Guest seminar: Indigenous Health and Colonial Design

Dr. Jaris Swidrovich (he/they) is an Assistant Professor and Indigenous Engagement Lead in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. He is a queer, Two Spirit, Saulteaux and Ukrainian pharmacist from Yellow Quill First Nation. His mother was a 60s Scoop survivor and his grandmother and great-grandmother both survived Indian Residential Schools.

Dr. Swidrovich is the Co-Scientific Director of the CIHR-funded Saskatchewan Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (SK-NEIHR) called nātawihowin (“art of self-healing” in Cree), which is a First Nations Research Network that supports researchers, students, and First Nations health leaders and communities in Saskatchewan and beyond. Dr. Swidrovich is the founder and chair of the Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of Canada, and also sits on several other local, provincial, and national boards, including The 519, Pain Ontario, Pain Canada, the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health, and is an Institute Advisory Board member for the CIHR Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health.

Dr. Swidrovich is an active and engaged citizen of the several communities he belongs to and has been recognized with several awards and honours, including the Governor General’s Gold Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for service to the community, and the National Patient Care Achievement Award from the Canadian Pharmacists Association.