Dr. Ruth Elwood Martin MD, FCFP, MPH

Clinical Professor

School of Population and Public Health

Faculty of Medicine

I was raised in Manchester, UK, and came as a settler to Vancouver in 1973. I worked as a family physician in the medical clinics of British Columbia’s correctional centres,1994 to 2011. In 2000, I initiated a cervical cancer screening pilot inside prison, and later assisted with the HPV primary screening RCT study, “HPV-FOCAL”. I had the transformative privilege of engaging with women in prison, prison staff and academics in participatory health research (PHR) to address concerns raised by women themselves. Over 200 women became members of the PHR team over three years, and our work is described in the book ‘Arresting Hope’.  

 

I am very much in love with our five grandchildren, aged 5 and under! Another love of my life is to spend time sailing in the majestic coastal BC waters. 

What are your key research interests?
  • Community-based participatory health research
  • Prison health
  • Women's health
What drew you to working with Transformative Health & Justice?

Inspired by the World Health Organization (Europe) ‘Health in Prison Project’, we formed the Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education (CCPHE) in 2005 as a network of academic, community and prison persons who are interested in improving the health of individuals in custody, their families and communities. I am excited by the opportunities for the UBC Transformative Health and Justice Research Cluster to build upon previous work, and to inspire and foster future research networking, partnerships, transformations and mentorship.

Link(s) to affiliated organizations, institutions, work

Director, Collaborating Centre for Prison Health & Education 

Affiliations:

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm.

Transformative Health & Justice

Research Excellence Clusters at UBC Vancouver is a joint initiative of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation. Funding support for the clusters is provided by Academic Excellence Funds – UBC Vancouver.

UBC Crest The official logo of the University of British Columbia. Urgent Message An exclamation mark in a speech bubble. Caret An arrowhead indicating direction. Arrow An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Chats Two speech clouds. Facebook The logo for the Facebook social media service. Information The letter 'i' in a circle. Instagram The logo for the Instagram social media service. External Link An arrow entering a square. Linkedin The logo for the LinkedIn social media service. Location Pin A map location pin. Mail An envelope. Menu Three horizontal lines indicating a menu. Minus A minus sign. Telephone An antique telephone. Plus A plus symbol indicating more or the ability to add. Search A magnifying glass. Twitter The logo for the Twitter social media service. Youtube The logo for the YouTube video sharing service.