About the Lab
The Outside In Lab is a research laboratory at Dalhousie University in the School of Physiotherapy. The lab was founded in 2024 and is led by Dr. Ellen McGarity-Shipley, an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie.
The goal of the Outside In Lab is to understand how social structures such as stigma affect our bodies and physical health, and how to use this information to improve healthcare practice and the health of our communities.
Meet the Team
Dr. Ellen McGarity-Shipley
Founder & Lead
Ellen is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University in the School of Physiotherapy. Her research interests include understanding how social structures such as stigma affect our physical health, as well as how we can use this information to improve our healthcare system and the health of our communities. She is currently leading several different research projects in these areas, specifically in relation to weight stigma and social prescribing.
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Laura Colford
Volunteer
Laura is an undergraduate honours student in Health Promotion at Dalhousie University. Her research interests include social prescribing, community mental health promotion strategies, and the role of health promotion in combating loneliness and social isolation.
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Chelsea Dumasal (she/her)
Volunteer
Chelsea is a current Master of Physical Therapy student at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to starting physiotherapy school, she completed a Bachelor's of Kinesiology at UBC, where she led an undergraduate thesis on the link between physical activity and passive stiffness in the lumbar spine in the Fewster Spine Lab. Alongside her thesis, she developed a love for exercise promotion from engaging general and clinical populations in physical activity through UBC Recreation’s Move U Crew and the BC Brain Wellness Program respectively. Beyond biomechanics and exercise, Chelsea is passionate about treating clients holistically and finding ways to make physiotherapy more equitable, trauma-informed, and weight-inclusive. She aims to work towards this goal by researching social prescribing and weight stigma in Dr. McGarity-Shipley’s lab.
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