Julia Brassolotto

Dr. Julia Brassolotto (she/her) is the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and an Associate Professor in the Public Health program. As Associate Dean, her portfolio includes Graduate Studies, Communications, and External Relations for the faculty. Her interdisciplinary program of research focuses on health services, policy, and ethics.

Education:

• PhD (Health Policy and Equity), York University
• MA (Philosophy), York University
• BA (Philosophy/Cultural Studies), McMaster University

Research Focus: 

Dr. Brassolotto is a social scientist and a qualitative researcher. Her research looks at care for older adults, with a focus on continuing care, community, and end-of-life contexts. Her two primary areas of ongoing interest include sexual expression in continuing care homes and medical assistance in dying (MAID). Dr. Brassolotto began her career at the University of Lethbridge with an Alberta Innovates New Investigator Research Award ($1.4 million over 7 years). This award was designed to be translational in nature, with attention to advancing scholarly knowledge while also having impact on policy, practice, and society. Since then, Dr. Brassolotto has secured Tri-Council funding from SSHRC and CIHR to advance her work and provide training and learning opportunities for students and junior scholars.

Dr. Brassolotto has done consulting for provincial and federal governments. Her work has been cited in France’s Haute Autorité de Santé Best Practices policy recommendations for supporting the intimate, emotional, and sexual lives of people living in care homes. Resources created by Brassolotto’s team are listed as recommended Practice Resources on the Assisted Living Alberta Continuing Care Connection website. Knowledge mobilization videos that Brassolotto’s team created have been translated into Mandarin and are now used in caregiver education and post-secondary curriculum (Human Sexuality Studies) at Shu-Te University in Taiwan. The online educational modules that Brassolotto’s team created for care providers have been completed nation-wide and are now mandatory for incoming hires in AgeCare facilities in Alberta, Ontario, and British Columbia. The infographics and other knowledge mobilization outputs created by this team have been cited in the Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s training materials, as well as in educational resources from Behavioural Supports Ontario and Toronto Public Health. Brassolotto has delivered invited training workshops for Clinical Ethics teams in Alberta and Ontario, with both units reporting use of related resources in their ongoing clinical practice.

For more information about Dr. Brassolotto’s work on sexual expression in continuing care homes, check out: www.sexualexpressionincare.com.

For more information about Dr. Brassolotto’s work on medical assistance in dying, check out: www.maidinsights.com.

To read Dr. Brassolotto’s scholarly publications, check out her Experts Database page linked above.

Teaching Experience:

Dr. Brassolotto has taught in the Public Health program at the University of Lethbridge since 2016. She has taught the following courses

Undergraduate

• PUBH 2100: Policy and Health
• HLSC 3850: Critical Perspectives on Aging and Mortality
• HLSC 2700: Health and Society
• HLSC 3850: Rural Health Issues

Graduate

• PUBH 5005: Advanced Policy and Public Health Ethics

She supervises graduate students who are interested in aging, end-of-life, and health policy.

Current and Recent Grants:

Principal Investigator (June 2024 – 2028)

Autonomy and vulnerability: A feminist political economy analysis of medical assistance in dying in a post-Bill C-7 Canada.

• Co-investigators: Duff Waring (York University), Polly Ford-Jones (University of Lethbridge).
• Collaborator: Dionne Walsh (AHS).
• Funding source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant.
• ($307,372)

GottaGoYQL: Toilet-mapping as part of an Age-Friendly Lethbridge (February 2024 – April 2025)

• Co-investigator: Philip Bonnaventure (University of Lethbridge)
• Collaborator: Rob Miyashiro (Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization)
• Funding source: University of Lethbridge Office of Research Services and Innovation – Research Chair Transition Funds
• ($10,000)

Medical Assistance in Dying: Ethical Issues in Rural Alberta. (June 2019 – 2024)

• Co-investigators: Monique Sedgwick (University of Lethbridge), Duff Waring (York University), Sally Chivers (Trent University).
• Collaborators: Dionne Walsh and Brandi Roach (AHS).
• Funding source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant.
• ($57,322)

Intersections in Rural Long-Term Care: A Comparative Case Study. (July 2016 – June 2020)

• Co-investigators: Sienna Caspar and Shannon Spenceley (University of Lethbridge).
• Funding source: Alberta Innovates Research Chair fund

Co-Principal Investigator (March 2021 – 2025)

Supporting safe and healthy sexual expression for people living with dementia in long-term care. 

• Co-PIs: Pia Kontos (University of Toronto) and Alisa Grigorovich (Brock University). Co-Is: Andrea Iaboni, Lisa Poole.
• Collaborators: Lori Schindel Martin, Linn Sandberg, Sid Feldman.
• Funding source: Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant.
• ($325,124)