Nutritional Sciences
University of Toronto
The prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) has continued to rise in Canada, placing substantial strains on population health, quality of life and healthcare systems. Dietary modification remains one of the most effective strategies for prevention and management of T2D. However, marked disparities in T2D prevalence exist, particularly among racialized, immigrant, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, underscoring the need for interventions that are responsive to the social, cultural, and structural factors that shape dietary behaviours. Engaging communities in the design and implementation of nutrition interventions is therefore essential to ensure their relevance, feasibility, and effectiveness. This presentation will highlight the application of co-design and community-engaged research frameworks in designing dietary interventions for T2D prevention drawing on our ongoing work in the diverse region of Peel, Ontario. It will provide examples of engaging project advisory committees comprised of diverse interest holders throughout the research process to guide co-design, along with pre-implementation focus groups structured using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), to help identify potential barriers and facilitators to intervention delivery. The talk will also discuss use of photovoice as a participatory method to generate community-informed deliverables that reflect local perspectives and lived experiences. By integrating interest holder perspectives, qualitative frameworks, and participatory methods throughout the research process, attendees will learn how these approaches can strengthen intervention design and implementation to support equitable strategies for T2D prevention and provide a model that can be adapted to other settings.
Vasanti Malik is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention. Her research focuses on generating evidence that can inform dietary guidance, community-based programs and public health policies to prevent chronic diseases and promote sustainable food systems. She uses epidemiological studies, clinical trials and evidence synthesis to study dietary and modifiable risk factors for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in different populations across the life course. Her work draws on implementation science and qualitative research frameworks as well as participatory methods to gather rich insights into dietary behaviors in diverse settings. Given her interest in environmentally sustainable diets, Dr. Malik is also developing a database of environmental impacts of foods consumed in Canada that will provide empirical evidence to help consumers make healthful and more sustainable food choices. Dr. Malik has published over 140 articles and holds several research grants including from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Her research has been recognized with several awards including the 2025 Young Investigator Award for Outstanding Research from the Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS) and the 2024 Early Career Researcher Partnership Prize from CNS/CIHR. Her lab recently received a 2026 Sustainable Action Award from the University of Toronto.