Dr. Mary Ellen Macdonald

My current research program focuses on the health of vulnerable populations in Canada, looking across three main domains: oral health, Indigenous health, and palliative care. I work mainly with qualitative (especially ethnographic) and participatory methodologies. A central focus of my research program is on the various ways the social, the cultural and the political intersect to both produce and respond to particular forms of vulnerability within Canadian society.

My current research interests include: oral health in vulnerable populations; cultural aspects of health and illness with Indigenous communities; palliative care and bereavement; qualitative methodologies; and health professions education.