Danielle Fearon, PhD

Danielle Fearon headshot

Assistant Professor

Contact information



Education

  • PhD (University of Waterloo)
  • MSc (University of Waterloo)
  • MPH (University of Waterloo)
  • BA Hons (McMaster University)

Graduate Program Supervision

  • Nursing MScN | PhD 
  • Health Information Science  | 

Research In Profile

Professor Fearon is a public health scientist, and her research focuses on leveraging population- or community- level health data to tailor interventions and inform nursing practice. Using applied biostatistical techniques, she is predominantly interested in how sociodemographic (e.g., gender, age, sex) and clinical characteristics influence health outcomes. Professor Fearon’s research falls within the following areas:

  1. Mental health, particularly predictive modelling to identify persons at risk for adverse mental health outcomes
  2. Health services, namely health system utilization, cost-effectiveness analyses, and performance measurement
  3. Health equity, social determinants of health, and systemic factors that contribute to disparities

Through research in each of these areas, Professor Fearon is passionate about bridging gaps between health data and clinical practice.

Featured Publications and Projects

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

  • Fearon, D., Perlman, C. M., Leatherdale, S., Hirdes, J. P., & Dubin, J. (2024). Classification of traumatic life events and substance use among persons admitted to inpatient psychiatry in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 172, 236-243.
  • Bernard, L., Fearon, D., McFaul, S., & Faught, W. (2020). Role of primary care enrolment in advanced cervical cancer diagnosis: a population-based case–control study. International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer, 30(1).
  • Fearon, D., Saskin, R., Ishiguro, L., & Graves, E. (2018). Attending Nurse Practitioners in Long-Term Care Homes Evaluation. International Journal of Population Data Science, 3(4).
  • Morrison-Koechl, J., Fearon, D. O., Fernandes, M. A., & Tyas, S. L. (2023). The Association Between Emotional Expressivity in Autobiographies from Early Adulthood and the Risk of Dementia in the Context of Written Language Skills. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports, 7(1), 317-326.
  • Kim, Y. J., Oremus, M., Chen, H. H., McFarlane, T., Fearon, D., & Horton, S. (2021). Cost-effectiveness analysis of afatinib, erlotinib, and gefitinib as first-line treatments for EGFR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer in Ontario, Canada. Pharmacoeconomics, 39, 537-548.

Visit for a comprehensive list of publications.

Current Grants and Research Projects

  • [Primary Investigator]. (2023). Applying a community-based mental health lens to Canadians access to mental health. Mitacs.
  • [Co-investigator]. (Ongoing). Suicidal Ideation and Attempts among Youth with Physical-Mental Comorbidity: A Pan-Canadian Study. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Graduate Student Opportunities

Please feel free to contact Danielle Fearon if you are a graduate student looking for supervision and interested in the use of quantitative methods. Of particular interest are students seeking to pursue research related to child or youth mental health, inpatient mental health, health systems, or health equity.

Additional Information

Academic Appointments and Research Affiliations

  • Member, Canadian Academy of Psychiatric Epidemiology
  • Member, Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research