Melissa Kimber

Melissa Kimber, Ph.D., M.S.W., R.S.W., is an Assistant Professor and Core Member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, Canada. She is also Registered Social Worker that continues to provide mental health assessment, advocacy, and psychotherapy in a private practice in Hamilton (Ontario) to children and adolescents (< 17 years) living with mental health challenges. Dr. Kimber received her PhD (2015) in Health Research Methodology from the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (formerly known as the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics) at McMaster University and completed her CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the Offord Centre for Child Studies (2018). Her research reflects her personal and professional commitment to improve the lives of children (< 17 years old) who experience family violence (i.e., child maltreatment and intimate partner violence) and mental health challenges, as well as the lives of the health professionals that care for them. For these populations, Dr. Kimber and her team utilize qualitative, quantitative and mixed method research designs to: (a) characterize the prevalence, determinants, and impacts of family violence and mental health challenges; (b) identify and evaluate strategies to improve the efficiency with which individuals receive empirically-supported interventions to mitigate their suffering; as well as (c) identify and evaluate new clinical and educational interventions that can assist in reducing the impacts of family violence and mental health challenges, locally and globally.