Dr. Lucyna Lach is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, McGill University and an Associate Member of the Departments of Paediatrics and Neurology/Neurosurgery in the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University. She has a special interest in health-related quality of life and parenting of children with chronic health conditions and disabilities. Dr. Lach is principal investigator for the Quebec subsample of the pan-Canadian study on Outcome Trajectories in Children with Epilepsy, a study examining determinants of health-related quality of life in this population. She is also co-principal investigator of the CIHR Team in PARENTING MATTERS! The Biopsychosocial Context Of Parenting Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders In Canada, providing leadership and training to four concurrent projects that will contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge in this area of study. Working closely with parents, clinical and institutional leaders, and policy makers, Dr. Lach hopes to increase awareness of what constitutes parenting, what makes a difference to how parents parent their child, and what difference parenting makes to child outcomes.
Dr. Lach is currently the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) in the Faculty of Arts. She teaches direct practice, theory, and research courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She has reviewed grants for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Fonds de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, and numerous peer-reviewed journals. Prior to joining the faculty at McGill University in 2001, she spent 17 years as a social worker at the Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario where she worked in the Division of Neurology.
Dr. Lach began her professional career as a front-line social worker working with families and children with Cystic Fibrosis and neuro-developmental diagnoses at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
In the mid 1990s, Dr. Lach became involved in an interdisciplinary project with a neuropsychologist and a nurse practitioner from her clinical setting. They set out to produce the first prospective longitudinal study on the cognitive and psychosocial outcomes of children undergoing epilepsy surgery. This project launched her academic career.
Dr. Lach returned to the University of Toronto in 1995 to complete a PhD, which she earned in 2004. When a position came up at McGill in 2001, she was hired while completing her dissertation, teaching applied courses such as Family Assessment, School Social Services and Health and Social Work, and maintaining her responsibilities as co-investigator in funded research.
To students, she hopes to be a motivator, to challenge them to define their distinctive traits as social workers, and to appreciate the scholarship behind their practice. She would like to encourage them to engage in research like she did, to document what they know and do, and to feel proud of the contribution that they make to interdisciplinary teams.
To view Dr. Lach's complete CV, please click here.
Education
Ph.D. (University of Toronto) 2004
M.S.W (University of Toronto) 1986
B.A. (University of Toronto) 1984
Employment
Associate Dean (Student Affairs)
Nov. 2012 to - present Associate Dean (Student Affairs)
Associate Professor
Jun. 2009 - present Associate Professor
McGill University, Faculty of Arts, School of Social Work
2004-present Associate Member
McGill University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Child Behaviour Development Program
McGill University, Faculty of Medicine, Department Neurology and Neurosurgery
Sept. 2001 - May 2009 Assistant Professor
McGill University, Faculty of Arts, School of Social Work
1999-2000 Sessional Lecturer
University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work
1988-2001 Social Worker
Hospital For Sick Children, Division of Neurology
1986-1988 Social Worker
Hospital For Sick Children, Chest Division
Research
Publications