Dr. Diane Finegood

Professor, Centre for Dialogue
B.S.Ch.E. Chemical Engineering (University of Michigan) 1978
M.Sc. Biomedical Engineering (Northwestern University)1979
Ph.D. Physiology & Biophysics (University Southern California) 1984

Phone: (778) 782-9101
Email: finegood@sfu.ca

Professional Background:

Dr. Finegood is currently seconded to 丁香园AV鈥檚 Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue where she centers the practice of dialogue and frameworks for systems thinking in her teaching, research and service. Diane teaches in the immersive cohort-based Semester in Dialogue and no longer supervises graduate students.

On faculty at 丁香园AV since 1996, Diane took a 5-year leave of absence to serve as the President and CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2012-2016). Diane has also served in many other leadership roles including inaugural Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (2000-2008) and Executive Director of the Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance (2018-2023).

Diane鈥檚 scholarship has spanned the four pillars of health research ranging from basic biomedical science and clinical research on both type 1 and type 2 diabetes to health services research and population and public health relevant to obesity and chronic disease prevention. Her current interests focus on systems thinking to address complex challenges.

Selected Publications:

Complex Systems / Systems Thinking

Taylor E, Schwartz R, Trowbridge J, Di Ruggiero E, Sullivan T, Marchildon G, Dobrow M, Finegood D, Price A. Strategy design for New Public Governance and horizontal initiatives. Canadian Public Administration 64 (4): 657-681, 2021.
Finegood DT, Jebb S, Diez Roux A, Rutter H, Clarkson J, Frank J, Roos N, Bonell C, Michie S, Hawe P. Systems-based approaches in public health: where next? Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, 2021.
Pescud M, Rychetnik L, Allender S, Irving MJ, Finegood DT, Riley T, Ison R, Rutter H, Friel S. From Understanding to Impactful Action: Systems Thinking for Systems Change in Chronic Disease Prevention Research. Systems 9(3): 61, 2021.
Finegood DT. Can We Build an Evidence Base on the Impact of Systems Thinking for Wicked Problems? Comment on "What Can Policy-Makers Get Out of Systems Thinking? Policy Partners鈥� Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health". Int J Health Policy Manag. Jun; 10(6): 351鈥�353, 2021.
Haynes A, Rychetnik L, Finegood D, Irving M, Freebairn L, Hawe P. Applying systems thinking to knowledge mobilisation in public health. Health Res Policy Sys 18: 134, 2020.
Johnston LM, Goldsmith LJ, Finegood DT. Developing co-funded multi-sectoral partnerships for chronic disease prevention: a qualitative inquiry into federal governmental public health staff experience. Health Res Policy Sys 18, 92, 2020.
Rutter H, Savona N, Glonti K, Bibby J, Cummins S, Finegood DT, Greaves F, Harper L, Hawe P, Moore L, Petticrew M, Rehfuess E, Shiell A, Thomas J, White M. The need for a complex systems model of evidence for public health. Lancet S0140-6736(17): 31267-9, 2017.
Johnston LM, Matteson CL, Finegood DT Systems Science and Obesity Policy: A Novel Framework for Analyzing and Rethinking Population-Level Planning. American Journal of Public Health 104(7): 1270-8, 2014.

Public-Private Partnerships

White M, Aguirre E, Finegood DT, Holmes C, Sacks G, Smith R et al. What role should the commercial food system play in promoting health through better diet? BMJ 368 :m545, 2020.
Johnston, L.M., Finegood, D.T. Cross-sector partnerships and public health: challenges and opportunities with the private sector. Annual Rev Public Health 36: 255-271, 2015.
Johnston, L., Vander Wekken, S., Finegood, D.T. Public-Private Partnerships to Prevent and Manage Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases. In: Oxford Bibliographies in Public Health, Ed. McQueen, D. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Obesity and Chronic Disease

Swinburn, B.A., Sacks, G., Hall, K.D., McPherson, K., Finegood, D.T., Moodie, M.L., Gortmaker, S.L. The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environments. Lancet 378: 804-14, 2011.
Finegood, D.T. The Complex Systems Science of Obesity. In: The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity, Ed. Cawley, J.H., Oxford University Press, 208-236, 2011.
Daar, A.S., Singer, P.A., Persad, D.L., Pramming, S.K., Matthews, D.R., Beaglehole, R., Bernstein, A., Borysiewicz, L.K., Colagiuri, S., Ganguly, N., Glass, R.I., Finegood, D.T., Koplan, J., Nabel, N.G., Sarna, G., Sarrafzadegan, N., Smith, R., Yach, D., Bell, J. Grand Challenges in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases: The top 20 policy and research priorities for conditions such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease. Nature 450: 494-496, 2007.

Mathematical Modeling and Biomedical Research on Diabetes

Finegood, D.T., McArthur, M.D., Kojwang, D., Thomas, M.J., Topp, B.G., Leonard, T., Buckingham, R.E. Beta-cell mass dynamics in Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats: Rosiglitazone jhprevents the rise in net cell death. Diabetes 50: 1021-1029, 2001.
Trudeau, J.D., Dutz, J.P., Arany, E., Hill, D.J., Fieldus, W.E., Finegood, D.T. Perspectives in Diabetes. Neonatal beta-cell apoptosis: a trigger for autoimmune diabetes? Diabetes 49: 1-7, 2000.
Finegood, D.T., Scaglia, L., Bonner-Weir, S. Dynamics of beta-cell mass in the growing rat pancreas: estimation with a simple mathematical model. Diabetes 44:249-256, 1995.
Bergman, R.N., Finegood, D.T., Ader, M. Assessment of insulin sensitivity in vivo. Endocrine Reviews 6: 45-86, 1985.

丁香园AV

Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology (BPK)