Dr. Patricia Janssen

Professor in the UBC School of Population and Public Health,  Perinatal Epidemiologist and Senior Scientist at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Trained in nursing and midwifery, Dr. Janssen leads an International Cluster of Research Excellence entitled Advancing the Science of Physiologic Birth with the goal of preventive approaches and early strategies to avoid the need for complex interventions and their sequelae leading to complications of labour and birth. She has led several clinical trials to evaluate methods for managing pregnancy and labor. Her studies of midwifery established the evidence to support regulation of midwifery in Canadian provinces and influenced policy around the world. Patricia is currently funded by CIHR for a Canadian randomized trial to test the utility of SMS text messaging as a modality to improve health literacy and motivate health behavior change among expectant and new parents. She has developed and implemented SmartMom and SmartParent, Canada’s first prenatal and parent education programs delivered by text messaging. She is the lead author on a study of factors among women influencing personal goals and achieving successful re-integration after incarceration in BC, published in CMAJ Open. In 2020 she was named one of the top 50 Changemakers in Public Health among all alumni of the University of Washington School of Public Health. In 2022 she was recognized with a Distinguished Faculty Award from the Faculty of Medicine at UBC.