Faculty profile

Leia Minaker

ResearcherSchool of PlanningUniversity of Waterloo

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

Leia Minaker

Researcher

School of Planning

Health Sciences

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Supervision signals

Has led research grants, which requires an independent research appointment. Ask their department whether they supervise graduate students.
14 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 3 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 7 research grants (6 CIHR, 1 SSHRC), most recently in 2026.

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

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

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Signals and details

Research

Healthy Cities Built Environment Planning Mental Health Climate Impacts Climate Sensitive Urban Design Co-Design Health Equity

Latest papers

Delivery of health and social programs for temporary and precarious status (TAPS) migrants in Ontario, Canada: A systematic mapping review.
Journal of migration and health · 2026
Examining disparities in the accessibility of unhealthy food vendors in school neighbourhoods across Ontario: Would the implementation of new distance-based regulations improve equity?
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026
Examining diet quality among postsecondary students: a cross-sectional analysis of personal, social, structural, and environmental correlates.
International journal of food sciences and nutrition · 2026

All 23 publications

Latest funding

Enabling evidence-based policymaking and interdisciplinary social change research for homelessness: Developing and evaluating CivicInquire, Canada's first intersectional AI-powered social science platform
SSHRC · 2026 · Principal investigator
$95,000
City Sprints for Climate Justice: Increasing youth engagement in climate-sensitive urban design research and action
CIHR · 2024 · Nominated PI
$125,000
Leveraging community-based research to assess vulnerability and enhance adaptive capacity to extreme heat in Waterloo Region
CIHR · 2024 · Co-investigator

All 12 grants and awards

23 publications.

Delivery of health and social programs for temporary and precarious status (TAPS) migrants in Ontario, Canada: A systematic mapping review.

Bustos M, Brubacher LJ, Chen YYB, Akesson B, Abejirinde IO, Minaker L, Beggs B, Frensch KM, Dodd W

Journal of migration and health2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmh.2026.100439 PMID: 42733903

Examining disparities in the accessibility of unhealthy food vendors in school neighbourhoods across Ontario: Would the implementation of new distance-based regulations improve equity?

Caruso O, McEachern L, Wray A, Minaker L, Doherty S, Gilliland J

Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique2026

DOI: 10.17269/s41997-026-01175-0 PMID: 41814055

Examining diet quality among postsecondary students: a cross-sectional analysis of personal, social, structural, and environmental correlates.

Schaafsma H, Seabrook J, McEachern LW, Haines J, Minaker L, Doherty S, O'Connor C, Stranges S, Gilliland J

International journal of food sciences and nutrition2026

DOI: 10.1080/09637486.2026.2625831 PMID: 41730514

Restaurant marketing to kids in Canada: associations with restaurant consumption and appealing restaurant advertisement features in a nationally representative sample of Canadian young people aged 9-17 years.

Minaker L, Olstad DL, Pauzé E, Potvin Kent M

Public health nutrition2025First author

DOI: 10.1017/s1368980025101262 PMID: 41084742

Effect of restricted retail merchandising of discretionary food and beverages on population diet: post-trial follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

McMahon E, Dickie S, De Silva K, Ferguson M, Chatfield MD, Miles E, Gunther A, Wycherley T, Minaker L, Peeters A, Mah CL, Chappell E, Brimblecombe J

The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2025.101673 PMID: 40896367

Food deserts, food mirages, and gentrification in Toronto, Canada.

Menko P, Olstad D, Buttazzoni A, Minaker L

Health & place2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103490 PMID: 40460666

Food environment research in Canada: a rapid review of methodologies and measures deployed between 2010 and 2021.

Vaillancourt C, Ahmed M, Kirk S, Labonté MÈ, Laar A, Mah CL, Minaker L, Olstad DL, Potvin Kent M, Provencher V, Prowse R, Raine KD, Schram A, Zavala-Mora D, Rancourt-Bouchard M, Vanderlee L

The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2024

DOI: 10.1186/s12966-024-01558-x PMID: 38373957

"No one went into pharmacy … to sell a lot of Coca-Cola. It's just sort of a necessary evil" - Community pharmacists' perceptions of front-of-store sales and ethical tensions in the retail environment.

Gellatly S, Moszczynski A, Fiedeldey L, Houle S, Smith M, Ogbogu U, Rudman D, Minaker L, Shelley J

Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2023.100312 PMID: 37576805

Implementation of a food retail intervention to reduce purchase of unhealthy food and beverages in remote Australia: mixed-method evaluation using the consolidated framework for implementation research.

Brimblecombe J, Miles B, Chappell E, De Silva K, Ferguson M, Mah C, Miles E, Gunther A, Wycherley T, Peeters A, Minaker L, McMahon E

The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2023

DOI: 10.1186/s12966-022-01377-y PMID: 36803988

Breakfast Consumption and Diet Quality of Teens in Southwestern Ontario.

Woods N, Seabrook JA, Haines J, Stranges S, Minaker L, O'Connor C, Doherty S, Gilliland J

Current developments in nutrition2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2022.100003 PMID: 37180078

Enabling evidence-based policymaking and interdisciplinary social change research for homelessness: Developing and evaluating CivicInquire, Canada's first intersectional AI-powered social science platform

Principal investigatorSSHRC2026Insight Development Grants

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia

$95,000

City Sprints for Climate Justice: Increasing youth engagement in climate-sensitive urban design research and action

Nominated PICIHR2024Catalyst Grant: CBR in Climate Change Priority Area - Climate Justice

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia; Lo, Ryan

Keywords: Climate Impacts; Climate Sensitive Urban Design; Co-Design; Health Equity; Healthy Cities; Knowledge Mobilization; Youth Health

$125,000

Leveraging community-based research to assess vulnerability and enhance adaptive capacity to extreme heat in Waterloo Region

Co-investigatorCIHR2024Catalyst Grant: CBR in Climate Change Priority Area - Climate Justice

Principal investigators: Dodd, Warren H; Eastwood, Meaghan

Keywords: Climate Change; Community Based Research; Extreme Heat; Health Equity; Older Adults; Participatory Methods; Public Health; Qualitative Methods; Spatial Analyses

Reimagining welcoming cities: Cultivating cross-sectoral partnerships to address the wellbeing of temporary and precarious-status (TAPS) migrants

Co-investigatorSSHRC2023Ideas Lab - Joint Initiative

Principal investigators: Akesson, Bree

Keywords: cities; health and wellbeing; Canadian migration; community-based research; welcomingness

$224,986

High-rise living and health: exploring associations between high-rise living, neighbourhood environments, and physical and mental health outcomes of Canadians

Nominated PICIHR2023Op Gr: HCRI - Data Analysis Using Existing Databases and Cohorts - General Pool

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia

Keywords: Built Environment; Data Linking; Healthy Cities; Healthy Equity; High-Rises; Housing; Planning; Population Health; Social Determinants Of Health; Urbanization

$100,000

La quête des origines et la construction identitaire des adultes issus de l'adoption internationale

Co-investigatorSSHRC2022SSHRC Doctoral Awards

Principal investigators: Boivin Évangeliste, Lara

Keywords: adoption internationale; identité; adultes; recherche qualitative; filiation; famille; développement humain; origines; ethnicité; minorités visibles;

$69,527

Healthy Youth in High-Rises

Nominated PICIHR2022Catalyst Grant: Healthy Youth

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia; Lo, Ryan; Smith, Lindsey G

Keywords: Adolescents; Mental Health; Urban Design

$100,000

Urban environments and youth mental health: examining how adolescent mental health indicators are associated with urban design and cognitive architecture in a mid-sized Ontario city

Nominated PICIHR2020Project Grant - PA: Population and Public Health - Healthy Cities

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia

Keywords: Built Environment; Cognitive Architecture; Healthy Cities; Mental Health; Planning; Youth/Adolescence

$100,000

Creating healthier cities through monitoring Canadian retail food environments: Using a novel administrative database to establish valid, small-area, Canada-wide, open-access measures to monitor the retail food environment for population health intervention research and municipal food environment policy action.

Nominated PICIHR2018Op Gr: Data Analysis Using Existing Databases and Cohorts - Pop n Public Health

Principal investigators: Minaker, Leia; Ross, Nancy; Widener, Michael J

Keywords: Built Environment; Food Environment; Healthy Cities; Knowledge Translation; Nutrition; Population Health Intervention

$99,628

Time, geography, and food: how time use, social-spatial context, transportation options, and personal economics affect access to food in cities

Co-investigatorSSHRC2017Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Widener, Michael J.

Keywords: food environments; transportation; access; accessibility; mobility; time use; spatiotemporal constraints; geographic information systems; GPS; urban geography

$222,016

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Write to this professor

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Paper to mentionMention their SSHRC grant from 2026

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Healthy Cities Dear Professor Minaker, 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 "Delivery of health and social programs for temporary and precarious status (TAPS) migrants in Ontario, Canada: A systematic mapping review." (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 SSHRC-funded project "Enabling evidence-based policymaking and interdisciplinary social change research for homelessness: Developing and evaluating CivicInquire, Canada's first intersectional AI-powered social science platform" (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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Leia Minaker

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Delivery of health and social programs for temporary and precarious status (TAPS) migrants in Ontario, Canada: A systematic mapping review.

Examining disparities in the accessibility of unhealthy food vendors in school neighbourhoods across Ontario: Would the implementation of new distance-based regulations improve equity?

Examining diet quality among postsecondary students: a cross-sectional analysis of personal, social, structural, and environmental correlates.

Restaurant marketing to kids in Canada: associations with restaurant consumption and appealing restaurant advertisement features in a nationally representative sample of Canadian young people aged 9-17 years.

Effect of restricted retail merchandising of discretionary food and beverages on population diet: post-trial follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Food deserts, food mirages, and gentrification in Toronto, Canada.

Food environment research in Canada: a rapid review of methodologies and measures deployed between 2010 and 2021.

"No one went into pharmacy &#x2026; to sell a lot of Coca-Cola. It's just sort of a necessary evil" - Community pharmacists' perceptions of front-of-store sales and ethical tensions in the retail environment.

Implementation of a food retail intervention to reduce purchase of unhealthy food and beverages in remote Australia: mixed-method evaluation using the consolidated framework for implementation research.

Breakfast Consumption and Diet Quality of Teens in Southwestern Ontario.

Enabling evidence-based policymaking and interdisciplinary social change research for homelessness: Developing and evaluating CivicInquire, Canada's first intersectional AI-powered social science platform

City Sprints for Climate Justice: Increasing youth engagement in climate-sensitive urban design research and action

Leveraging community-based research to assess vulnerability and enhance adaptive capacity to extreme heat in Waterloo Region

Reimagining welcoming cities: Cultivating cross-sectoral partnerships to address the wellbeing of temporary and precarious-status (TAPS) migrants

High-rise living and health: exploring associations between high-rise living, neighbourhood environments, and physical and mental health outcomes of Canadians

La quête des origines et la construction identitaire des adultes issus de l'adoption internationale

Healthy Youth in High-Rises

Urban environments and youth mental health: examining how adolescent mental health indicators are associated with urban design and cognitive architecture in a mid-sized Ontario city

Time, geography, and food: how time use, social-spatial context, transportation options, and personal economics affect access to food in cities

Frequent collaborators

Jason Gilliland

Colleen O'Connor

Monique Potvin Kent

Saverio Stranges

Leia Minaker

Jess Haines

Martin Cooke

Rachel Prowse

Warren Dodd

Lana Vanderlee

Jamie Seabrook

Catherine Mah

Maxwell Smith

Jennifer Dean

Dana Olstad

Jacob Shelley

Sara Kirk

David Hammond

Ubaka Ogbogu

"No one went into pharmacy … to sell a lot of Coca-Cola. It's just sort of a necessary evil" - Community pharmacists' perceptions of front-of-store sales and ethical tensions in the retail environment.