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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Toba Bryant's profile photo

Toba Bryant
PhD

Associate Professor

Faculty of Health Sciences

Contact information

Shawenjigewining Hall - Room 455
North Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 2697

toba.bryant@ontariotechu.ca

Research topics

  • social determinants of health
  • public policy
  • welfare state
  • social and health inequalities
  • intersectionality
  • political economy
  • health policy
  • neoliberalism
  • employment and economic restructuring

Research and expertise

  • Background and interests

    Dr. Toba Bryant earned her Master of Social Work (specializing in health and social policy) and PhD at the University of Toronto. She is the author of An Introduction to Health Policy, editor of the forthcoming Handbook on the Social Determinants of Health, and co-editor of Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care. She has published book chapters and articles on policy change, housing and health, women’s health, social determinants of health and health equity. Dr. Bryant is general editor of the journal Critical Studies.

     

  • Education
    • Master of Social Work, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario
    • PhD, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario
  • Courses taught
    • HLSC2802U Intro to the Canadian Health Care System
    • HLSC1811U Social Determinants of Health
    • HLSC5111G Public Policy and Health Promotion
    • NURS5111G Health and Public Policy
  • Publications

    For a comprehensive list of publications, visit ResearchGate.

    • Raphael, D. & Bryant, T. (In Press). The Old Mole and the NDP: Has the NDP become an Impediment to Social Progress? Socialist Studies.
    • Raphael, D. & Bryant, T. (2023). Commentary: Socialism as the Way Forward: Updating a Discourse Analysis of the Social Determinants of Health. Critical Public Health https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2023.2178387
    • Raphael, D. & Bryant, T. (2022). Emerging themes in social determinants of health theory and research. International Journal of Health Services 52(4), 428–432. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00207314221109515
    • Raphael, D., Bryant, T., Medvedyuk, S., Govender, P. and Mendly-Zambo, Z. (2022). Desperately seeking reductions in health inequalities in Canada and elsewhere: Polemics and anger mobilization as the way forward? Sociology of Health and Illness, 44, 130-146.
    • Mendly-Zambo, Z., Power, L., Khan, A., Bryant, T. & Raphael, D. (2021). Islands of Isolation in a modern metropolis: Social structures and the geography of social exclusion in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Urban Research 30:101-118. https://cjur.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/cjur/article/view/353
    • Raphael, D. & Bryant, T. (2022). Resisting the effects of neoliberalism on public policy. Commentary on implementing universal and targeted policies for health equity: Lessons from Australia. International Journal of Health Policy and Management. https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4282_1148dbfcfb12137949b0830d0d655fe8.pdf
    • Aquanno, S. & Bryant, T. (2021). Situating the Pandemic: Welfare Capitalism and Canada’s Liberal Regime. International Journal of Health Services (DOI: 10.1177/0020731420987079/ ID: IJHS-20-0413.R1).
    • Aquanno, S. & Bryant, T. (2020). Workplace Restructuring and Institutional Change: GM Oshawa from 1994 to 2019. Studies in Political Economy.
    • Bryant, T., Aquanno, S. & Raphael, D. (2020). Unequal impact of COVID-19: Emergency Neoliberalism and Canadian welfare policy. Critical Studies 15(1), 22-39.
    • Raphael, D. & Bryant, T. (2020). Politics, policies, practices and outcomes: Despite Canada’s reputation, the Nordic nations are the leaders in health promotion. Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift/Journal of Social Medicine 97 (3), 373-392.
    • Scott, H., Bryant, T. & Aquanno, S. (2020). The role of transportation in sustaining and reintegrating formerly homeless clients. Journal of Poverty 24(7), 591-609.  DOI: 10.1080/10875549.2020.1740375
      Raphael, D., Komakech, M., Bryant, T., and Torrence, R. (2019). Governmental illegitimacy and incompetency in Canada and other liberal nations: Implications for health. International Journal of Health Services, 49(1), 17-36.
    • Raphael, D., Chaufan, C., Bryant, T., Bakhsh, M., Mindra, J., Puran, A. & Saliba, D. (2018). The cultural hegemony of chronic disease association discourse in Canada. Social Theory and Health. 
    • Raphael, D., Bryant, T. & Mendly-Zambo. (2018). Canada considers a basic income guarantee: Can it achieve health for all? Health Promotion International.
    • Bryant, T. & Raphael, D. (2018). Welfare states, public health and health inequalities. Oxford Bibliographies. 
    • Bryant, T. (2015). Implications of public policy change models for addressing income-related health inequalities. Canadian Public Policy 42(2), S10-S16. 
    • Bryant, T. (2015). Housing. In Pike, I., Richmond, S., Rothman, L., and Macpherson, A. (Eds.), Canadian injury prevention resource: An evidence-informed guide to injury prevention in Canada. Toronto: Parachute.
    • Bryant, T (2013). Policy change and the social determinants of health. In C. Clavier and E. De Leeuw (Eds.), Health promotion and the policy process: Practical and Critical Theories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • Dinca-Panaitescua, S, Dinca-Panaitescu, M, Raphael, D, Bryant, T, Daiski, I and Pilkington, B (2012). The Dynamics of the relationship between the experience of low income and type 2 diabetes: Longitudinal results. Maturitas, 72(3), 229-235.
  • Research collaborations
    • FSSH and FEAS at Ontario Tech University
    • York University 
  • Grants
    • 2022   Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant: Advocates Assemble. (Budget: $28,708). Co-Investigator.
    • 2019   Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: Restructuring Work: Labour and the Organization of Global Capitalism. (Budget: $293,000). Co-Principal Investigator.
    • 2018 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: Restructuring Work: Labour and the Organization of Global Capitalism. Co-Investigator.
    • 2018 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: Restructuring Work: Labour and the Organization of Global Capitalism. Co-Investigator.
    • 2015 Atkinson Charitable Foundation Decent Work Grant: Job-Related Community Quality of Life in Oshawa. Principal Investigator
    • CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health, Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Team Grant. Co-Investigator on: Globalization and the health of Canadians: A transdisciplinary research network.
    • 2006 to 2012, $820,000
    • SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Co-investigator on: A study on the incidence and management of diabetes.2005 to 2009, $123,500