Marni Brownell

Marni Brownell is a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director, Research, at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Manitoba, and a Research Scientist with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). In her research, Dr. Brownell uses whole-population administrative health and social services databases from multiple sectors to examine child health and well-being, with a particular focus on social and structural influences on health.

She currently leads research projects focusing on the health and well-being of children in the child protection and youth criminal justice systems, the health and well-being of First Nations and of Metis children and families, and a large partnership between representatives of community organizations, government staff, and academics from multiple disciplines working together to address complex social challenges.

Dr. Brownell trained as a developmental psychologist, completing her bachelor’s (honours) degree at the University of Winnipeg, her master’s at the University of Toronto (1986), and her PhD at the University of Manitoba (1991).

She holds the MCHP Endowed Professorship for Population-Based Child Health Research and was the 2019 recipient of the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Geoffrey C. Robinson award honouring excellence in population health research. She was a member of the CCA’s Expert Panel on Timely Access to Health and Social Data for Health Research on Health System Innovation.

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