Melody Morton Ninomiya

I am a Japanese and Swiss-German Mennonite (heritage and upbringing) researcher, educator, and mediator with experience in Indigenous health and wellness, critical public health, mental health and addictions, community-based and decolonizing research methods and methodologies, and knowledge mobilization. I currently hold a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Community-Driven Knowledge Mobilization and Pathways to Wellness.

Prior to starting at Laurier in 2019, I held a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship at Well Living House, St. Michael’s Hospital, and postdoctoral position at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Since 2018, I was a project scientist at CAMH on projects with First Nation communities in Ontario and Labrador. I received a PhD in Medicine (Community Health and Humanities) from Memorial University, MEd (Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning) from Memorial University, BEd from Queen’s University, and BA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

My research projects and interests lie in the areas of Indigenous health and wellness, community and culturally-defined indicators of wellness, knowledge mobilization principles and practices in community-based research, mental health and addiction, critical public health, decolonizing research methodologies, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), and research on research ecosystems (especially community-driven research).

Ongoing projects involve working directly with First Nation communities in the area of health and wellness; conducting reviews on community-driven knowledge mobilization; defining and implementing FASD prevention and supports in local community and provincial contexts; and research on community-driven research ecosystems.

I have limited research assistantships for students interested in my areas of research. Please visit Ishkode Research Group to see what kinds of projects are ongoing. If you are interested in pursuing an undergraduate, master, or doctoral thesis/dissertation — or — an applied research experience as a research assistant or directed studies student, please contact me. I prioritize people who have direct, personal, and relevant connections and skills to ongoing projects.

• Ward, C., Morton Ninomiya, M.E., Firestone, M. (2025). Teaching about race and anti-Indigenous racism in the classroom. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 54 (1). DOI: 10.55146/ajie.v54i1.1044
• Hunter Porter, N.*; Burns, N.*; Benoit, A.; Auger, J.; Maddox, R.; Jull, J.; Linton, J.; Nemeth, J.; Brascoupé, S.; Préfontaine, N.*; Simon, D.*; Lanceleve, T.*; Herkimer, J.*; Weber-Pillwax, C.; George, N.; Friesen, M.; Bourque Bearskin, L.; Morton Ninomiya, M.E. (2025). How Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Indigenous Knowledges are centered in research: An Indigenous-informed realist review protocol. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 18(4), 561-572.
• Maddox, R., & Morton Ninomiya, M.E. (2024). Indigenous sovereignty in research and epistemic justice: Truth telling through research. Global Public Health, 20(1), 2436436. DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2024.2436436
• Kennedy, M., Morton Ninomiya, M.E., Morton Ninomiya, M.*, Brascoupé, S., Smylie, J., Calma, T., Mohamed, J., Stewart, P., Maddox, R. (2024). Knowledge translation in Indigenous health research: Voices from the field. Medical Journal of Australia. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.52357 
• Gault, S., McGarrity, M., Star, J., Chaves, D., Macdonald, R., Lee, F., Gilbert, O., Huber, K., Fischer, M., Stefanon, B., & Morton Ninomiya, M.E. (2023). Transitions into Adulthood for People Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review of Promising Practices. Children & Youth Services Review, 155. DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107239
• Morton Ninomiya, M.E., Burns, N., Pollock, N., Linton, J., Brubacher, L.J., Green, N., Keeling, A., Martin, J., Rand, J., & Latta, A. (2023). Indigenous communities and the mental health impacts of land dispossession related to industrial resource development: A systematic review. Lancet Planetary Health, 7(6), e501-517. DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00079-7
• Morton Ninomiya, M.E., Almomani, Y., Dunbar Winsor, K., Burns, N., Harding, K.D., Ropson, M., Chaves, D., & Wolfson, L. (2023). Trauma-informed approaches for pregnant and/or parenting women who use alcohol: A scoping review. Women’s Health, 19, 1-22. DOI: 10.1177/1745505722114830 
• Morton Ninomiya, M.E., Maddox, R., Brascoupé, S., Atkinson, D., Firestone, M., Robinson, N., Ziegler, C. P., & Smylie, J. K.  (2022). Knowledge translation practices in Indigenous health research: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 301, 114898. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114898

To view more of my publications, visit Google Scholar.