Megan Wylie, Master’s student in Geography co-supervised by Dr. Riva, recently returned from New Orleans, LA, where she presented her research on wage inequality and health in Canadian cities at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in New Orleans, LA. Well done, Megan! Read her story below.

Last week, I traveled from the cold winter weather of Montreal to the sunny and welcoming New Orleans to attend the American Association of Geographer’s (AAG) annual meeting. I presented my research on wage inequality and its relationship to health in Canadian cities, and discussed my results with policy makers and academics (see picture below). The conference offered many sessions on topics ranging from biodiversity to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and I set my eyes on social determinants of health and economic inequality seminars. It was fruitful. I saw the economic geographer Michael Storper speak about regional inequality and sat with fellow Canadian health geographers to learn how place-based health research has changed over the last 25 years. I was inspired and entertained by this year’s honorary geographer, Robert Bullard, who spoke about his work on environmental justice and working with community activists to pursue action and social change. At the end of each busy day, I discussed my thoughts with other researchers who are similarly working to promote social justice and healthy communities at associated evening events held throughout the vibrant city of New Orleans.

Thank you to my supervisors, Mylène and Sébastien, and all of my lab mates for giving feedback to create an informative (and great looking) poster. I was honoured to share my research and represent the hard work the team and I are doing back at McGill on place, health, and well-being in Canada.

– Megan Wylie