Dr. William R. Avison, Ph.D.

Children’s Health Research Institute
Scientist and Chair, Child Health and Well-Being Program

Lawson Health Research Institute
Scientist and Assistant Director

University of Western Ontario
Professor, Departments of Sociology, Paediatrics, and Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Core Faculty Member, Aging & Health Research Centre

Contact Information
Tel: (519) 661-2111 Ext.85515
Fax: (519) 661-3200
E-mail: wavison@uwo.ca
Web: http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/sociology/avison/

Brief Biography

Dr. Avison received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Alberta in 1977. He was appointed to the Department of Sociology of The University of Western Ontario in 1975. In 1987, he established the Centre for Health and Well-Being, a multi-disciplinary centre for health research at Western and was its Director until 2000. He was appointed Scientist and Chair of the Child Health and Well-Being Program of CHRI in 1999. He is Western’s University Delegate to the CIHR and Chair of the Western Health Research Council.

Dr. Avison is a past Chair of the Sociology of Mental Health Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and of the Psychiatric Sociology Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He is a Member of Council of the Medical Sociology Section of the ASA. He has chaired numerous grant review committees for the National Health Research and Development Program of Health Canada, including the Child Mental Health, Child Health, National Population Health Survey, and the Rehabilitation Outcomes Committees. He has also served on scientific review committees for the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He is the past Chair of the Children’s Health Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He currently serves on the Selection Committee of the Canadian Child Health Clinical Scientist Program and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Early Researcher Award Committee.

Dr. Avison has been a board member of Madame Vanier Children’s Services, Family Service London, and the London and Middlesex Co-coordinating Council for Children and Youth. He is a former Chair of the Resource Steering Committee of Kids Count, a primary prevention and health promotion program in London and was the first Chair of Investing in Children in London. He has also served on the City of London Mayor’s Anti-Poverty Task Force. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and the London Inter-Community Health Centre. In 2004, he was presented the Vanier Roots and Wings Award for lifetime contributions to family and children’s mental health.

Research Interests
• The effects of family structure on maternal and child health
• Socio-economic disadvantage and family and children’s health
• Stressful experiences and mental health
• Psychosocial, nutritional, and endocrinal determinants of pre-term labour

• Fetal growth restriction:  mechanisms and outcomes

Research Activities
Dr. Avison is a sociologist with expertise in the sociology and epidemiology of mental health. His current research focuses on the ways in which socio-economic disadvantage and various types of social stressors affect the mental health of families and children. He has published widely in international journals in sociology and psychiatry on a number of issues in the sociology of mental health. His work has appeared in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the Journal of Marriage and the Family, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Canadian Journal of Public Health. He is also the co-author of three books. He has continuously held operating grants from Health Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the CIHR since 1989. In recognition of his excellence in mental health research, Dr. Avison was named as a Senior Research Fellow of the Ontario Mental Health Foundation from 1994-2000. In 2004, he was the recipient of the James R. Greenley Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociology of Mental Health from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Awards and Recognition

Chair Elect of Medical Sociology Section - Awarded by American Sociological Association

Funding in support of "A Life Course Analysis of Family Structure, Stress, and Mothers’ Mental Health: Setting the Stage for a Prospective Study of Families".- Awarded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Funding in support of "Putting Children’s Health on the Map: Creating a Health Atlas to Identify the Causes of Prevalent Childhood Diseases and Disorders in Southwestern Ontario" - Awarded by Green Shield Canada Foundation

Funding in support of "The Impact of an Educational Services Program on the Educational Outcomes of Crown Wards:  A Comparative Evaluation" - Awarded by   Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Funding in support of "A Comparative Study of Aging in Four Season Communities: Building an International Strategic Collaborative Research Partnership" - Awarded by   Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Internal Research Grant

Funding in support of "Fetal Growth Restriction: Mechanisms and Outcomes" - Awarded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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