Dr. Booth is a Scientist in the Centre for Urban Health Solutions (C-UHS) in the Keenan Research Centre located at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She is also an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Dr. Booth’s research focuses on environmental, socioeconomic, and health care factors influencing the risk of diabetes and related chronic diseases. A major thrust of her research focuses on effects of the built environment on health, which is supported by a 7-year CIHR Foundation Grant.

Dr. Booth and her team published a highly impactful research paper entitled “Association of neighborhood walkability with change in overweight, obesity, and diabetes” in JAMA. This study found that urban neighbourhoods with highly walkable urban designs had a stable prevalence of overweight and obesity and declining diabetes incidence during a 12-year period (2001-2012). Throughout this period, rates of each of these conditions were significantly lower in these highly walkable neighbourhoods compared with less walkable areas, in which levels of obesity had continued to increase.

For further information on this research, please see: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2524191