Aisling Brody

Aisling Brody is undertaking graduate study at Queen’s University following undergraduate training at the University of Toronto. Her interests span implementation science, translational medicine, philosophy of medicine, public health and the cognitive and social processes through which complex health decisions are made.

Her earlier research examined HIV prevention among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, including questions about whether anxiety and depression influence engagement with preventive strategies such as pre-exposure prophylaxis. That work received a Dean of Students’ Social Impact Award at Victoria College.

A second strand of her work examines public trust, pandemic preparedness and the forms of expertise needed when public-health leaders confront unfamiliar, complex or contested problems. Through interdisciplinary research, she has explored connections among evidence, trust, expertise and decision-making.

More recently, Aisling co-authored a scoping review examining the meaning of integrative thinking across disciplines. The study brought together literature from education, business and other fields to examine how people understand interconnected systems, synthesize different perspectives, work through conflicting ideas and engage in reflection and metacognition.

These strands converge around a common question: how can people and institutions think well when health problems are complex, evidence is distributed across disciplines and effective action requires more than technical knowledge alone?