Professor Dr. Imara Rolston

Biography

Imara Ajani Rolston is an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on racial justice, equity, and climate resilience, drawing on 15 years of experience working in 13 Sub-Saharan African countries. Imara has contributed to the global, national, and local AIDS response while pursuing new insights into the relationships between grassroots organizing and health promotion. She served as a Program Officer at Oxfam Canada, where she developed wide-scale gender justice programming, and participated in initiatives to combat tuberculosis and malaria in Southern Africa. With a strong emphasis on community-based organizations, Imara has worked with the Stephen Lewis Foundation, creating connections between local AIDS organizations and the global response to HIV/AIDS. She has also co-led a national research project funded by the German government through the Nelson Mandela Foundation, focusing on community conversations across South Africa. In Toronto, Imara is engaged in enhancing community-led climate resilience through initiatives aimed at local neighborhoods. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Sustainable Development from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in Adult Education and Community Development from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and a doctorate in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also a CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow.

Research Interests