Flora Matheson

Associate Professor and Chair, Homelessness, Housing, and Health, Unity Health Toronto

Cross-Appointments

Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies
Institute of Medical Sciences

Areas of Interest

  • Homelessness
  • Mental Health and Substance Use
  • Brain Injury and Criminal-legal Systems
  • Sex & Gender-based Analysis
  • Reentry and Reintegration
  • Policy Development and Systems-level Interventions
  • Health Equity and Structural Marginalization
  • Patient and Community Engagement in Research

Fields of Study

  • Criminal-legal System
  • Public Health
  • Governance and Public Policy
  • Medical Sociology
  • Gender and Justice
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Community-Based Research

Biography

Dr. Flora Matheson is the Unity Health Toronto Chair in Homelessness, Housing, and Health. She is a Sociologist leading the Justice & Equity Lab located at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital and is an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. She is also co-Chair of Unity Health Toronto’s Patient and Community Engagement in Research Committee.

Her research program focuses on gender inequities and intersecting social determinants of health affecting criminal-legal-involved individuals. Her most recent research examines community supervision and re-entry programs for those with brain injury. With a network of partners, she provides education on brain injury to criminal-legal professionals. Together they advocate for more interventions that are brain injury focused in the criminal-legal system. They are implementing programs in Ontario to help criminal-legal-involved individuals with brain injury navigate health, legal, and social services in the community. Her research is embedded in the community and engages people with lived expertise, as well as the service providers who support underserved communities.

Selected Publications

  • Russell C, Yakubovich A, O'Campo P, Qu K, Plumptre L, Kouyoumdjian F, Matheson FI. “Overall and Substance Use-Specific Healthcare Utilization among Individuals with and without Criminal Justice Involvement in Ontario, Canada.” International Journal of Prison Health. Accepted May 2025.
  • Abukar H, McLuhan A, Fakhrjahani I, Hao S, Zafar S, Ford M, Matheson FI. “Rapid Reentry Resources: Needs Assessment of a Mobile Reentry Service Trailer for People Leaving a Superjail.” The Prison Journal. Accepted May 2025.
  • Dunn J, Hwang S, Janus M, Matheson FI, Moineddin R, O’Campo P, Smith P, Muntaner C. “Does receipt of social housing impact mental health? Results of a quasi-experimental study in the Greater Toronto Area”. Social Science and Medicine Journal. Published: October 24, 2024.
  • Matheson FI, McLuhan A, Riccardi JS, Kirby A, McMillan TM. “Implementing Interventions for Women and Youth with Traumatic Brain Injury at Transition from Custodial Settings: A Call to Action.” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. May 2024.
  • Lunsky Y, Matheson FI, Kouyoumdjian F, Whittingham L, Lin E, Durbin A, Calzavara A, Moser A, Dastoori P, Sirotich F, Volpe T, "Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Ontario’s Criminal Justice and Forensic Mental Health Systems: Using Data to Tell the Story." Criminal Justice and Mental Health. Published: January 24, 2024.
  • Matheson FI, McLuhan A, Croxford R, Hahmann T, Ferguson M, Mejia-Lancheros C. “Health status and health care utilization among men recently released from a superjail: a matched prospective cohort study.” International Journal of Prisoner Health. September 2023.
     

Education

Postdoctoral Studies, Medical Sociology, Inner City Health - St. Michael’s Hospital
PhD, Sociology (Crime, Deviance and Socio-legal Studies), University of Toronto
MA, Sociology, University of Toronto
HBA, Sociology (High Distinction), University of Toronto
HBA, Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island