On 14 March 2026, MDPI Canada hosted the first North American subject workshop entitled “Building Resilient Public Health Systems: Equity, One Health and Innovation for Population Well-Being”. This event brought together nearly fifty students and experts in the field of public health to discuss the latest research findings and current hot topics. This meeting was held at the Park Hyatt Toronto located in the university district and provided a platform for scientific exchange.

Our workshop host, Summer Huggard, Operations Manager of MDPI Canada, opened the event with an introduction to our conference chairs, Dr. Jamie Seabrook of Western University and Dr. Peizhong Peter Wang of Memorial University of Newfoundland & the University of Toronto. Our co-chairs welcomed our attendees the event, outlining the four subtopics of the workshop, youth mental health and substance use, barriers to healthcare access and utilization, public health policy and systems innovation, and mental health among immigrant and newcomer populations, and emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing public health challenges. MDPI Canada’s Operating Director, Elvis Wang, then thanked all contributors and spoke about MDPI’s core principles of transparency, trusted service, integrity, and role in promoting excellence and advancing open science.

The day’s presentations were full of exciting discussion as twelve speakers spoke about their research findings. These twelve presenters included Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia, Dr. Michèle Preyde, Mr. Andre Watkis, Dr. April Joy Damian, Dr. Jamie Seabrook, Dr. Peizhong Peter Wang, Dr. Ester Villalonga Olives, Dr. Lu Wang, Dr. Lixia Yang, Dr. James Chow, Dr. Lanyan Chen, and Ms. Victoria Babysheva.

The reports given covered many interesting topics, such as the importance of inpatient and outpatient research in implementing assessment tools for youth populations, how inclusive organizational culture in the trades can help support worker mental health, and the critical role early relationships play in a child’s long-term health and development. With talks covering hot topics, such as Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) and its effects on youth mental health, disparities in healthcare access for Chinese immigrants in Canada, the challenges of using measures developed for one population in another regarding race and culture, and how to better create policies for health equity, this event provided a platform for insightful discussions.

The second half of the day began with presentations covering mixed-method approaches when combining traditional healthcare practices with current practices to aid in the access to healthcare, the increase in anxiety and depression among Chinese immigrants in the wake of COVID, and the use of LLMs to enhance patient care. Our speaker talks concluded with presentations on the Eurocentric bias among the Canadian healthcare system and the need for diversification in perspectives, as well as how understanding and implementing systems thinking can improve human resource management.

Dr. Barnaby Crook, a representative of MDPI, introduced MDPI’s Clinical Medicine and Healthcare subject and discussed relevant publishing trends in the public health field. His presentation allowed audience members to gain greater insight into how MDPI’s journals can support researchers whose work falls within this subject and provided transparency regarding MDPI’s practices.

During the day’s proceedings, multiple Q&A sessions were held, allowing valuable engagement between speakers and attendees to occur. During these discussions, audience members could further develop conversations around addressing social determinants of health, leveraging virtual care, relationships between traditional and mainstream medicine, and more. These sessions were a highlight of the event and helped build a platform for meaningful scientific exchange.

Looking Ahead

The MDPI 2026 Toronto Subject Workshop Building Resilient Public Health Systems: Equity, One Health and Innovation for Population Well-Being was a successful collaboration between MDPI and local academics. We are thankful to all attendees for their part in making this event possible and for contributing to its success.

We have received positive feedback regarding this event and look forward to continuing to host these subject workshops with the Los Angeles Subject Workshop “Cutting-Edge Advances in Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy: From Basic Science to Clinical Impact” in May. For more updates regarding this event and other upcoming workshops, follow MDPI Canada on LinkedIn.