Leslie L. Roos, PhD

Research summary

Dr. Roos is investigating the impact of social circumstances from birth to adulthood on development outcomes, using Manitoba’s longitudinal, quasi-experimental databases. These resources enable strong causal inferences, such as examining the effect of family poverty on academic achievement by tracking Employment Income Assistance (EIA) receipt at various childhood stages.

Academic achievement is assessed at ages 5, 9, 15, and 18 using different measures, including the Educational Development Index, provincial assessments, and Grade 12 assessments. Dr. Roos’ research suggests that early poverty may have lasting effects on academic outcomes.

By comparing siblings within families who experienced EIA at different times, the study controls for unmeasured family characteristics, with a focus on maternal and child health.

Research focus

• Big data
• Cohort studies
• Development through the life course
• Multigenerational research
• Record linkage
• Research platforms
• Population research, concept dictionary, and glossary
• Poverty and early childhood outcomes
• Information-rich research environments

Research affiliations

• Founding co-director, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy

Dr. Leslie Roos is a distinguished professor in the College of Community and Global Health at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. He is also a founding co-director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP).

Dr. Roos has received several grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), focusing on the use of large databases in health services research and the study of human development across the lifespan. He played a key role in securing two Canada Foundation for Innovation grants to support the creation and expansion of Canada’s first laboratory based on population-based data related to health, education, and social services.

His work has focused on organizing information to enhance productivity in using such databases for various research purposes, with a particular emphasis on innovative record linkage techniques. These advancements broaden the scope of research while improving its quality.

As of July 2021, Dr. Roos has been cited approximately 16,100 times, according to Google Scholar.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, supervised by Ithiel De Sola Pool (1966)

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Biology (BA), Stanford University (1962), with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa