Faculty profile

Heather Palis

ResearcherSchool of Population and Public HealthUniversity of British Columbia

This profile is built from public research funding records (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) and PubMed. We have not imported them from a University of British Columbia directory, so their courses may be missing. Find their university profile.

Heather Palis

Researcher

School of Population and Public Health

Health Sciences

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Supervision signals

Has led research grants, which requires an independent research appointment. Ask their department whether they supervise graduate students.
40 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 6 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 3 research grants (3 CIHR), most recently in 2026.
Supervisor on 2 trainee awards (2 CIHR), most recently in 2025.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the publications linked to this profile. Citations and the h-index appear when the source records them.

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Signals and details

Research

Overdose Substance Use Youth Service Pathways Co-Design Health Service Contact Mental Health Multi-Method

Latest papers

Correction: Evaluating the association of transferring governance of correctional health care services with overdose and all-cause mortality: a retrospective cohort study in British Columbia, Canada.
Health & justice · 2026
The impact of drug decriminalization policy on mental health- and substance-related service utilization among people who use drugs with prior care in British Columbia.
The International journal on drug policy · 2026
Prescribed alternative stimulants among people who use unregulated stimulants: Examining the association between maximum dose reached and medication discontinuation in the first 3 years of implementation in British Columbia, Canada.
Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026 · senior author

All 57 publications

Latest funding

Identifying service pathways to reduce overdose risk among youth: a multi-method, population-based, and co-design study
CIHR · 2026 · Nominated PI
$993,720
Substance Use, Work and Well-Being in Trades and Construction
CIHR · 2025 · Co-investigator
$1,870,424
Natural Disaster Impacts on Overdose Mortality in British Columbia
CIHR · 2025 · Supervisor
$120,000

All 16 grants and awards

57 publications.

Correction: Evaluating the association of transferring governance of correctional health care services with overdose and all-cause mortality: a retrospective cohort study in British Columbia, Canada.

McQuarrie L, Dasgupta DP, Nicholls T, Martin RE, McLeod KE, Kinner S, Greiner L, Olley M, Roth K, Palis H, Krishnamoorthy A, Slaunwhite A

Health & justice2026

DOI: 10.1186/s40352-026-00459-4 PMID: 42789154

The impact of drug decriminalization policy on mental health- and substance-related service utilization among people who use drugs with prior care in British Columbia.

Kwak E, Mohebbian M, Palis H, Puyat JH

The International journal on drug policy2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105422 PMID: 42385405

Prescribed alternative stimulants among people who use unregulated stimulants: Examining the association between maximum dose reached and medication discontinuation in the first 3 years of implementation in British Columbia, Canada.

Zhao B, Hu K, Desai R, Au S, Sedgemore KO, Tardelli V, Carter A, Bach P, Schutz C, Slaunwhite A, Crabtree A, Palis H

Addiction (Abingdon, England)2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1111/add.70580 PMID: 42621749

Prevalence and Correlates of Reporting a Gabapentin Prescription for Pain Among People Who Use Opioids: A Longitudinal Community-Recruited Study.

Piret EM, Palis H, Crabtree A, Choi J, DeBeck K, Hayashi K, Law MR, Milloy MJ

Drug and alcohol review2026

DOI: 10.1111/dar.70186 PMID: 42270317

Widespread Take-Home Naloxone Use Averted the Majority of Potential Opioid Poisoning Deaths in British Columbia, 2019-2024: A Bayesian Modelling Study.

Irvine MA, Ge W, Liu L, Williams S, Lock K, Palis H, Kinniburgh B

Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making2026

DOI: 10.1177/0272989x261436841 PMID: 42012358

The short-term impacts of the decriminalization of personal possession of select illegal drugs on drug possession criminal incidents and criminal cases in British Columbia, Canada (2013 to 2023).

Abdul SA, Wu E, Jiang H, Russell C, Ali F, Rehm J, Butler A, Elton-Marshall T, Henderson I, Gomes T, Greer A, Kinniburgh B, Le Foll B, Palis H, Patenaude S, Imtiaz S

The International journal on drug policy2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105261 PMID: 41985344

Trends of incident stimulant use disorder diagnoses before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia (2013-2024): a population-based study.

Desai R, Hu K, Zhao B, Au S, Chen X, Flynn M, Irvine M, Sbihi H, Kinniburgh B, Sedgemore KO, Marchand K, Bartlett S, Janjua N, Crabtree A, Palis H

Frontiers in psychiatry2026Senior author

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1682481 PMID: 42179987

Distinguishing chronic disease profiles and cause of death attribution in opioid and or stimulant toxicity deaths to inform overdose prevention efforts.

Palis H, Vincent J, Budau J, Hu K, Tu A

Addiction (Abingdon, England)2026First author

DOI: 10.1111/add.70340 PMID: 41560316

Temporal and regional associations between fentanyl concentrations in the unregulated drug supply and drug-related mortality in British Columbia, Canada.

Tobias S, Bird J, Guzman SM, Palis H, Crabtree A, Hein JE, Wood E, Ti L

The International journal on drug policy2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105200 PMID: 41691894

The multidimensional social ecological needs and service utilization patterns of youth using non-medical prescription opioids: an observational study of routinely collected data in a provincial integrated youth services initiative.

Marchand K, Liu G, Hastings KG, Palis H, Mathias S, Sutherland JM, Barbic S

Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2025

DOI: 10.1186/s13011-025-00682-6 PMID: 41299709

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2026

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Overdose Dear Professor Palis, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Correction: Evaluating the association of transferring governance of correctional health care services with overdose and all-cause mortality: a retrospective cohort study in British Columbia, Canada." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Identifying service pathways to reduce overdose risk among youth: a multi-method, population-based, and co-design study" (2026), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]

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Heather Palis

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Correction: Evaluating the association of transferring governance of correctional health care services with overdose and all-cause mortality: a retrospective cohort study in British Columbia, Canada.

The impact of drug decriminalization policy on mental health- and substance-related service utilization among people who use drugs with prior care in British Columbia.

Prescribed alternative stimulants among people who use unregulated stimulants: Examining the association between maximum dose reached and medication discontinuation in the first 3&#x2009;years of implementation in British Columbia, Canada.

Prevalence and Correlates of Reporting a Gabapentin Prescription for Pain Among People Who Use Opioids: A Longitudinal Community-Recruited Study.

Widespread Take-Home Naloxone Use Averted the Majority of Potential Opioid Poisoning Deaths in British Columbia, 2019-2024: A Bayesian Modelling Study.

The short-term impacts of the decriminalization of personal possession of select illegal drugs on drug possession criminal incidents and criminal cases in British Columbia, Canada (2013 to 2023).

Trends of incident stimulant use disorder diagnoses before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia (2013-2024): a population-based study.

Distinguishing chronic disease profiles and cause of death attribution in opioid and or stimulant toxicity deaths to inform overdose prevention efforts.

Temporal and regional associations between fentanyl concentrations in the unregulated drug supply and drug-related mortality in British Columbia, Canada.

The multidimensional social ecological needs and service utilization patterns of youth using non-medical prescription opioids: an observational study of routinely collected data in a provincial integrated youth services initiative.

Frequent collaborators

Amanda Slaunwhite

Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes

Kirsten Marchand

Scott Harrison

Kurt Lock

Tonia Nicholls

Kali-olt Sedgemore

Paxton Bach

Bohdan Nosyk

Karen Urbanoski

Jessica Moe

Skye Barbic

Jane Buxton

Bernard Le Foll

Lianping Ti

Patricia Spittal

Farihah Ali

Alissa Greer

Sofia Bartlett

Brittany Barker

Huan jiang

Prescribed alternative stimulants among people who use unregulated stimulants: Examining the association between maximum dose reached and medication discontinuation in the first 3 years of implementation in British Columbia, Canada.