Scott Leatherdale

Scott Leatherdale is a Professor and University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. His research focuses on advancing systems-based approaches to primary prevention, evaluating population-level health interventions, and developing research infrastructure for large-scale studies in chronic disease prevention. He leads the COMPASS System, a longitudinal cohort study tracking 75,000+ Canadian youth to assess how policies, programs, and environmental changes impact health behaviors and outcomes. His work emphasizes multi-stakeholder collaboration across regional, provincial, and national levels.

Education: BPHE in Health Promotion (Laurentian University), MA in Human Development (Laurentian University), PhD in Health Behavior (University of Waterloo).

Research interests include natural experiment methodologies, application of artificial intelligence in cancer prevention, and the intersection of income inequality with health behaviors. His studies often address substance use, mental health, physical activity, and nutritional patterns among adolescents, leveraging big data and innovative surveillance techniques like ecological momentary assessment.

Key awards include the CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award (2016) and recognition as a Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior (2019). He advises initiatives such as Cancer Care Ontario’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis Chronic Disease Blueprint and sits on the Prevention System Quality Index (PSQI) Advisory Committee.

Recent publications (2023–2025) explore pandemic impacts on youth mental health, bidirectional associations between alcohol use and mental health, and longitudinal effects of income inequality on health outcomes. His work highlights disparities in sleep, nutrition, and substance use exacerbated by socioeconomic factors.