Areas of interest

Social psychology, adolescent mental health, social determinants of health, research methods

Education

• BA, Social Psychology, McGill University
• MHSc, Health Promotion, University of Toronto
• DSc, Social Epidemiology, Harvard University

Biography

After starting an undergraduate program in Science, Dr. Tucker ended up with a BA in Psychology and Sociology (where she focused on health psychology and medical sociology), from McGill University. She then went on to a practically oriented Master of Health Science in Health Promotion from the University of Toronto. Following her Masters, she worked at the Children and Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia on a number of initiatives, including the establishment of the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. After numerous colleagues and mentors convinced her to pursue a career in research, she moved to Boston to do doctoral work at the Harvard School of Public Health. While living in Boston, she worked at the Harvard Eating Disorders Centre on a large eating disorders prevention project. From January 2001-June 2005 she was the Project Director for the BC Youth Survey on Smoking and Health I and II, two large cross-sectional surveys focused on tobacco dependence among adolescents. After receiving a CBIE/CIDA Award for Canadians, Dr. Tucker spent four months volunteering with a small NGO (Apne Aap) that addresses issues related to child sex-trafficking in Kolkata, India in 2003-2004.