Arjumand Siddiqi

Research Interests

Arjumand Siddiqi is a Social Epidemiologist.  She is Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity. She also holds cross appointments in Public Policy and Sociology at the University of Toronto, as well as an adjunct appointment at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Dr. Siddiqi’s research centers on understanding why health inequalities are so pervasive and persistent, and what can be done about this, with an emphasis on the role of societal conditions (policy, politics, economy, and so on). In recent years, she has focused on (a) evaluating of the impact of specific social policies on population health and health inequalities, (b) examining the causes of contemporary trends in population health and health inequalities, (e.g., the recent, unusual decline in life expectancy in the liberal welfare states; the widening of racial and socioeconomic health inequalities in many societies; the social distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic) and, (c) reflections on concepts and methods used in health inequalities research. Dr. Siddiqi also engages with governmental and non-governmental entities, including the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada, and the World Health Organization.

Other Affiliations

• University of Toronto Cross-Appointments: Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy; Department of Sociology
• Adjunct Professor, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
• Research Affiliate, National Center for Children and Families, Columbia University

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

• Social Epidemiology (CHL 5419)
• Population Perspectives for Epidemiology (CHL 5426)

Representative Publications

• Vahid Shahidi F, Parnia A, Siddiqi A. 2020. Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in premature and avoidable mortality in Canada, 1991-2016. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 39:E1114-E1128. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.191723
• Siddiqi A, Sod-Erdene O, Hamilton D, McMillan Cottom T, Darity W. 2019. Growing sense of social status threat and concomitant deaths of despair among whites. SSM Population Health. 9:100449. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100449
• Siddiqi A, Shahidi FV, Hildebrand V, Hong A, Basu S. 2018. Illustrating a ‘Consequential’ Shift in the Study of Health Inequalities: A Decomposition of Racial Differences in the Distribution of Body Mass. Annals of Epidemiology. 28(4): 236-241. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2018.02.003. [PA, SRA]
• Basu S, Meghani A, and Siddiqi A. 2017. Evaluating the health impact of large-scale public policy changes: classical and novel approaches. Annual Review of Public Health. Mar 20;38:351-370. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044208
• Ramraj C, Vahid Shahidi F, Kawachi I, Darity S, Zuberi D, and Siddiqi A. 2016. Equally Inequitable? A Cross-National Comparative Study of Racial Health Inequalities in the United States and Canada.Social Science and Medicine. Jul (161): 19-26. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.028