Dr. Hailey Banack (PhD) is currently an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD in epidemiology at McGill University and a postdoctoral fellowship with the Women’s Health Initiative at the University at Buffalo.
Hailey’s research group conducts research on aging. She is well-known as an expert in obesity epidemiology, with significant experience conducting research on obesity in older adults. She is interested in novel measurement approaches for body composition in older adults and understanding age-related change in body composition among postmenopausal women in particular. As part of Dr. Banack’s currently funded research she developed an innovative protocol for measuring muscle mass remotely (at home!) using D3-Creatine (D3Cr). Her research is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging. Her multi-million-dollar R01 and R37 grants will examine the longitudinal relationship between body composition, cancer, and cardiometabolic outcomes. Dr. Banack is regarded as an expert in aging epidemiology and women’s health and has substantive expertise in several types of chronic disease research. Hailey is an active co-investigator with the longstanding, landmark Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study.
In 2024, Hailey was appointed the inaugural Novo Nordisk Professor in Health Equity and Chronic Illness Prevention as part of the University of Toronto’s Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations. In this role, she will lead cross-disciplinary and collaborative research studies on health equity and diabetes risk in older adults living in Mississauga and Peel Region, Ontario.
In addition to her substantive expertise in aging and obesity, Hailey has a particular interest in the application of novel and advanced epidemiologic methods. She considers herself a ‘methods geek’ and has specific expertise implementing quantitative bias analysis approaches, causal inference methods, and (like everyone) now includes machine learning and AI-based approaches into her work.
Dr. Banack really enjoys teaching epidemiology. At UofT she currently teaches a doctoral-level seminar course and an advanced quantitative methods course for PhD students in epidemiology. Hailey is also the co-host of a super popular podcast called SERious Epi. The SERious Epi podcast is aimed at trainees and practicing epidemiologists who want to learn more about study design and analytic approaches used in epidemiology.
