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Ian Young

Ian Young

Interim Co-Director and Associate Professor
EducationBASc, PhD, CPHI(C)
OfficeDCC-320, Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex
Phone416-979-5000, ext. 557614
Areas of ExpertiseFood-borne disease surveillance and prevention; Recreational water illness surveillance and prevention; One Health; Knowledge synthesis; Applied statistical modelling.

Dr. Young is available to supervise Occupational and Public Health (MSc) students in 2025-2026.

Ian Young is an associate professor in the School of Occupational and Public Health. He obtained a bachelor of applied science in public health and safety from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2007 and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Guelph in 2010. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow and epidemiologist with the University of Guelph and Public Health Agency of Canada. In 2015, he worked as a food safety expert with the Food Safety and Quality Unit of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, before joining the university in 2016.

Ian Young’s research program focuses on reducing the environmental public health burden of food-borne, water-borne and zoonotic diseases. To address this aim, his research group uses a variety of research methods, including knowledge synthesis (e.g. systematic reviews, meta-analysis), epidemiology, and mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative approaches). His main research objectives include:

  • Identifying and synthesizing environmental public health research needs and gaps 
  • Understanding the prevalence and use of health protection behaviours of different population and stakeholder groups, including key determinants of behaviour change
  • Identifying and evaluating strategies and interventions to modify or change the behaviours of individuals and organizations to improve environmental public health
  • Evaluating the epidemiology of and control measures to prevent food-borne, water-borne, and zoonotic diseases