CHSPR Seminar | Building a Learning Health System for Correctional Health Services in BC

Amanda Slaunwhite, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Jennifer Duff, BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services

Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026
12-1 pm PT
SPPH or Zoom (Amanda Slaunwhite and Jennifer Duff will speak in person)
Register

People incarcerated in BC provincial correctional centres experience layered social, economic, and health inequities, exacerbated by high rates of mental illness and substance use disorders. In 2021, 51.1% of incarcerated people in BC had a diagnosed mental illness, 58.9% had a substance use disorder, and 41.0% had both. Correctional Health Services, part of BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services (BCMHSUS), delivers health care in the province’s ten provincial correctional centres. In this presentation, Jennifer Duff, Chief Operating Officer of BCMHSUS, and Dr Amanda Slaunwhite, Scientific Director of Correctional Health Services, will describe efforts to build a learning health system where data, research, quality improvement, and clinical operations are integrated to support evidence-based action to reduce health inequities among incarcerated people in BC.

Dr. Amanda Slaunwhite is an Assistant Professor (Partner-track) at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, and Scientific Director for Correctional Health Services at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services. She has expertise in substance use, mental health, and the health of incarcerated people. She has over a decade of experience working with linked administrative health data in BC. Dr. Slaunwhite holds a Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar Award (2022-2027) and was the 2025 recipient of the INHSU Early-Mid Career Leadership Award.

Jennifer Duff is the chief operating officer at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services. She holds an executive MBA and an Americas MBA for Executives certificate from SFU, as well as a master’s degree in health administration and a bachelor’s degree in nursing, both from the UBC. She serves as adjunct professor in the UBC School of Population and Public Health. She has more than 20 years of experience in progressively senior health care leadership roles spanning clinical, operational, regional and provincial/ministerial levels. These include roles in mental health and/or substance use at Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the Ministry of Health.

Register in advance for this seminar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.