2025 Trailblazer Award Winners
The CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR IPPH) Trailblazer Award supports early, mid and senior career researchers who continue to make exceptional contributions that promote population and public health for Canadians and citizens around the world through evidenced-based health policies as well as interventions.
CIHR-IPPH is pleased to announce the 2025 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award Winners:
- Senior Career: Jim Dunn
- Mid-Career: Laura Rosella
- Early Career: Mohammad Karamouzian
‘The Trailblazer Award recognizes the exceptional contributions made by Canadian researchers who significantly enhance our understanding of public health issues and population health. It honours individuals whose successes are often unseen, for paving the way and providing guidance in the field of public and population health, and for leading us in new and exciting directions. Trailblazers are pioneers, innovators and path breakers. Being a trailblazer may mean taking risks, working with uncertainty or attempting to do what others before might not have dared.
It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the winners of the 2025 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Awards- Jim Dunn, Laura Rosella and Mohammad Karamouzian.rsquo;
Senior Career Researcher: Jim Dunn
Dr. James R. Dunn (Jim) is a Professor in the Department of Health, Aging & Society and Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University. He holds the Senator William McMaster Chair in Urban Health Equity and is Founding Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC), a knowledge mobilization and research capacity building hub funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). He is has held numerous awards and appointments, including a CIHR-PHAC Applied Public Health Chair from 2008-2014 and the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at Harvard University in 2011-2012. In 2024, a team he led was awarded the CMHC Housing Research Gold Roof Award for Knowledge to Action with his partners at the City of Hamilton. Trained in urban health geography and social epidemiology, he has published widely in geography, public health, urban planning and epidemiology and has worked closely with governments at all levels to address issues related to the effects of income security, housing, built environments and neighbourhoods on health, mental health and healthy child development.
Mid-Career Researcher: Laura Rosella
Dr. Laura Rosella is a Full Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, where she founded the Population Health Analytics Lab and is the Division Head of Epidemiology. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics, leading an internationally recognized research program in public health modelling, chronic disease prevention, and community wellbeing. Dr. Rosella’s research focuses on developing innovative methods and data applications to improve the impact of public health interventions, reduce health inequities, and bring approaches to measuring community wellbeing. Her work recognizes the complex interplay of social, economic, environmental, and biological factors shaping health trajectories, and she creates analysis tools that can be practically used for public health decision-making. By leveraging novel data sources and analytic methods, she advances public health practice in collaboration with policymakers, community partners, and the public. As a leader in public health data science training, Dr. Rosella is the nominated principal applicant of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Public Health Research Training Platform (AI4PH), which aims to build a workforce skilled in applying AI to public health research, policy, and practice. She has published over 310 peer-reviewed articles and widely presented at national and international conferences.
Early-Career Researcher: Mohammad Karamouzian
Dr. Mohammad Karamouzian is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on reducing health inequities faced by marginalized populations, including people who use drugs, people engaged in sex work, and people in prisons. A former veterinarian (DVM) turned public health researcher, he completed his PhD in Population and Public Health (2021) at the University of British Columbia, supported by the Vanier and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholarships. He is currently a Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital’s Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Since his appointment in 2022, Dr. Karamouzian has led a multi-site evaluation of safer supply programs across Canada, using rigorous epidemiological methods and community-based insights to inform national harm reduction policies. Internationally, he collaborates with regional partners in the Middle East and North Africa, including the WHO Collaborating Centre for HIV Surveillance (HIVHUB), to strengthen HIV prevention initiatives in challenging socio-cultural settings. Dr. Karamouzian’s interdisciplinary work extends beyond academia. He collaborates with communities across multiple continents, mentors emerging researchers in public health and epidemiology, and employs knowledge translation strategies to bring vital evidence directly to frontline organizations. With an action-oriented research agenda, he is committed to reducing health inequities and strengthening public health efforts to foster healthier, more inclusive communities.
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