Magdalena Janus

Dr. Magdalena Janus holds a Professorship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where she occupies the Ontario Chair in Early Child Development. She maintains dual affiliations as an Affiliate Professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health and through associate appointments in McMaster's Department of Health, Evidence and Impact.

Her academic foundation includes:

• MSc from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
• PhD from University of Cambridge, UK (focused on non-human primate development)
• Post-doctoral training at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children

Research expertise centers on children's developmental trajectories with specialized focus on early health predictors of long-term outcomes, school transition dynamics (particularly for children with special needs), and community engagement in early development. Her methodological innovations bridge developmental psychology, public health, and social epidemiology through large-scale measurement frameworks.

As principal investigator for CIHR-funded initiatives including the Pan-Canadian Social Determinants of Children’s Developmental Health Study and Canadian Children’s Health in Context Study (CCHICS), she leads multi-university collaborations examining health determinants in typical and special-needs populations. Graduate supervision spans McMaster's Health Research Methodology, Health Policy, Global Health, and Public Health programs.

At the Offord Centre for Child Studies, she co-developed the globally implemented Early Development Instrument (EDI). Current leadership roles include WHO coordination for 0-3 year measurement indicators and co-leading UNESCO/UNICEF's Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) initiative for 3-7 year-olds, driving international standardization of early childhood assessment protocols.