Brittany (she/her) is a Mississauga Nishnaabekwe of the Mississauga’s of the Credit First Nation with mixed European ancestry.

Due to the gender discrimination in the Indian Act, Brittany was raised majorly disconnected from her culture and community but has spent several years reconnecting. While in university, Brittany learned of the research outlining the relationship between culture, community, and health for Indigenous peoples. This was well aligned with her own experiences growing up disconnected and having several family members and herself live with chronic illnesses.

Brittany pursued this area of research through a research apprenticeship supervised by Dr. Charlotte Loppie, whose mentorship and research approach inspired her to pursue Indigenous health equity through community-based research.

Brittany’s research interests focus on the prevention of the incidence and progression of chronic illnesses (e.g., HIV/AIDS) within Indigenous communities, and the promotion of wholistic well-being.

With a mindful eye to the how, what, and why of research, she draws on multiple research approaches, including community-based research, participatory action research, Indigenous methodologies, and qualitative and quantitative methods.

Brittany is a MA student at Lakehead University, supervised by Dr. Christopher Mushquash and supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Brittany obtained her HBSc. in psychology at the University of Victoria. Her academic achievements were recognized by being placed on the Dean's list. Her honors thesis, funded by the Jamie Cassells Undergraduate Research Award and the Psi Chi Marnie Phillips Diversity Grant and supervised by Dr. Frederick Grouzet, examined how helping others facilitates well-being for Indigenous peoples living with HIV/AIDS, and was recognized by the Canadian Psychological Association through a certificate of academic excellence.

Brittany continuously seeks to put her research into practice in her own life towards mino bimaadiziwin. From a wholistic health promotion mindset, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, yoga, cycling, berry picking with her family, volunteering, and taking care of aki (land) and nibi (water) through environmental conservation work.