Dr. Kolahdooz is the Executive Director of the IGHRG in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, College of Health Sciences at the University of Alberta. Fariba’s education has taken her across the globe: beginning in Iran, then moving to Australia, where she received her PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the University of Queensland. Fariba has now proudly published over 100 papers, on the topics of nutrition, public health, cancer, and access to healthcare services. Though nutrition is a core component of her work, Fariba's projects frequently incorporate social determinants of health, community-based interventions, and health promotion to study the health of children, youth, pregnant mothers, adults, and elders hailing from diverse communities and vulnerable populations. 

 

In her current role with the IGHRG, Fariba continues to work towards understanding the complexities of healthcare accessibility, patient experience, and vaccine confidence, particularly within Indigenous populations. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fariba has also taken to studying its impacts on Canadian Arctic populations.