Dr Meaghan Thumath

Dr. Meaghan Thumath is a clinician-scientist and public health leader working at the intersection of public health, technology, and trust. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, a fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Oxford and founder of the HERO Lab (Health Equity and Resilience Observatory), where she studies how communities navigate risk, disinformation, and trust during crises like the overdose emergency, hurricanes, wildfires and pandemics. Her work has taken her from academic research settings to frontline deployments with WHO and the IFRC during outbreaks, climate disasters and conflicts in 28 countries around the world. As a street nurse and humanitarian she’s seen firsthand how fragile trust can shape whether lifesaving public health guidance succeeds or fails. She is also pioneering trust tech approaches at the intersection of artificial intelligence, public health, and security through Counterforce AI, a UBC venture working to detect and counter harmful narratives that can destabilize emergency response. She has served on a number of civil society boards supporting democracy and human rights and is a proud ambassador for Ballet BC in addition to being a Summit Impact Fellow, Governors General Leadership Fellow and winner of a King Charles III Coronation Medal for her humanitarian service. She is the proud mum of two wonderful sons that she’s raising with her talented chef husband Tret and their rescue pup Leo in East Vancouver. She welcomes connections with co-conspirators, mentors, fellow entrepreneurs, creatives, investors and future partners interested in protecting democracy and creating a more just and sustainable world. See you on the dance floor Ted!

Health Equity, Democracy, Arts & Culture, Good Eyebrows, Human Rights, Good dance floors and dinner parties, Leaving the ladder up

Kindness eases change. Love quiets fear.

Public Health

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