Akram Mahani

Assistant Professor at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina
Dr. Akram Mahani is an Assistant Professor at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina located on Treaty 4 Territory, and a researcher at Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU).
Akram has wide-ranging empirical interests and background with her research spanning across multiple health policy, population health, and health services research areas. She has more than 20 years of experience in research, teaching, administration, and leadership in multi-disciplinary and applied settings across seven universities in three countries: Canada, England, and Iran. She has published in the leading peer-reviewed journals in the fields of health policy, public health, and health promotion. In 2013, Akram founded the International Journal of Health Policy and Management (known as IJHPM) and served as its inaugural editor-in-chief until late August 2021.
Akram’s current research focuses on healthy sustainable cities and communities for all with a focus on health equity. She has received funding from CIHR to examine the role of cross-sectoral collaboration to improve outcomes of children and youth in vulnerable context. In a project funded by SHRF, she investigated integration of health and equity into urban design and urban planning policies and decisions. Building on this research findings and in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders and knowledge users, she is currently co-designing a large-scale research project on the impact of urban design on health outcomes with a focus on mental health. In another project funded by SHRF, Akram is investigating how municipalities work in partnership with local public health systems to enhance population health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. Akram has led another project on the formalized partnerships between municipalities and academic institutions across Canada to see how these partnerships bridge the science-policy gap.