Accepting graduate students

Research themes

Research interests

Research affiliations

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

Awards

ORCID profile

Visit Andrew Hatala’s ORCID profile for a complete listing, or visit his ResearchGate profile or his Google Scholar page.

Andrew Hatala’s ORCID profile

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