Dr. Robert McDermit (he/him/his) grew up with his parents, Julie and Dale, and his brother, John, as a settler on the Coast Salish territory of the Halalt, Lyackson, Meluxulh (Malahat), Puneluxutth’ (Penelakut), Quw’utsun, Stz-uminus, and Ts’uubaa-asatx nations in Quw’utsun.

He followed his love of community and passion for sustainable and preventative approaches to health equity through kinesiology (University of Victoria), medicine (University of British Columbia), and into Public Health and Preventative Medicine (University of British Columbia). He is very interested in the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health, including community partnerships in healthy public policy advocacy, housing and harm reduction, culturally appropriate community mental health support, early childhood and family socioemotional regulation, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

He is particularly interested in participatory collaboration pathways and anchor institution coordination in approaches that co-benefit equity, climate, and health. Outside of medicine, Robert’s own wellness includes connecting with family and friends, exploring the outdoors through rock and alpine climbing, learning new boardgames, training in martial arts, and writing.