Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz

Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Community Health & Epidemiology and Psychiatry at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She is also appointed to a community-based agency for persons with intellectual disabilities in Southeastern Ontario (Ongwanada) where she works as an epidemiologist. At Queen’s, Hélène is Director of the Masters in Epidemiology Program. She teaches epidemiology to undergraduate students and supervises graduate students completing thesis research related to intellectual disabilities and autism.

Dr. Ouellette-Kuntz holds an undergraduate degree in nursing from St. Francis Xavier University (1987), a master of science degree in epidemiology from Queen’s University (1989), and a doctoral degree in human geography also from Queen’s (2012). Since 2008, she has served as secretary for the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD). She is an active member of the Physical Health Special Interest Research Group of IASSIDD

Over the past decade, Hélène has directed a national study of the epidemiology of autism and created the National Epidemiologic Database for the Study of Autism in Canada (NEDSAC) funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2001-2012; see www.nedsac.ca). Hélène has undertaken additional research on the use of administrative data for autism surveillance in Canada funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

As Director of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded Southeastern Ontario Community-University Research Alliance in Intellectual Disabilities (2004-2010) and Nominated Principal Investigator of the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services-supported Multidimensional Assessment of Providers and Systems Research Program (2010-2013), Hélène directs an extensive research partnership involving a provincial interdisciplinary team of researchers and community agencies that support individuals with intellectual disabilities. The research partnership is focusing on the impact of social inclusion policy across a service system (see www.seocura.org; www.mapsresearch.ca).

Since 2011, Dr. Ouellette-Kuntz has been a principal investigator on a Partnerships for Health System Improvement Grant funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2011-2013) and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care (2013-2016) to examine disparities in health and health care access experienced by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Ontario using administrative data. The program (Health Care Access and Research in Developmental Disabilities – HCARDD) is led by Dr. Yona Lunsky at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Hélène co-leads the program’s research projects related to cancer screening, polypharmacy and aging.