Cayley Velazquez
Canada Research Chair in Race, Food, and Health
Cayley Velazquez
Canada Research Chair in Race, Food, and Health
Areas of interest
Food environments; Social determinants of health; Health equity
Biography
Cayley E. Velazquez, PhD, RD is a Faculty Instructor in the Department of Biological and Health Sciences and a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Race, Food, and Health at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She received her PhD in Health Education with a minor in Applied Statistical Modelling from the University of Texas at Austin. Previously, Dr. Velazquez was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems where her research examined connections between the food environment and the dietary practices of youth. She has authored publications in the field of public health across varied topics, including food advertising, dietary practices, health risk behaviours, and mental health. Her current research program aims to understand the root causes of health inequities, with a particular emphasis on the intersecting cultural, social, economic, and environmental factors that impact food availability, accessibility, and utilization among racialized communities in Canada. Her professional interests include food security, determinants of health, chronic disease prevention, and health policy, programing, and evaluation.