Joanna Anneke Rummens , PhD
The Hospital for Sick Children
Health Systems Research Scientist
Community Health Systems Resource Group
Research Institute
Project Investigator
Child Health Evaluative Sciences
University of Toronto
Assistant Professor
Culture, Community and Health Studies, Department of Psychiatry
Full Member
Institute of Medical Sciences
Other Positions
CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre
Director
York University
Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC)
Fellow
Phone: 416-813-7654 ext 1986
Fax: 416-813-7258
e-mail: anneke.rummens@sickkids.ca
For more information, visit: Community Health Systems Resource Group
Brief Biography
Dr. Joanna Anneke Rummens is a Health Systems Research Scientist with the Community Health Systems Resource Group, and Project Investigator, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). She is also Director and Senior Scholar of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) – The Ontario Metropolis Centre of Excellence for research on immigration and settlement (www.ceris.metropolis.net), and is a Fellow of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University. In addition, she holds appointments as an Assistant Professor in Culture, Community and Health Studies and in Women's Mental Health with the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, and as full member of the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Rummens is a multilingual anthropologist/sociologist whose research explores the links between identity, diversity, health and well-being, with special focus on vulnerable and marginalized populations. She has undertaken fieldwork with a wide variety of cultural groups in different societal contexts and employs an explicitly interdisciplinary, mixed-methodological, comparative perspective. Her work reflects a strong commitment to policy- and practice-relevant research, collaborative research partnerships with representatives from diverse ethno-cultural communities, as well as effective research translation / transfer and knowledge exchange / mobilization with a wide range of key stakeholders. Dr. Rummens has served in an advisory capacity in the areas of identity, diversity, citizenship, integration and health to various governmental departments and was a Member of the Advisory Committee to Statistics Canada and Canadian Heritage for Canada’s post-census Ethnic Diversity Survey. She is the inventor of the Canadian Identities Database (CID), an interdisciplinary reference database on identity research in Canada and designated University of Toronto invention.
Research Interests
Dr. Rummens' areas of interest include immigrant/refugee child/youth health and well-being, war-affected newcomer communities, cross-culturally competent health service delivery, and international health research. Other areas of interest include cultural pluralism and minority relations; immigration and resettlement issues, ‘third world’ development, medical anthropology and sociology, qualitative research, and mixed-methodological research techniques.
Current research projects focus on: the health, mental health and well-being of immigrant/refugee children and youth; identity formation and negotiation among newcomer youth, and among children/youth of mixed ethno-cultural heritage; impacts of war-trauma on newcomer children and youth; socio-cultural meanings of distress within war-affected diaspora communities; pathways and barriers to culturally competent health care for ethno-cultural communities; as well as developmental and educational trajectories across diverse populations.
Dr. Rummens is Co-Principal Investigator and Principal Applicant/ Toronto Site Principal Investigator of the New Canadian Children and Youth Study (NCCYS), a national longitudinal health survey of 4,200 immigrant and refugee children representing seventeen different ethno-cultural communities in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver (2001-2009). The NCCYS is facilitated via the Metropolis Project’s Centres of Excellence for research on immigration and diversity in urban areas, and involves a team of close to 25 researchers based at nine universities and hospitals across Canada (www.metropolis.net). She is also Co-Principal Investigator of a three year comparative study of limited access to health care of children with precarious migrant status in Ontario and Quebec.
Hosted Symposia
Multiple Diversities: Child/Youth Identity and Life Outcomes. (2009). Sponsored by The Hospital for Sick Children.
Publications
Kanagaratnam, P. & Rummens, J.A. (In press). War trauma and psycho-social dynamics within the Tamil diaspora: Nationalist sentiment as a protective mental health factor. In Cheran Rudhramoorthy (Ed). Tortured Landscape: Selective Essays on Tamil Nationalism. Sage Publications.
Rummens, J.A. (In press). Creating spaces: Linking migration and diversity research with policy/practice needs. In Rodríguez-García, Dan (Ed). Managing Immigration and Diversity in Quebec and Canada: A Transatlantic Dialogue with Catalonia, Spain, and Europe. Barcelona, Spain: CIDOB Foundation www.cidob.org. Translated into French, Spanish, and Catalan.
Rummens, J.A. (In press). Building an effective knowledge transfer and exchange partnership between government, universities and civil society to enhance decision-making and optimize policy/practice outcomes. In Rodríguez-García, Dan (Ed). Managing Immigration and Diversity in Quebec and Canada: A Transatlantic Dialogue with Catalonia, Spain, and Europe. Barcelona, Spain: CIDOB Foundation www.cidob.org. Translated into French, Spanish, and Catalan.
Tilleczek, K., Ferguson, H.B., Boydell, K.M., & Rummens, J.A. (In press). Early school leaving: Understanding the lived realities of disengagement from secondary school. Canadian Journal of Education.
Ferrari, M., Tweed, S., Rummens, J.A., Skinner, H. & McVey, G.L. (2009). Health materials and strategies for the prevention of immigrants' weight-related problems. Qualitative Health Research, 19, 1259-1272.
Rummens, J. A. (2009). How are we doing? Educational and linguistic integration outcomes among immigrant and refugee children and youth in Canada. Contact. Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Tilleczek, K., Ferguson, H.B., Roth Edney, D., Rummens, J.A., Boydell, K.M., & Mueller, M.P. (2008). Reconsidering school disengagement: A sociological view from the margins. Tilleczek, K. (Ed). Why Do Students Drop Out of High School? Narrative Studies and Social Critiques. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 3-33.
Mueller, M., Tilleczek, K., Rummens, J.A., & Boydell, K.M. (2008). Methodological considerations for the study of youth and school disengagement. Tilleczek, K. (Ed). Why Do Students Drop Out of High School? Narrative Studies and Social Critiques. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 35-73.
Rummens, J.A., Tilleczek, K., Boydell, K.M., & Ferguson, H.B. (2008). Understanding and addressing early school leaving among immigrant and refugee youth. Tilleczek, K . (Ed). Why Do Students Drop Out of High School? Narrative Studies and Social Critiques. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 75-100.
Tilleczek, K., Ferguson, H.B., Roth Edney, D., Rummens, J.A., & Boydell, K.M. (2008). A critical review of initiatives to redress youth and school disengagement. Tilleczek, K. (Ed). Why Do Students Drop Out of High School? Narrative Studies and Social Critiques. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 189-206.
Simich, L., Andermann, L., Rummens, J. A., & Ted, L. (2008). Post-disaster mental distress relief: Health promotion and knowledge exchange in partnership with a refugee diaspora community. Refuge, 25 (1), 44-54.
Tilleczek, K., Ferguson, H.B., Rummens, J.A., & Boydell, K.M. (2006). How do youth leave school? Current lessons from youth who know. Education Canada, 46 (4),19-22.
Rummens, J.A. (2004). Operationalizing diversity intersections: Race and its related grounds in human rights policy. Policy Dialogue on Racial Discrimination, Ontario Human Rights Commission. www.ohrc.on.ca/en/issues/racism/racepolicydialogue/jar.
Rummens, J.A. (2003). Identity and diversity: Overlaps, intersections and processes. Canadian Ethnic Studies. Special Issue: Intersections of Diversity, 35 (3), 10-25.
Rummens, J. A. (2003). Ethnic ancestry, culture, identity and health: Using ethnic origin data from the 2001 Canadian Census. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 19 (1), 84-112.
Rummens, J.A. & Seat, R. (2003). Assessing the impact of the Kosovo conflict on the mental health and well-being of newcomer Serbian children and youth in the Greater Toronto Area: Research report. CERIS Working Paper #25, Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, 56.
Beiser, M., Noh, S., Kaspar, V., Hou, F. & Rummens, J.A. (2001). Southeast Asian refugees’ perceptions of racial discrimination in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 18 (1), 46-70.
Rummens, J. A. (2001). Addressing the Canadian context: Identity research gaps and policy recommendations. Conference Proceedings, Policy-Research Seminar on Ethnocultural, Racial, Religious and Linguistic Diversity and Identity. Ottawa: Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism).
Rummens, J. A. (2001). Canadian identities: An analytic research guide. Ottawa: Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism), 160.
Rummens, J.A. (2000). Canadian identities: An interdisciplinary overview of Canadian research on identity. Ottawa: Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism), 56. Translated into French under the title: Identités canadiennes: Un survol interdisciplinaire de la recherche canadienne sur l'identité. www.pch.gc.ca.
Beiser, M., Noh, S., Kaspar, V., Hou, F. & Rummens, J. A. (1999). Perceived racial discrimination, depression and coping: A rtudy of Southeast Asian refugees in Canada. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 40 (3), 193-207.
Invited Articles
Anisef, P., Rummens, J.A. & Shields, J. (2007). Diversity and the city: CERIS research partnerships and knowledge exchange for policy impact. Our Diverse Cities: Ontario, 4, 7-12.
Beiser, M., Ogilvie, L., Rummens, J.A., Armstrong, R. & Martinez-Oxman, J. (2005). The New Canadian Children and Youth Study: Research to fill a gap in Canada’s children’s agenda. Canadian Issues/Thèmes Canadiens, Spring, 21-24.
Rummens, J.A. & Rajko S. (2004). Assessing the impact of the Kosovo conflict on the mental health and well-being of newcomer Serbian children and Youth in the Greater Toronto Area. CERIS Policy Matters Series No. 9, Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS)-Toronto, www.ceris.metropolis.net.
Rummens, J.A. (2004). Operationalizing race and its related grounds in Ontario human rights policy. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, 3 (3), 7-10. Translated in the same issue as “Opérationnaliser la race et ses fondements connexes dans la politique ontarienne des droits de la personne”.
Rummens, J.A. (2004). Strengthening Canada’s social weave: Diversity, identity and belonging. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, 3 (2), 39-42.
Rummens, J.A. (Ed). (2004). Intersectionality. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, Winter, 3-4.
Rummens, J.A. (2004). Overlapping and intersecting identities. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, Winter, 5-9.
Rummens, J.A. (2003). deConstruction of ethnic and racial identities in the Canadian and US censuses. CARS – Canadian American Research Symposium, 1 (1), 46-48.
Rummens, J.A. (2003). Ethnicity, health and the Census: Moving beyond 'culture-by-proxy'. Canadian Diversity/Diversitė Canadienne, 2 (2), 15-18.
Rummens, J.A. (2003). Transcending diversity: Envisioning shared citizenship. Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne, 1 (1), 77-78.
Rummens, J.A. (2002). Redefining the Canadian demos: Towards a transcultural citizenship charter. Canadian Issues/Thèmes Canadiens. Special Edition: 30 years of Multiculturalism, 15-18.
Invited Presentations
Rummens, J.A. Identity, diversity and multiple marginalizations: Immigrant and refugee children in school. Educational Cultures and Possibilities for Resilient Outcomes. Marginalized Youth and Contemporary Educational Contexts. Community Health Systems Resource Group, The Hospital for Sick Children, Collaborative Research Symposia Series. MaRS Discovery District. Toronto, ON. May 13, 2009.
Rummens, J.A. Educational and linguistic outcomes of immigrant and refugee children and youth in Canada. School-based mental health intervention and prevention for immigrant and refugee children. Division of Cultural and Social Psychiatry and Metropolis Montreal, McGill University. Montreal, QC. April 28-29, 2009.
Rummens, J.A. Fitting in: Educational and linguistic integration outcomes among immigrant/refugee children/youth in Canada. Research Symposium: Immigrants and Mental Health. Celebrating the International Year of Languages. 36th Annual Teachers of English as a Second Language. Toronto, ON. November 13-15, 2008.
Rummens, J.A. Creating spaces: Linking migration and diversity research with policy/practice needs. Session 6: Partnerships and Knowledge Transfer between Government, Civil Society and Universities: The Metropolis Centres. Managing Immigration and Diversity in Quebec and Canada – An International Forum. Panel - Partnerships and Knowledge Transfer between Government, Civil Society, and Universities: The Metropolis Centres. Ministry of Immigration of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and the CDOB Foundation. Barcelona, Spain. October 22-23, 2008.
Rummens, J.A. Addressing the needs of war-affected children/youth: Context, response, resilience. Child Psychotherapies and Development Conference (CPAD) on War, Immigration and Trauma. Toronto, ON. May 16-17.
Rummens, J.A. Immigrant and refugee children. CERIS-The Ontario Metropolis Centre: Policy practice relevant research. Policy ADM Forum Briefing to the Assistant Deputy Ministers (all Ministries), Province of Ontario, May 13, 2008.
Rummens, J.A. Exploring ethnic and Canadian identities: Factors associated with personal identification choices among newcomer visible minority children in Canada. International Sociology Association (ISA). Toronto, ON. May 8-11, 2007.
Rummens, J.A. Research symposium on second generation youth in Canada. A CIC Research Network Event - Citizenship and Immigration, Canadian Heritage, Justice Canada, and Public Safety. The Metropolis Project. Ottawa, ON. March 20, 2007.
Kanagaratnam, P. & Rummens J.A. Nationalism as a protective mental health factor? Psycho-social dynamics within the Tamil diaspora. Trans/formations: A Conference on Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism and the Impact of Ethnic Conflict. International Centre for Ethnic Studies. Colombo, Sri Lanka. December 16-19, 2004.
Rummens, J.A. Operationalizing diversity intersections: Race and its related grounds in human rights policy. Opening Keynote Panel Address. Policy Dialogue on Racial Discrimination. Ontario Human Rights Commission. Toronto, ON. October 6-8, 2004.
Rummens, J.A. Negotiating multiple and mixed identities: Canadian children and youth. Session E66. Fitting In: Contextualizing Plural Identities. 9th International Metropolis Conference: Cooperative Migration Management – International, National and Local Answers. Geneva, Switzerland. September 27-October 1, 2004.
Rummens, J.A. Transcending diversity: Envisioning shared citizenship. Session 3.1 National Identity and Diversity. Eighth International Metropolis Conference - Gaining From Migration: A Global Perspective on Opportunities for Economic and Social Prosperity. Vienna, Austria. September 15-19, 2003.
Rummens, J.A. deConstructing ethnic and racial identities. Diversity Discourses: Constructing and De-Constructing Identities in Canada and the United States - Ethnicity and Race. Diversity Dialogues, The Canadian American Research Symposium. New York, USA. September 10-11, 2003.
Rummens, J.A. Conceptualizing identity and diversity: Overlaps, intersections and processes. Guest Speaker. Special Seminar on Identity Intersections within Diversity: Implications for Policy Research and Development. Director General, Strategic Planning and Management, Citizenship and Heritage Sector. Ottawa, ON. June 12, 2003.
Rummens, J.A. Transcending diversity: Towards a transcultural citizenship charter. Panel 3 - Social Construction: Citizenship and Identity. Special Session on Citizenship: Values and Responsibilities. Jointly organized by the Association for Canadian Studies, Canadian Studies and Multiculturalism Programs (Canadian Heritage), Citizenship Promotion (Citizenship and Immigration Canada), the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Metropolis Project. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Halifax, NS. June 2, 2003.
Rummens, J.A. Identity structures. Theoretical Perspectives: Intersections of Diversity Seminar. Association for Canadian Studies, Multiculturalism Program (Canadian Heritage) and the Metropolis Project Team (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). Niagara Falls, ON. April 25-26, 2003.
Rummens, J.A. Ethnic ancestry, identity and health: Using ethnic origin data from the 2001 Canadian Census. Workshop 17D Ethnic Origin Data from the 2001 Census. Sixth National Metropolis Conference on Immigration and Diversity: Research, Policy and Practice in an Era of Globalization. Edmonton, AB. March 21-24, 2003.