Dr. Ingrid Waldron
Associate Professor: Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University
Faculty Website / Book / ENRICH Project / Twitter / One World Diversity Consulting
Dr. Ingrid Waldron is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University, the Team Co-Lead for the Health of People of African Descent Research Cluster at the Healthy Populations Institute at Dalhousie, the Director of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project, and the Co-Chair of Dalhousie’s Black Faculty & Staff Caucus. Her research examines the structural and environmental determinants of health and mental health in Black Canadian and Indigenous communities. She co-produced the documentary film There’s Something in the Water with actress Ellen Page, Ian Daniel and Julia Sanderson, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Atlantic Film Festival in September 2019. The film is based on her book There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities, which won the Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing in June 2019. Dr. Waldron is also the Founding Consultant at One World Diversity Consulting.
What are you most proud of professionally? And who or why?
I am most proud of the research projects I am leading at Dalhousie because they have brought attention to the multiple causal factors for health and mental health disparities in Black, Indigenous, immigrant and refugee communities in Nova Scotia and Canada as they relate to historical and present-day social, economic, environmental and political inequalities.
What’s your vision for Atlantic Canada in 10 years? What’s our biggest opportunity now? My vision for Atlantic Canada in 10 years is that Atlantic Canadians get to a place where they are much more ready to acknowledge and address the inequities and barriers faced by historically marginalized populations: Indigenous peoples and Black Nova Scotians.
What was your greatest stage of growth? What made it a shift for you?
My greatest stage of growth has been the work I have been doing over the last 10 years as a professor at Dalhousie. In 2010, I watched Black in America, a CNN special program that highlighted innovative and impactful initiatives that Black Americans were leading to improve their communities. I remember watching that program and aspiring to do something similar with my work. I knew I wanted to do research that was meaningful and impactful, but I did not know what that would look like. A few years later, I developed the ENRICH Project, which has focused on using research and other activities to positively impact Black and Indigenous communities. Although I did not realize it at the time, I now know that the CNN program played a role in what the ENRICH Project has been able to achieve over the last 9 years.
What’s your favourite or most read book or podcast?
My favourite book is a book I read in childhood: “To Sir with Love”, which was later made into a film starring Sidney Poitier. I had no idea at the time that I would choose teaching as a career, but it was a combination of factors that contributed to my ongoing love for the book: it was set in the “swinging sixties” in a low-income part of London, England, where teachers had to deal with many poorly behaved students. Enter the Black teacher from the Caribbean who was a bit of a fish out of water in that context and had to put up with a lot of bullying from his students because of his outsider status as a Black man who immigrated from another country. His integrity and determination to do right by the students and the fact that he truly cared for his students, despite their mistreatment of him, eventually won them over.
What’s your deepest learning from this past year? How did/will you apply it?
My deepest learning is recognizing how important it is to stay open to opportunities and to meeting new people. The possibilities are endless when you learn how to remain open and to not focus on what you don’t have, but on what you have and what can be.
Who’s inspired you, directly or indirectly? How have they inspired you?
The people who inspire me most are those who create their own opportunities, who are imaginative, creative and innovative, who are focused on using imagination, and who see limitless possibilities. I am most impressed with scientists and innovators.
What would you have done differently?
Nothing. As I look back on my career trajectory, I realize that everything I did (including the time in my life where I felt I was stuck in certain jobs that had lost their thrill) led me to where I am now. It all makes sense to me now as I look back on my career because I realize that there was a thread running through everything I did that related directly to the scholarship I am engaged in now as a professor.
What were your priorities and how did they help you overcome some of the struggles you’ve faced?
My priorities have always been focused on education, hard work, motivation, diligence, integrity in everything I do, and treating others well. Living by these principles has helped me to overcome some of the challenges I have experienced in my life and to continue to reach new heights.
How have you recovered from fractured professional relationships?
What I have learned from my experiences with fractured relationships is that maintaining positive relationships with everyone is the most important goal to achieve in life. Relationships are the center of everything -one’s personal life and one’s professional life. People care most about your ability to get along with others than how many degrees you have. Therefore, nurturing and maintaining positive and healthy relationships continues to be a key goal of mine. We are nothing without good relationships.
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University Professor, Sociologist of race, ethnicity and health, Diversity Consultant, Movie lover, Music lover, Lover of music biographies, Lover of travel