Season 2, Episode 13: Better Questions, Better Care: Reframing Research for Health Equity, with Dr. Tara Horrill
What happens when the systems designed to deliver care don’t match the realities of the people who need it most?
In this episode of the Emerging Scholar Podcast, Dr. Tara Horrill joins us to explore the “mismatch” between cancer care systems and the lived realities of structurally marginalized patients—and the equally important mismatch between traditional research methods and what it actually takes to understand inequity. Drawing on her journey from oncology nursing to qualitative health research, she shows how curiosity, justice, and lived experience shaped her shift toward critical, equity-oriented inquiry.
From culturally unsafe care environments to the hidden impact of organizational structures, Dr. Horrill highlights how qualitative methods like critical ethnography allow researchers to ask deeper questions—not just what inequities exist, but why they persist and what might change them. This conversation explores what it means to conduct rigorous, justice-oriented research: centring patient voices, examining power and context, and aligning your methods with the realities you’re trying to understand.
For trainees and emerging scholars, this episode is a powerful reminder: your methods aren’t neutral. If your goal is to advance equity, your questions, frameworks, and approach must be designed to see—and serve—the people most affected.
Stay curious—and stay committed to asking better, deeper questions.
More insight into this great interview, and the foundational work underlying it can be found in this post on our Substack!
Papers & Resources That We Touched On In This Episode:
The main paper we focus on with Dr. Horrill:
Dr. Horrill's work on accessing Cancer Care for Indigenous peoples:
- Access to cancer care among Indigenous peoples in Canada: A scoping review
- Elevating the Uses of Storytelling Methods Within Indigenous Health Research: A Critical, Participatory Scoping Review
- Equity-Oriented Healthcare: What It Is and Why We Need It in Oncology
Theoretical Foundations for Critical and Ethnographic Inquiry:
- Critical theory in research
- Introduction to Critical Theory in Social Sciences
- Introduction to Critical Ethnography
Dr. Horrill's Mentors:
Guests
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Dr. Tara Horrill
Dr. Tara Horrill is an assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Manitoba.
Her research takes a critical approach to investigating health inequities within the context of the cancer care system, with a particular focus on equitable access to cancer care and equity-oriented approaches to care.
Dr. Horrill's doctoral research, which focused on inequities in access to oncology care among Indigenous Peoples in Canada, was nominated for a University of Manitoba Distinguished Dissertation award and a Governor General's Gold Medal.
Her postdoctoral research (University of British Columbia/BC Cancer) focused on understanding the organizational factors that impact uptake of equity-oriented healthcare strategies in cancer care, laying the foundation for future implementation and evaluation of equity-promoting interventions in the cancer care sector.
In her current role, Dr. Horrill is engaged in collaborative research and knowledge mobilization initiatives in partnership with interdisciplinary researchers, health care practitioners, health system leaders, policymakers, and patients to generate evidence-informed improvements in care that will strategically address health inequities in the cancer care sector.