Josephine Etowa
BN (1996) MN (1999)
Dr. Josephine Bassey Etowa is an Associate Professor and Loyer DaSilva Research Chair in Public Health Nursing, in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa. Her academic credentials include a PhD in Nursing from the University of Calgary and a Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) funded post-doctoral fellowship (University of Toronto and University of Ottawa). Dr. Etowa brings her background as a nurse, midwife, and lactation consultant to her role as researcher and educator. She has worked in varied capacities within the Nigerian and Canadian health care systems. Her research program over the past decade has focused on reducing inequities in health and health care, applying community based participatory research methods.
Dr. Etowa has served on several program and policy development initiatives at the local, national and international levels including serving on the Nova Scotia Advisory Committee on Primary Health Care Renewal. She is currently a Board member for the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO), the Board of the National Collaborating Centre for the Determinants of Health (NCCDH), the Board of Centertown Community Health Centre, Ottawa, and an editorial Board member for the International Conferences on Health in the African Diaspora (ICHAD) - an initiative led by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Disparities Solutions in Maryland, USA.
Dr. Etowa is a co-founder and past president of the Health Association of African Canadians, and an active member of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America (NANNNA). She is a co-leader on a federal government initiative for the surveillance of HIV/AIDS in the African and Caribbean communities in Ontario. She is instrumental in advancing issues of racism and health inequities within Canada through numerous invited presentations to local, national and international audiences. She co-authored [Anti-racist health care practice, (2009)] which is frequently cited in nursing course syllabi across the country.
Dr. Etowa’s contributions to health care have been recognized with a numerous awards including the 2013 Black Community Builder leadership award. In September 2013, she was one of two Canadians selected to attend the International Council of Nurses’ 2013 Global Nursing Leadership Institute in Geneva, Switzerland.