
Links
Research
Biography

Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon, PhD, RN, Professor, St. Francis Xavier University and Research Associate, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, is an applied critical health social scientist, focusing on the structural determinants of health: political economy of health, root-cause complexity science applications, and synergies of the social, ecological, and structural determinants of health. Overarching research area involves how public policy created oppression “gets under the skin” to create inter-generational health damage for racialized and marginalized peoples - while enhancing privilege and wealth for the very few. She is an institutional ethnographer, centering on mapping societal structures with everyday experiences of marginalization and racialization. As a late career entrant to academia after almost 20 years of health care clinical practice, program development, and community activism, her work has been accessed by people in over 70 countries in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, with almost 32,000 reads or downloads (over 85% since 2017, Research Gate metrics). She published the first books in Canada on The Politics of Social, Ecological, and Structural Determinants of Health (2025); Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health (2021, 3rd Ed. in progress), and Anti-Racist Health Care Practice (with Dr. J. Etowa, 2009; 2nd Ed. in progress). Her anti-racism, decolonial research has been recommended in the Canadian Senate and she is an author in 27 chapters in multiple-edition critical health studies books in Canada, the US, and the UK. Dr. McGibbon established the National Collaborating Center, Determinants of Health in Canada (NCCDH) as part of a three-person lead team (Gillis, Hallstrom, McGibbon) and a broad-based community coalition (Public Health Agency of Canada’s peer-reviewed call to design, develop, and implement the NCCDH; Project title: Building a New Agenda for Public Health: Participatory Strategies for Social Justice and Health). Along with social justice colleagues, her awards include recognition from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission for anti-racism community activism and municipal public policy intervention, and the Canadian Armed Forces for refugee medical humanitarian work.

Research

DISCIPLINES, METHODOLOGIES

Structural Determinants of HealthSystemic oppression and intersectional health impacts (human and planetary); Racism and health; Health and human rights; Political economy of health and health inequities; Root-cause complexity science applications; Politics of the social, ecological, and structural determinants of health; and Settler roles and responsibilities for Truth and Reconciliation.
Methodological FocusInstitutional Ethnography: Mapping the articulation of ruling relations with everyday experiences of marginalization and racialization (e.g., Mapping health equity discourses in Canadian public policy; Mapping structural racism for racialized populations in Canada; Mapping structural impacts of clinical practice stress in pediatric intensive care).

COMPETITIVE PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH GRANTS, INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS (2006 - Present)

  1. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, Co-I, 125,000 $CAD, 2025-2026). Tackling structural determinants of health inequities for racialized populations in Canada. Moving Upstream: Structural Determinants of Health catalyst grant competition (PI- Dr. Josephine Etowa).

  2. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, Co-I, 29,985 $CAN, 2022-2023). Precarious Employment and Gender-based Violence. SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grants - Gender-Based Violence Competition (PI Dr. Katherine Saulnier).

  3. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, PI, 49,800 $CAN; 2017-2021). Mapping the social organization of health equity discourses in Canadian public policy: An institutional ethnography. Insight Development Grant (PI Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

  4. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, Co-I, 270,000 $CAN; May 2015-June 2019). Diversifying our ways of understanding heart health among First Nations people in Manitoba, Canada: A mixed-methods study governed by a two-eyed seeing approach (PI Dr. Annette Schultz).

  5. Canadian Nurses Association (CNA, Co-PI, 25,000 $CAN, 2014-2016). Social deteminants of health and health equity toolkit, Module design (content and pedagogy) for internationally accessible toolkit. Co-I C. Mcpherson.

  6. Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF, Co-PI, 10,000 $CAN; July 2012-September 2013). 
    Environmental justice: Toxic industry location and Indigenous and Black Nova Scotian communities. Development Innovative Competition (CoPIs Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

  7. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, Co-I, 13,000 $CAN; 2011-2012). Developing a conceptual framework of public health organizational capacity for action to promote health equity. Operating Grant Competition, Health Inequities, LOI. (PI- Dr. Benita Cohen).

  8. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institutional Grant (SSHRC/StFX, PI, 4,760 $CAN, 2012). Rights-based social inequality report card: Supporting accountability and action for policy intervention in the Atlantic Region. St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia (PI Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

  9. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, Co-I, 74,997 $CAN; 2010-2011). Advancing the evidence to build a research program for developing Public Health capacity to promote health equity. CIHR Health Equities Catalyst Grant Competition. (PI- Dr. Benita Cohen).

  10. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, PI, 24,310 $CAN; January, 2009-September, 2011). Planning for research to decolonize population health interventions. Meetings, Planning, Dissemination Competition.

  11. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC, Co-PI, 4.3 million $CAN, 2006-2011) Building a new agenda for public health: Participatory strategies for social justice and health (National Collaborating Center for the Determinants of Health).

  12. Guysborough Antigonish Strait Area District Health Authority (Co-PI, 4,000 $CAN, 2011). Emancipatory access to dementia support: Canada's first Alzheimer Café. Guysborough Antigonish Strait District Health Authority.

  13. Guysborough Antigonish Strait Area District Health Authority (Co-PI, 4,000 $CAN, 2011). Social justice capacity building in district health authorities. Guysborough Antigonish Strait District Health Authority.

  14. Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF, PI, $74,000; 2006-2008). Health inequity, the social determinants of health, and health-geographic information science. Post-doctoral Fellowship Research Competition (PI Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

  15. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR, PI, 70,000 $CAN; May, 2007-June, 2008). Inequities in access to health services for rural Aboriginal and African Canadians: A scoping review. Knowledge Synthesis Competition, Health Inequities (PI Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

  16. Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF, PI, 10,000 $CAN; 2006). Geospatial mapping of African Nova Scotia health inequities. Development Innovative Team Competition (PI Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon).

INTERNAL, PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH GRANTS, AWARDS St. Francis Xavier University (numerous, available on request)

Publications

BOOKS

  1. McGibbon, E. (2025). The Politics of social, ecological, and structural determinants of health in Canada. Invited book in the Politics of Health Series (Dennis Raphael, Book Series Editor). Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. (340p.) 
  2. McGibbon, E. (Ed., 2021). Oppression: A social determinant of health. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing (2nd Ed.). (341 p.)
  3. McGibbon, E. (2012). Oppression: A social determinant of health. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. (239 p.)
  4. McGibbon, E. & Etowa, J. (2009). Anti-racist health care practice. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press. (245 p.) (First book in Canada in this area of research and practice)
  5. Boyd, J. with McGibbon, E. & O'Neil, B. (Metro Coalition for a Non-racist Society) (1998). Racism, Whose Problem: Strategies for Understanding and Dealing with Racism in Our Communities. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.

BOOK CHAPTERS

  1. McGibbon, E. (2025). The Anthropocenes: Collisions with the social determinants of health. In T. Bryant (Ed.) An international review of the social determinants of health. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.
  2. McGibbon, E. (2025). Classism and health: What the body remembers. In T. Bryant (Ed.). An international review of the social determinants of health. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.
  3. McGibbon, E. (2025). Access to healthcare: Contexts of structural violence. In D. Raphael, (Ed.), The social determinants of health (4th Edition.). Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press International.
  4. McGibbon, E., Bailey, A. & Lukeman, S. (2023). Violence and health: Contexts of power and social inequities. In. J. Etowa, C. Van Daalen-Smith & A. Dosani (Eds.), Community Health Nursing: Contemporary Health and Social Imperatives (7th Edition).  New York: Pearson. 
  5. McGibbon, E. & Mbugua, J.  (2023). Racism and community health. In. J. Etowa, C. Van Daalen-Smith & A. Dosani (Eds.), Community Health Nursing: Contemporary Health and Social Imperatives (7th Edition). New York: Pearson. 
  6. McGibbon, E., Van Daalen-Smith, C., Sheppard, D., & Jubin, M. (2023). Community mental health practice. In. J. Etowa, C. Van Daalen-Smith & A. Dosani (Eds.), Community Health Nursing: Contemporary Health and Social Imperatives (7th Edition). New York: Pearson. 
  7. McGibbon, E. (2021). Embodied oppression: The social, ecological, and structural determinants of health. In Antony W. & Antony, J. (Eds.). Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian social issues (7th Edition). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  8. McGibbon, E. (2021). Oppression: A social determinant of health. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  9. Etowa, J. &  McGibbon, E. (2021). The racialization of oppression. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health. (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  10. McGibbon, E. (2021). The politics of mental health: Pathologizing the impacts of injustice. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health. (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  11. McGibbon, E. & Hallstrom, L. (2021). Oppression and the political economy of health inequities. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health, 2nd Ed. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  12. McGibbon, E. & Shebib, M. (2021). Human rights and health. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health 2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  13. Aquanno, S., Bryant, T, Etowa, J.B., Lexchin, J., McGibbon, E., Raphael D., et al. (2021). Covid-19: Oppressions laid bare. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  14. McGibbon, E., Bailey, A. & Lukeman, S. (2019). Violence and health: Contexts of power and social inequities. In. J. Etowa, C. Van Daalen-Smith & A. Dosani (Eds.). Community Health Nursing: Contemporary Health and Social Imperatives. New York: Pearson. 
  15. McGibbon, E. & Mbugua, J.  (2019). Culture, racism, and health. In. J. Etowa, C. Van Daalen-Smith & A. Dosani (Eds.). Community Health Nursing: Contemporary Health and Social Imperatives. New York: Pearson. 
  16. McGibbon, E. & Mbugua, J. (2018). Race and racialization in health, health care, and nursing education. In M. McIntyre & C. McDonald (Eds.). Realities of Canadian Nursing. 5th Ed. New York: Wolters Kluwer Health. 
  17. McGibbon, E. (2017). Embodied oppression: The social determinants of health. In Antony W. & Antony, J. (Eds.). Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues. 6th Ed. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. 
  18. McGibbon, E. (2017). Oppressions and access to health care: Deepening the conversation. In D. Raphael (Ed.). The Social determinants of health, 4th Ed. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press. 
  19. McPherson, C. & McGibbon, E. (2014). Intersecting contexts of oppression within complex public systems. In A. Pycroft & C. Bartollas, Applying complexity theory Whole systems approaches to criminal justice and social work. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. 
  20. McGibbon, E. (2012). Health care access: A human rights perspective. In D. Raphael (Ed.). The Social determinants of health: Canadian Perspectives, 3rd Ed. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.
  21. McGibbon, E. (2012). Introduction to oppression: A social determinant of health. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  22. Etowa, J. & McGibbon, E. (2012). Race and racism as determinants of health. Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  23. McGibbon, E. (2012). People under threat: Health outcomes and oppression. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  24. McGibbon, E. (2012). Oppression and mental health: Pathologizing the outcomes of oppression. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  25. McGibbon, E. & Hallstrom, L. (2012). Oppression and the Political economy of health. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  26. McGibbon, E. (2012). Health as a human right: Challenges and supports for accountability. In E. McGibbon (Ed.). Oppression: A social determinant of health (2nd Ed). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  27. McGibbon, E. (2000). Social class, gender, and race: The "situated knowledge" of clinical practice. In Experiencing Difference, Carl James, (Ed.). Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.

PAPERS IN REFEREED JOURNALS

  1. McGibbon, E. (2024). Structural determinants of health: Towards a political economy of health perspective for nursing. Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 6(1), 1-7.
  2. McGibbon, E. (2023). Applying critical leadership to advance 2SLGBTQIA+ health equity: A complex adaptive systems approach. Healthcare Management Forum.
  3. McGibbon, E., Fierlbeck, K., & Ajadi, T. (2023). Institutional ethnography and critical policy analysis: Catalyzing justice in policymaking. Critical Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal. 18(1). 57-78.
  4. McGibbon, E., Fierlbeck, K. & Ajadi, T. (2021). Health equity and institutional ethnography: Mapping the problem of policy change. Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 3(2), 64-80.
  5. McGibbon, E. (2021). The Covid-19 pandemic: On the mechanisms of social murder. Critical Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, 16(1), 35-42.
  6. Schultz, A, Nguyen, T., Sinclaire, M., Fransoo, R. & McGibbon, E. (2021). Historical and continued colonial impacts on heart health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada: What’s reconciliation got to do with it? Canadian Journal of Cardiology Open.
  7. Schultz, A.S.H., Dahl, L., McGibbon, E. et al. (2020). Differences in coronary artery disease complexity and associations with mortality and hospital admissions among First Nations and non–First Nations patients undergoing angiography: a comparative retrospective matched cohort study. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 8(4), E685-E694.
  8. McGibbon, E. (2019). Truth and reconciliation: Health care organizational leadership. Healthcare Management Forum, 32(1), 20-24.
  9. McGibbon, E. & Lukeman, S. (2019). Critical social justice: The moral imperative for critical perspectives in nursing. Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 1(1), 3-12).
  10. Dahl, L., Schultz, A.S.H., McGibbon, E., Brownlie, R.J., Cook, C., Elbarouni, B., Katz, A., Nguyen, T., Sawatzky, J., Sinclaire, M., Throndson, K., Prior, H., Fransoo, R. (2019). Cardiovascular medication use and long-term outcomes between First Nations and non-First Nations patients following angiography: a retrospective cohort study. Journal of the American Heart Association Aug 20;8(16):e012040. 
  11. Schultz, A.S.H., Dahl, L., McGibbon, E., Brownlie, R.J., Cook, C., Elbarouni, B., Katz, A., Nguyen, T., Sawatzky, J., Sinclaire, M., Throndson, K., Fransoo, R. (2018). Health outcome and follow-up care differences between First Nation’s and non-First Nation’s coronary angiogram patients: A retrospective cohort study. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 34, 1333-1340.
  12. Schultz, A.S.H., Dahl, L., McGibbon, E., Brownlie, R.J., Cook, C., Elbarouni, B., Katz, A., Nguyen, T., Sawatzky, J., Sinclaire, M., Throndson, K., & Fransoo, R. (2018). Index coronary angiogram utilization in Manitoba, Canada: A population-level descriptive analysis of First Nations and non-Frist Nations recipients British Medical Journal Open, Mar 25, 8(3), E020856. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020856
  13. Schultz, A. Dahl, L. & McGibbon, E. et al. (2018). Health outcome and follow-up care differences between First Nation and non-First Nation coronary angiogram patients: A retrospective cohort study. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 34(10), 1333-1340.
  14. McGibbon, E. (2018). Truth and reconciliation: Organizational leadership in health care. Healthcare Management Forum, 32(1), 20-24.
  15. McGibbon, E. (2018). Decolonizing health care: Reconciliation roles and responsibilities for white settlers. Women’s Health and Urban Life, 13(2).
  16. Schultz, A. Dahl, L. & McGibbon, E. et al. (2018). Index coronary angiography utilization in Manitoba, Canada: A population-level descriptive analysis of First Nation and Non-First Nation recipients. British Medical Journal Open, 8(3), E020856.
  17. McGibbon, E. (2016). Access to emergency care; Spotlight on a social determinants of health intersectionality lens. British Medical Journal Open, Published online, February 3, 2016. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e010274.responses#access-to-emergenc…
  18. Jackson, J, McGibbon, E. & Waldren, I. (2013). Racism and cardiovascular disease: Implications for nursing science. Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 23(4), 12-18.
  19. McGibbon, E. & McPherson, C. (2013). Stress, oppression, and women’s mental health: A discussion of the health consequences of injustice. Women’s Health and Urban Life: An International Journal. 
  20. McGibbon, E., Waldren, I. & Jackson, J.  (2013). Social determinants of cardiovascular health: Time for a focus on racism. Invited Guest Editorial. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care: An International Journal,10(139-42).
  21. McGibbon, E., Malaudzi, M., Didham, P., Barton, A., & Sochan, A. (2013). Towards decolonizing nursing: The colonization of nursing and strategies to increase the counter-narrative. Nursing Inquiry, 21(3), 179-191.
  22. Cohen, B., Schultz, A., McGibbon, E., VanderPlaat, M., Germann, C., Beanlands, et al. (2013). Conceptual framework of organizational capacity for Public Health equity action. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 104(3), e262-e266.
  23. Bassett, R. & McGibbon, E. (2012). A critical participatory and collaborative method for scoping the Literature: Participatory approaches to scoping reviews. Quality and Quantity: An International Journal. April, 26, 2012.
  24. McGibbon, E. & McPherson, C. (2011). Applying intersectionality theory and complexity theory to address the social determinants of women’s health. Women’s Health and Urban Life: An International Journal, (10)1, 59-86. University of Toronto Press.
  25. McGibbon, E. (2011). Political economy of maternal and newborn mortality. British Medical Journal Open, Page 343. DOI: d4044doi: 10.1136
  26. McGibbon, E. & Peter, E. (2010). A reformulation of the nature of stress in nursing: An institutional ethnography. Qualitative Health Research, 20(10), 1353-1378.
  27. McPherson, C., & McGibbon, E. (2010). Addressing the determinants of child mental health: Intersectionality as a guide to primary health care renewal. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 42(3), 50-64.
  28. McPherson, C. & McGibbon, E. (2010).  Rural interprofessional primary health care team development and sustainability: Establishing a research agenda. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 11(4), 301-314.
  29. McGibbon, E, Etowa, J. & McPherson, C. (2008). Health care access as a social determinant of health. Canadian Nurse Journal, 104(7), 22-29. 
  30. McGibbon, E. & Peter, E. (2008). Everyday caring for the living, the dying, and the dead: Towards a biomedical technography. International Journal of Qualitative Inquiry (14)7, 1134-1156.
  31. McGibbon, E. (2008). Health care top-up fees, privatization, and market driven health care. British Medical Journal, 335(7653), 1105-1106.
  32. McGibbon, E., McPherson, C., & Etowa, J. (2007).  The social determinants of health: Bringing advocacy to a health and public policy level. Nursing in Focus, 8(2), 17-19.
  33. McGibbon, E. & McPherson, C. (2006). Interpretive pedagogy in action:  Design and delivery of a violence and health workshop for baccalaureate nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 45(2), 81-85.