Who we are

CoDeRS is a collaborative network of critical social scientists committed to transforming health research through situated, reflexive, and equity-oriented approaches. Our members come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds—anthropology, sociology, public health, Indigenous studies, and more—but we share a commitment to engaging with the structures that shape health outcomes from within.

We are embedded in the systems we study. Rather than observing health systems from a distance, we work alongside practitioners, communities, and policymakers to interrogate and reshape the ways knowledge is produced and applied.

Rooted at the University of Manitoba, our reach extends across borders, connecting local insights to global movements for justice in health research.

What We Stand For

At CoDeRS, our values shape both our work and our relationships:

Cultural Responsivity: We challenge researchers and institutions to embed culturally grounded practices in their work, recognizing diverse knowledge systems and experiences.
Health Equity: We see the pursuit of health equity as a political and ethical imperative that demands critical, structural analysis.
Democratization of Knowledge: We work to de-center dominant voices and create space for marginalized perspectives to lead in research and policy conversations.
Decolonization: We position ourselves as accomplices in the global movement to decolonize research—opening space for approaches that reorder dominant ways of thinking and doing.
Inclusion: We foster inclusive environments that uplift lived experience and diverse methodologies.
Reflexivity: We are critically aware of our own positions and the power dynamics that shape the research process. Our work is iterative and reflexive by design.

What we Do

Conduct critical social science research that shapes health programs and policies.
Provide a supportive and nourishing space for scholars to develop ideas, collaborate, and reflect.
Advocate for the integration of critical perspectives into mainstream research practices.
Engage with the public through op-eds, commentaries, and thought leadership.
Collaborate with global communities and institutions on health and social justice issues.

Meet the Team

Dr. Robert Lorway

Robert Lorway’s research is concerned with the social study of global health interventions, particularly those designed to improve the lives of marginalized populations in Africa and Asia.
Theoretically, his work attempts to understand how contemporary global health interventions enact forms of governance that shape new modalities of citizenship and ‘make up’ communities and subjectivities for health service delivery schemes.
At the same time, he grapples with the concrete public health implications of these emergent forms of sociality. Robert’s theoretical engagements are firmly rooted in collaborative public health projects conducted with members of community-based organizations.
Dr. Deb McPhail

Dr. McPhail's work is committed to working toward health equity, and her expertise is in qualitative, anti-oppressive research methodologies. Her research, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Research Manitoba, focuses on oppressed groups who are marginalized by and within the healthcare system, and is grounded in the communities to which she belongs: 2SLGBTQIA+ and fat communities.
To this end, she has partnered with community agencies such as Sunshine House and Rainbow Resource Centre in research projects such as "Queering COVID" and "Assessing the Quality of Healthcare for Trans Women, Queer Women, and Non-Binary People in Manitoba."
Jared Star, BSW, MSc

Jared Star is a PhD Candidate and Vanier Scholar in the Department of Community Health Sciences, as well as the Director of Research for Nine Circles Community Health Centre. Jared is a passionate community health leader with over 17 years’ experience in the non-profit sector, with a specialized focus on supporting sexual and gender diverse communities via program development and evaluation. Jared is also trained social scientist with research foci in the areas of sexuality, substance use and harm reduction, as well as in non-profit leadership and community development. What excites Jared most about research is the potential for program and policy level change that contributes to broader social justice aims for groups marginalized by structural forms of oppression.
Dr. Lisa Lazarus

Dr. Lisa Lazarus is a critical social scientist, with a focus on community-based research methodologies in the field of HIV sciences. She is particularly interested in how we further democratize community-based research partnerships across research disciplines.
She has been collaborating on community-based research studies since 2009 and has partnered with community-led organizations in Kenya, India, and Canada.
Her PhD research, an ethnographic study of an HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) demonstration project led by a sex worker collective known as Ashodaya Samithi, based in Mysore, India, built on 10 years of community-based collaborations with the organization.
Her research critically examines how we define "success" in global public health interventions, as well as the significant role that communities themselves play in "making success".
Samantha Moore BA, MA

Samantha Moore (she/her) is a medical anthropologist and PhD candidate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. Her primary research interests include the social and cultural determinants of infectious disease, gendered and racialized health disparities, and the use of health technologies and programming in colonized spaces.
Dr. Bernadette Kombo

I am a social science researcher and medical anthropologist with a PhD in community health sciences. My work is deeply grounded in ethnographic inquiry, especially in the context of problem drinking, HIV prevention among vulnerable populations, and community-based participatory research and practice. Theoretically, I am working with material semiotics and Actor-Network Theory to understand the realities of problem drinking and mental health.
Jen Sebring

Jen Sebring (they/she) is a PhD candidate and CIHR Vanier graduate scholar whose work engages the social study of medicine through a critical disability lens. Specifically, Jen draws on arts-based methodologies to understand the complex sociocultural dynamics and ingrained assumptions that perpetuate the mistreatment of people living with contested illnesses. Jen works with patient advocacy and community organizations in her research, informed by her background in women’s and gender studies and previous employment in local arts and community non-profits. Through her research, Jen hopes to develop health professions education interventions to improve the care afforded to people living with contested illnesses.
Dr. Claudyne Chevrier

Coming soon!
Dr. Naveed Noor

Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!

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