Katherine Fierlbeck

听

Education:

• University of Alberta (B.A. Hon.)
• York University (M.A.)
• Cambridge University (Ph.D.)
• University of Alberta (PDF)

Selected Publications:

Books:

1. Fierlbeck, K., ed. Public Policy Challenges in Rethinking Public Health: Comparative Perspectives. World Scientific Publishing, 2024.
2. Fierlbeck, K., and Gregory P. Marchildon. The Boundaries of Medicare: Public Health Care Beyond the Canada Health Act.听McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2023.
3. Fierlbeck, K.,听and Joaquin Cayon de las Cuevas, eds. Health Law and Policy from East to West: Analytical Perspectives and Comparative Case Studies. Thomson Reuters/Editorial Aranzadi SAU, 2022.
4. Fierlbeck, K., J. Graham, and M. Herder, eds, Transparency, Power, and Influence in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Policy Gain or Confidence Game, University of Toronto Press, 2021.
5. Fierlbeck, K.听Health System Profiles: Nova Scotia. University of Toronto Press, 2018.
6. Fierlbeck, K. and H. Paley, eds. Comparative Health Care Federalism. Routledge, 2015.
7. Fierlbeck, K.听and Bill Lahey, eds.听Canadian Health Care Federalism. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2013.
8. Fierlbeck, K. Health Care in Canada: A Citizen鈥檚 Guide to Politics and Policies. University of Toronto Press, 2011.
   
9. Fierlbeck, K.听Canadian Political Thought: An Intellectual History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
10. Fierlbeck, K, ed. The Development of Political Thought in Canada: An Anthology, University of Toronto Press, 2005.
11. Fierlbeck, K.听Globalizing Democracy: Power, Legitimacy, and the Interpretation of Democratic Ideas.听Manchester and New York: University of Manchester Press, 1998.听听听 Second edition published July 2008.

Special Issues

Fierlbeck, K. ed. Special Issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law.听Vol. 46, No. 1 (February 2021).

Reports and Decisions

1. Katherine Fierlbeck. Reinterpreting the Canada Health Act.听C.D. Howe Institute, May 2025
2. Katherine Fierlbeck. The Scope and Nature of Private Health Care in Canada. C.D. Howe Institute, January 2024
3. Katherine Fierlbeck听and Gaynor Watson-Creed. Municipal Governance and Public Health.听Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG), Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, 2022
4. Judge F.P. Hoskins, R. Daren Baxter, Q.C., and Katherine Fierlbeck, Ph.D.听 Decision of the Review Committee in the Matter of Complaints against Judge Gregory Lenehan, made pursuant to the Provincial Court Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c.238 (with.) 29 March 2018

Articles

1. Fierlbeck, Katherine, Lara Gautier, Susan Usher, Sara Allin, Veena Sriram, and Peter Berman (2025). 鈥淭esting 鈥榯he science鈥�: A comparative analysis of COVID-19 testing policy across four Canadian provinces. Social Science & Medicine, v, v. 371 (April)
2. Caldwell, H.A.T.,听Yusuf, J., Carrea, C., Conrad, P., Embrett, M., Fierlbeck, K.,听Hajizadeh, M., Kirk, S.F.L., Rothfus, M., Sampalli, T., Sim, S.M., Tomblin Murphy, G., Williams, L (2024). Strategies and indicators to integrate health equity in health service and delivery systems in high income countries: A scoping review. JBI Evidence Synthesis.
3. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淗ealthcare in federal systems.鈥� Politics and Governance. Vol. 11, No. 3 (2023), 289-299.
4. McGibbon, Elizabeth, Katherine Fierlbeck, and Tari Ajadi.听鈥淚nstitutional Ethnography as Critical Policy Analysis: Innovations for Guiding Policy Research.鈥� Critical Studies. Vol. 17, No.1 (2023).. 57-78
5. Sim, Meaghan, Hilary Caldwell, Sara Brushett. Emma Cameron, Mohammed Hajizadeh, Sara Kirk, Katherine Fierlbeck,听Tara Sampalli, Mark Embrett, Melissa Rothfus听鈥淲hat strategies and indicators are health service and delivery systems using to address health equity? A scoping review protocol.鈥� JBI Evidence Synthesis.. (2021) Aug. DOI: 10.11124/jbies-21-00001. PMID: 34374690
6. McGibbon, Elizabeth, Katherine Fierlbeck, and Tari Ajadi.听鈥淗ealth inequity and institutional ethnography: mapping the problem of policy change." Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse. Vol.2, No. 3 (2021)
7. Caldwell, Hilary, Sara Scruton, Katherine Fierlbeck,听Mohammad Hajizadeh, Shivani Dave, Meaghan Sim, Sara F. L. Kirk. 鈥淔are well to Nova Scotia? Public health investments remain chronically underfunded.鈥� Canadian Journal of Public Health, 112, pages186鈥�190 (2021) .
8. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淗ealth care and the fate of Social Europe.鈥� Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, Vol. 46, No. 1 (February 2021)
9. Edmonds, Sterling, Andrea MacGregor, Agnieszka Doll, Ipek Eren Vural, Janice Graham, Katherine Fierlbeck, Joel Lexchin, Peter Doshi, and Matthew Herder. 鈥�Transparency too little, too late? Why and how Health Canada should make clinical data and regulatory decision-making open to scrutiny in the face of COVID-19.鈥� Journal of Law and the Biosciences. Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020) lsaa083,
10. Lawrence, Logan, Katherine Fierlbeck, Patrick McGrath, Janet Curran. 鈥淎n expert-generated tool for assessing policy capacity鈥�, Canadian Public Administration Vol. 63, No. 2.听(June 2020), 293-317.
11. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淎malgamating provincial health authorities: assessing the experience of Nova Scotia,鈥� Health Reform Observer听7/3, September 2019, Article 3. DOI:
12. Murdoch, Jennifer, Gail Tomblin Murphy, Robert Alder, John Gilbert, Katherine Fierlbeck, and Audrey Steenbeek. 鈥淩eadiness to collaborate scale: how ready are obstetrical practitioners to participate in an interprofessional healthcare team?鈥� Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice听13. (December 2018), 73-80.
13. Fierlbeck, Katherine,听Bill Gardner and Adrian Levy听鈥淚s New Public Governance Useful in Thinking 海角社区app Health Care? Health Technology Assessment in Canada.鈥� Canadian Public Administration听(March 2018).
14. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淩eforming the regulation of therapeutic products in Canada: The Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act听(Vanessa鈥檚 Law).鈥� Health Reform Observer听4/4 (November 2016). Condensed version of this article (edited by Alex Titeu) also published in the Health Systems and Policy Monitor, October 2017
15. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淭he Politics of Regionalization,鈥� HealthcarePapers 16/1 (2016), 58-62.
16. Lahey, William and听Katherine Fierlbeck.听鈥淟egislating Collaborative Self-Regulation in Canada: A Comparative Policy Analysis.鈥� Journal of Interprofessional Care听30/2. March 2016, 211-216.听
17. Gardner, William, Katherine Fierlbeck, and Adrian Levy. 鈥淏reaking the Deadlock: Towards a New Intergovernmental Relationship in Canadian Healthcare鈥� (with William Gardner and Adrian Levy). HealthcarePapers 14/3 (Oct 2014), 7-15.
18. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听 鈥�The Changing Contours of Experimental Governance in European Health Care,鈥� Social Science and Medicine听(v. 108, May 2014), 89-96.
19. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淧ublic Health and Collaborative Governance,鈥� Canadian Public Administration (March 2010).
20. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淐anadian Democracy,鈥� for Library and Archives Canada鈥檚 鈥淔orum on Canadian Democracy 鈥減roject. Published online by LAC 2008 at
21. Black, Martha and Katherine Fierlbeck. 鈥淲hatever Happened to Regionalization? The Curious Case of Nova Scotia,鈥� Canadian Public Administration听v.49, n.4 (Winter 2006), 506-526.
22. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淧olitical Imperatives and Normative Justifications: Response to Joyce Green,鈥� in The Canadian Journal of Political Science听(June 2000).
23. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淧olicy and Ideology: The Politics of Post-Reform Health Policy in the United Kingdom,鈥� in the International Journal of Health Services, v. 26, n. 3 (1996).
24. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淭he Ambivalent Potential of Cultural Identity,鈥� in The Canadian Journal of Political Science听(March 1996).
25. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淕etting Representation Right for Women in Development,鈥� in The IDS Bulletin, July 1995 (also published as a book chapter, as noted below).
26. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淢arketing Care: The Politicization of Health Care in Britain,鈥� in Studies in Political Economy听(Fall 1994).
27. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淓conomic Liberalization as a Prologue to Democracy,鈥� in The Canadian Journal of Development Studies听(July 1994).
28. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淩edefining Responsibility: The Politics of Citizenship in the UK,鈥� in The Canadian Journal of Political Science听(September 1991).

Book Chapters

1. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淢edicare,鈥� in Daniel Beland, Riane Mahon, and Alison Smith, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Social Policy in Canada. Oxford University Press
2. Fierlbeck, Katherine and Peter Berman. 鈥淚ntroduction: themes and choices,鈥� in听Public Policy Challenges in Rethinking Public Health: Comparative Perspectives. World Scientific Publishing (2024).
3. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淲hat is meant by a 鈥榬ight鈥� to health care? (And why should we be careful in demanding them?)鈥�, in Katherine Fierlbeck and Joaquin Cayon de las Cuevas, eds. Health Law and Policy from East to West: Analytical Perspectives and Comparative Case Studies. Thomson Reuters/Editorial Aranzadi SAU (2022),
4. Fierlbeck, Katherine听and Joaquin Cayon de las Cuevas. 鈥淎nalysing and comparing health care systems from an interdisciplinary approach鈥�, in Katherine Fierlbeck and Joaquin Cayon de las Cuevas, eds. Health Law and Policy from East to West: Analytical Perspectives and Comparative Case Studies. Thomson Reuters/Editorial Aranzadi SAU (2022).
5. Fierlbeck, Katherine, Kevin McNamara and Maureen听MacDonald. 鈥淧olicy, politics, and pandemics,鈥� in Public Health Political Science: Integrating Science and Politics for Public Health,. Patrick Fafard, Evelyne de Leeuw, and Adele Cassola, eds. Palgrave-Macmillan (2022).
6. Fierlbeck, Katherine听and Lorian Hardcastle .鈥淗ave the Post-SARS Reforms prepared us for COVID-19? Mapping the Institutional Landscape鈥� (with). Vulnerable: The Policy, Law, and Ethics of COVID-19.听Colleen Flood, Vanessa MacDonnell, Jane Philpott, and Sophie Theriault Sridhar Venkatapurum, eds. University of Ottawa Press (2020), 31-48.
7. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淗ealth Care in the Provinces,鈥� in Provinces: Canadian Provincial Politics, 3rd听ed. Christopher Dunn, ed. University of Toronto Press, (2015); 442-470.
8. Fierlbeck, Katherine听and H. Paley. 鈥淚ntroduction,鈥� in听Comparative Health Care Federalism. Ashgate (2015).
9. Fierlbeck, Katherine听and H. Paley. 鈥淐anada,鈥� in Comparative Health Care Federalism. Ashgate (2015).
10. Fierlbeck, Katherine听and H. Paley 鈥淐onclusion,鈥� in Comparative Health Care Federalism. Ashgate (2015).
11. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淢on Pays, C鈥檈st l鈥橝ssurance-Maladie,鈥� in Policy Thinking Outside the Box: Innovation in Policy Ideas.听K. Banting, R. Chaykowski and S. Lehrer, editors.听School of Policy Studies, in association with McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press听(2015) 67-90.
12. Fierlbeck, Katherine听.鈥淭hree Approaches to Cost Containment in Health Care Federalism,鈥� in Greg Marchildon and Livio de Matteo, eds. Bending the Cost Curve. University of Toronto Press (2014); 169-191.
13. Fierlbeck, Katherine听鈥淭he Political Dynamics of Health Care Federalism,鈥� in Fierlbeck and Lahey, eds. Health Care Federalism in Canada: Critical Junctures and Critical Perspectives. McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press (2013); 45-70
14. Fierlbeck, Katherine听.鈥淩enewing Federalism, Improving Health Care: Can This Marriage Be Saved?鈥� in Fierlbeck and Lahey, eds. Health Care Federalism in Canada: Critical Junctures and Critical Perspectives. McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press (2013); 3-23.
15. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淭he Dialectics of Law and Politics: Federal Health Policy in Canada and the EU,鈥� in Finn Laursen, ed. The European Union and Federalism: Polities and Policies Compared. Ashgate Press (2010).
16. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淩omancing the State鈥�, in Bruce Morrison, ed.听Transnational Democracy: Lessons from the Nation State. Ashgate Press (2003).听听听听听听听听听听听
17. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淧aying to Play: Government Financing and Health Care Agenda Setting,鈥� in Gregory Marchildon, Tom McIntosh, and PG Forest, eds. The Fiscal Sustainability of Health Care. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (2003).
18. Fierlbeck, Katherine听. 鈥淐ost Containment in Health Care: The Federalism Context,鈥� in Duane Adams, ed. The Canadian Social Union: Case Studies from the Health Sector, McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press (2001).
19. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淭he Right to Health Care,鈥� in Don Carmichael, Tom Pocklington, and Greg Pyrcz, eds.听Democracy, Rights, and Well-Being in Canada. Harcourt-Brace Canada (1999).
20. Fierlbeck, Katherine. 鈥淢ulticulturalism and the Right to Recognition,鈥� in Don Carmichael, Tom Pocklington, and Greg Pyrcz, eds.听Democracy, Rights, and Well-Being in Canada. Harcourt-Brace (1999).
21. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淕etting Representation Right for Women in Development,鈥� in A.M. Goetz, ed. Breaking In, Speaking Out: Making Development Organizations Work for Women in Development. London: Zed Books (1998).
22. Fierlbeck, Katherine.听鈥淐anadian Health Care Reform and the Politics of Decentralization,鈥� in Christa Altenstetter and James Bjorkman, ed. Health Reform, National Variations, and Globalization.听 London: Macmillan (NY: St Martin鈥檚 Press) (1997).听听

Review Essays听听听听听听听听听 听

1. 鈥淣o support,鈥� in The Literary Review of Canada, April 2014.听听听听听听听听 听听听听听听听听听听听
   
2. 鈥淯nchartered waters,鈥� in The Literary Review of Canada, May 2012.
3. 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Roots are more Liberal than Tory鈥�, in The Literary Review of Canada, July/August 2007.
4. 鈥淒ialogue or Monologue? The Limits to Lessons that Can be Learned,鈥� in The Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, June 1999.
5. 鈥淩osenau鈥檚 Post-modernism and the Social Sciences,鈥� in History and Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of History, v.33, n.1, 1994.

Reviews

1. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. 2021. Theodore Dalrymple.听False Positive: A Year of Error, Omission, and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine. Published online first on May 3, 2021. DOI:
2. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 2021. Carey Doberstein,听Distributed Democracy: Health Care Governance in Ontario Doi: 10.1017/S0008423921000172.
3. Canadian Journal of Political Science.听2019: Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Remaking Policy: Scale, Pace, and Political Strategy in Health Care Reform听and Raisa Deber, Treating Health Care: How the Canadian System Works and How It Could Work Better.听52(1)
4. Healthcare Quarterly. 2017. Joel Lexchin, Private Profits vs. Public Policy. 20(1),
5. Canadian Public Administration. 2014: Lazar, Lavis, Forest and Church, eds. Paradigm Freeze: Why Is It So Hard to Reform Health Care Policy in Canada? 57(3), (September)
6. Canadian Public Administration. 2009. 听Flood, Stabile, and Tuohy, eds. Exploring Social Insurance: Can a Dose of Europe Cure Canadian Health Care Finance?听57(3), September
7. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 2008. Simon Thompson, The Political Theory of Recognition. (December).
8. Perspectives on Politics. 2005. Russell Muirhead, Just Work. (December).
9. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 2005. David Laycock, ed. Representation and Democratic Theory. (March).
10. American Political Science Review. 2002. Cecile Fabre, Social Rights Under the Constitution: Government and the Decent Life. (June).
11. Journal of Health Policy, Politics, and Law. 2000. Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Accidental Logics: The Dynamics of Change in the Health Care Arena in the United States, Britain, and Canada. (October).
12. International Insights. 1997. Mervyn Frost, Ethics in International Relations: A Constitutive Theory. (Fall).
13. American Political Science Review. 1997. Bernard P. Dauenhauer, Citizenship in a Fragile World. (September).
14. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 1996. Susan Brown Eve, Betty Havens, and Stanley Ingman, eds., The Canadian Health Care System: Lessons for the United States. (September).
15. Democratization. 1996. Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Democracy. (Vol.4, No. 1)
16. Canadian Journal of Sociology. 1995. Anthony Giddens, The Nation-State and Violence. (Summer).
17. Journal of Politics. 1995. H. Steiner, An Essay on Rights and A. Dyck, Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities. (Vol. 57, No.4)
18. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 1995. R. Evans, M. Barer, and T. Marmor, eds, Why Are Some People Healthy and Others Not? The Determinants of Health of Populations. (June).
19. Canadian Philosophical Reviews. 1994. W. J. Stankiewicz, In Search of a Political Philosophy: Ideologies at the Close of the Twentieth Century. (February).
20. Canadian Philosophical Reviews. 1993. George Klosko, The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation. (June).
21. American Political Science Review. 1993. P. Taylor-Gooby, Social Change, Social Welfare, and Social Science. (March).
22. Canadian Journal of Sociology. 1992. V. Pareto, The Rise and Fall of Elites.(October).
23. British Journal of Canadian Studies.听1990. R.L. Deaton, The Political Economy of Pensions听and M. Atkinson and W. Coleman. The State, Business, and Industrial Change in Canada. (Vol. 5, No. 1).
24. British Journal of Canadian Studies. 1989. 听R.J. Thornton, T. Hyclak, and J.R. Aronson, eds. Canada at the Crossroads: Essays on Canadian Political Economy. (Vol. 4, No. 2).
25. British Journal of Canadian Studies. 1989. W.D. Coleman, Business and Politics. (Vol. 4, No. 1).
26. British Journal of Canadian Studies. 1988. L. Pal, State, Class, and Bureaucracy. (Vol. 3, No. 2).
27. British Journal of Canadian Studies. 1988. M.P. Marchak, Ideological Perspectives on Canada. (Vol. 3, No. 2).
28. British Journal of Canadian Studies. 1988. S.B. Barrett, Is God a Racist? The Right Wing in Canada. (Vol. 3, No. 1).

Service and Activity:

Dr. Fierlbeck is cross-appointed to the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology,听the Department of International Development Studies, and听the European Studies Program. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Healthy Populations Institute, and is on the research committee for the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy. Dr. Fierlbeck is Director of the Jean Monnet Network for Health Law and Policy (), an EU-funded network promoting research on health law and policy across Europe and North America. Her current CIHR-funded research includes a project investigating听upstream determinants of effective COVID-19 response: learning from comparisons across Canada's provinces and another looking at the impact of retirement income programs on health and health equity among Canadian seniors.