Dr. Jane Polsky is currently working as a researcher in the Health Analysis Division of Statistics Canada. She holds a PhD in Public Health Sciences from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a Masters in Epidemiology from Queen's University. Dr. Polsky has a long-standing interest in studying the trends and determinants of diet-related chronic disease at the population level, as well as the socio-economic determinants of health. She is particularly interested in how our social and environmental conditions "invisibly" shape the choices and behaviors of individuals that influence their risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and how these conditions are often unequally distributed in our society according to socio-economic criteria.

 

Dr. Polsky's recent research has focused on examining the eating habits of Canadians using national nutrition data, as well as on food environments and their relationship to the health status of local residents. More recently, she examined food insecurity and the state of mental health of the population during the first months of the COVID-19 epidemic in Canada.

 

Her doctoral research explored the influence of local food retailer food environments in southern Ontario on residents' excess body weight and risk of developing diabetes over time. Dr Polski was also the lead writer for the 2013 Diabetes Atlas for Peel Region. Findings from this research have been featured in local and national media, and have been used by local public health units to inform the design of strategies to create food environments that support healthy eating. Dr. Polsky is also interested in science communication for various audiences, with an emphasis on effective science writing and editing.