Graduate Dean's Convocation Medal awarded to dedicated health sciences researcher
by Geron Malbas
Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) alumnus Amanda Rowlands aims to empower community members by strengthening knowledge of sexual and reproductive health inequities and rights. Alongside with the completion of her PhD degree, she is the 2025 recipient of the Graduate Dean's Convocation Medal, an annual award that recognizes graduating students that have accomplished outstanding academic achievement.
A long-time student of FHS, Rowlands developed a comprehensive understanding of intersecting inequities that can shape health outcomes, spurring her drive to facilitate research that better understands why social, structural, and environmental contexts and inequities can impact health.
鈥淔HS has been my academic home for over 10 years, and the opportunities, learnings, and constant support I鈥檝e received from this faculty have been outstanding,鈥� she explains. 鈥淢y training of how to frame and understand health outcomes through transdisciplinary frameworks has been incredibly unique, and I am honoured to engage with other research trainees in a very collaborative, supportive environment, most of whom have become very dear friends.鈥�
From earning a Vanier Scholarship, as well as the Phyllis Eveleth Award, Rowlands looks back on her time engaging, collaborating, and connecting with researchers and communities; she lived in Guatemala facilitating research in the communities as part of her PhD work, presented in Paris, France, during her undergraduate degree through her first research assistant position at BC Children鈥檚 Hospital, presented at the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) conference in Australia, and acted as the co-chair of the trainee organizing committee of the DOHaD international conference in Vancouver.
鈥淚 owe it to the many mentors who have helped shaped my academic and research priorities,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 had the absolute privilege of being mentored by Dr. Pablo Nepomnaschy and Dr. Katrina Salvante, who were both my unconditional, constant support, and who pushed me to become a better researcher, and challenged me to become a better thinker.鈥�
Currently working as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Angela Kaida鈥檚 Global HIV interdisciplinary research leadership lab on the AYAZAZI study in South Africa, she hopes to foster new collaborations develop her overall research program focused on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
鈥淢y long-term research goal is to better understand complex health issues during adolescence, to ultimately make positive impacts on the reproductive health and rights of adolescents in both Canada and globally.鈥�