(MENAFN - The Conversation) Dr. Nickel is an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Research Scientist and Associate Director at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Scientist at the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, and Co-Director of the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC). Nickel received his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Community Health Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles and his PhD in Maternal and Child Health Policy from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Nickel is an applied population health scientist. He uses administrative data to conduct health and social policy research. Nickel's research program centres on examining how social and structural determinants impact population health and well-being and health and social inequities. Within this framework he has conducted evaluation research looking at programs aimed at improving child outcomes; mental health and addictions research examining outcomes associated with alcohol use disorders, methamphetamine and opioid use; and outcomes associated with interactions with provincial systems such as the justice and child welfare systems. Much of his research is done in partnership with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit organizations in Manitoba. In 2019, he was inducted into the US National Honor Society for Public Health for excellence in research and service in population health.