Associate professor
Max Rady College of Medicine
Community Health Sciences
Room S108J, Medical Services Bldg.
750 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3E 0W3
Andrew Hatala, PhD
Accepting graduate students
- Master’s - yes
- PhD - yes
Research themes
- arts-based methodologies
- community psychology
- community-based participatory research
- critical social science
- ethnography
- indigenous methodologies
- medical and psychological anthropology
- qualitative health research
Research interests
- culture and health
- holistic healing
- Indigenous knowledge(s)
- social science and medicine
- spirituality and health
- transcultural psychiatry
- youth resilience and wellness
Research affiliations
- Research scientist, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)
- Research affiliate, Ongomiizwin Indigenous Health Research Institute
- Member, Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) College of Reviewers
- Editorial Board Member, BMC Public Health
Research summary
Dr. Hatala advances community-based participatory and qualitative research exploring youth wellness, health, and resilience within urban Canadian contexts, as well as exploring diverse healing practices for mental illness and chronic conditions in both Canadian and Belizean Indigenous communities.
Throughout this work, Dr. Hatala critically examines the social and cultural determinants of health—at distal (historical, political, structural), intermediate (community infrastructure, resources, capacities), and proximal (health behaviours, local environments) levels—as root causes of health inequities.
Dr. Hatala’s research also focuses on supporting cultural strengths, local Indigenous knowledge, and positive aspects of a community that are needed to promote resilience, health equity, and constrictive social transformation.
Biography
Andrew Hatala is an associate professor in community health sciences at the University of Manitoba.
He is a cultural psychologist, qualitative community-health researcher, and medical anthropologist with community-based research experience in urban Canadian contexts and rural communities in Belize.
He became assistant professor in community health sciences after completing a CIHR post-doctorate fellowship in community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan investigating strategies of resilience and mental health among First Nations and Métis youth.
Dr. Hatala completed his PhD in the culture, health, and human development program in the department of psychology at the University of Saskatchewan. His dissertation involved a comparative analysis of the relationships between Q’eqchi’ Maya traditional healer conceptions of mental illness and Western conceptions outlined in the DSM-5, including how this relationship or lack thereof impacts health policy and practice in Belize.
His published works focus on qualitative methodologies, culture and spirituality, mental health, Indigenous healing and epistemology, Indigenous nosology of mental illness and disorder, and resilience and wellness among Indigenous youth populations.
Dr. Hatala was born in central Canada with Polish, English, and Finish ancestry. After growing up primarily in Treaty 7 area on Blackfoot lands (outside Calgary Alberta), Andrew is now settled on Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg), the lands where First Nation Peoples have been living since time immemorial, and where the Métis have established their Homeland.
As part of his work at the University of Manitoba, he endeavours to be a good visitor on these lands by doing his part in decolonizing his worldviews and dismantling systemic white-supremacy, while building good and respectful relations with Indigenous Peoples. He is forever grateful for the land, the water, and the skies that have taught him so much and shown him the beauty of this place and its people.
Education
- CIHR Post-Doctorate Fellowship in Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, (2016)
- PhD in psychology, culture, health and human development program, University of
- Saskatchewan, (2014)
- BA (high honours) in psychology, University of Saskatchewan, (2008)
Awards
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award (2017-2021)
ORCID profile
Visit Andrew Hatala’s ORCID profile for a complete listing, or visit his ResearchGate profile or his Google Scholar page.
Contact us
Community Health Sciences
Max Rady College of Medicine
Room S113 - 750 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W3 Canada
204-789-3655