Dr Kirsty Bourret (elle/she/her) is a Research Associate working with Dr Brianne Wood and in partnership between NOSM University, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute. The research team works on the development, implementation, and evaluation of learning health systems research in Northern Ontario.

Kirsty was born in Kapuskasing and raised on the traditional lands of the Fort William First Nation, in a city now known as Thunder Bay, a Francophone settler, midwife, academic researcher and mother, passionate about the prioritization and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has lived and contributed to the work on this human rights issue in Northern Ontario, Nunavut, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sweden. Health policy and health systems trained; her research is grounded in intersectional feminism. Her expertise in integrated knowledge exchange and mixed methods research is innovative and incorporates equity principles in the research process. 

Kirsty held an academic position as a Laurentian University faculty member, and postdoctoral fellowships with the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Department of Women and Children’s Health-Reproductive Health Research, as well as the McMaster Midwifery Research Centre, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McMaster University. She has partnered with global NGOs, such as the International Confederation of Midwives, IPAS International, Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Association of Midwives. 

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