Chavon Niles
PhD, MA, BEd, HBSc
Dr. Chavon Niles is a Guyanese Canadian researcher, educator, and advocate whose work focuses on disability, race, caregiving and health systems. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Cross Appointed in the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto.
Dr. Niles holds an MA in Critical Disability Studies from York University and a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral research examined the experiences of Black and racialized immigrant youth with disabilities in the Greater Toronto Area, with a focus on how they navigate education, rehabilitation, health, and social services.
Following her PhD, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physical Therapy under the supervision of Dr. Susan Jaglal, where she explored the experiences of caregivers and care receivers with spinal cord injury participating in a self-management program.
Prior to her academic appointment, Dr. Niles held leadership roles in community and healthcare settings. At SickKids, she served as the inaugural Program Manager of Faculty Development and EDI, leading the design and implementation of equity-focused initiatives across the hospital. At the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), she led a national community education program to strengthen the capacity of service providers working with immigrants and refugees with disabilities.
Her current research and teaching are grounded in community-engaged approaches and focus on how people navigate access to rehabilitation and support across everyday care contexts and during public health emergencies. Her work brings together community, public health, and academic partners to better understand and respond to inequities within health and social systems.
Research & Scholarly Activities
Critical Disability Studies
Critical Race Theory
Postcolonialism
Immigration, Refugee and Racialized Groups
Carework
Disabled Youth
Community engaged research
Capacity Building Training
Teaching
- Co-Lead of SPEC
Appointments
- Assistant Professor (Tenure Stream), Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto
- Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute
Publications
Journal Articles (Published, Accepted and/or in Press)
Niles, C., Yoshida, K., Vickers, K., Anderson, J., El-Lahib, Y., Hamdy, R., & Al Awamry, N. (2026). Untold Stories of Black and Racialized Immigrants with Disabilities During COVID-19 in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Healthcare, 14(2), 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14020205 (Role: Senior Responsible Author)
Kokorelias KM, Niles C, Singh H, Hatzifilalithis S, Ojembe B, Onyekere CP, Kalu M, Harris MT. Identifying misrepresented participants in qualitative research through culturally aware and action-oriented strategies. Accepted to Qualitative Inquiry on January 22, 2026 (Impact Factor 2.3) (Role: Co-Author)
Oyefeso, L., Shaw, J. A., Beavers, L., Lurch, S., Quesnel, M., & Niles, C. (2025). Equity-focused teaching goals in health professions education: An analysis of teaching cases in a Master’s of Physical Therapy program. European Journal of Physiotherapy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2025.2592986 (Role: Senior Responsible Author)
Niles, C., Colantonio, A., Mangar, A., Lawrence, B., Nelson, B., & Al Awamry, N. (2025). Development of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities in Guyana. Disability and the Global South, 12(1), 2619–2637. (Role: Senior Responsible Author)
Niles, C., Colantonio, A., & Al Awamry, N. (2025). Health, access, and advocacy: Disabled people’s views on rehabilitation in Guyana. Disability and the Global South, 12(1), 2638–2660. (Role: Senior Responsible Author)
Niles, C., Hande, M. J., Fudge Schormans, A., Porch, W., Mahipaul, S., Anderson, J., & Yoshida, K. (2025). What and who are “essential”? A disability justice perspective on COVID-19 measures and the diverse disability communities in Ontario. Studies in Social Justice, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v19i1.4099 (Role: Senior Responsible Author)
Joseph, A. N., Niles, C., Vaz, C., Gooding, W., & Millard, B. (2025). Frozen, invisible, indefinite: Immigration detention in Canada and the carceral violence of temporal torment. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-025-00368-w (Role: Co-Author)
Jarrett, C., Toulany, A., Macarthur, C., Munce, S.,….Niles, C. (2025). Training, values, and youth outcomes in adolescent and youth engagement in research. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 9(11), e18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(25)00248-2 . (Role: Co-Author)
Munce, S. E., Jarrett, C., Senthilnathan, V., Luong, D., Allemang, B., Bailey, K., Niles, C., ... & Toulany, A. (2025). Development of a framework for youth- and family-specific engagement in research: Proposal for a scoping review and qualitative descriptive study. JMIR Research Protocols, 14(1), e65733. (Role: Co-Author)
Chen, A., Blatman, Z., Chan, A., Hossain, A., Niles, C., Atkinson, A., & Narang, I. (2023). Providing culturally responsive care in a pediatric setting: Are our trainees ready? BMC Medical Education, 23(1), 681. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04651-0 (Role: Co-Author)
Noone, D., Robinson, L., Niles, C., & Narang, I. (2023). Unlocking the power of allyship: Giving health care workers the tools to take action against inequities and racism. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery. (Role: Co-Author)
Niles, C. (2019). Who gets in? The price of acceptance in Canada. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 7(1), 148–162. (Role: Principal Author)
Niles, C. (2013). Examining the deinstitutionalization movement in North America. Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 1, 54–83.
(Role: Principal Author)
Book Chapters (Published, Accepted and/or in Press)
Niles C. Teaching Social Values through African Proverbs. Dei, G. J. S. & McDermott, M. (Eds.) Centering African Proverbs, Indigenous Folktales, and Cultural Stories in Curriculum: Units and Lesson Plans for Inclusive Education (pp. 51-87). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier Press 2019.
Other Media (Published, Accepted and/or in Press)
Fudge Schormans A. Mahipaul, S., Niles, C. (First three authors in alphabetical order) Yoshida K.K (SRA), COVID-19 Amplifies the Complexity of Disability and Race. The Conversation. April 7, 2021. https://theconversation.com/covid-19-amplifies-the-complexity-of-disability-and-race-157933. (Impact – 10,085 reads between April 7- Nov. 6, 2022.
Niles C, Goren I. The Price of Acceptance: Immigrants with Disabilities in a System of Disadvantage. Rabble. 2016.