Johanna Sam

Hunelhyad? Sid Dr. Johanna Sam sets’edinh. Sid Tŝilhqot’in xaghiyah. Sid Musqueam nen ŝidah as. Dr. Johanna Sam is a citizen of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation and currently resides on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam People. She is a Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. She holds joint appointments in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education and the NITEP – Indigenous Teacher Education Program, and serves as a full faculty member with the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) within the School of Population and Public Health.

Dr. Johanna Sam’s scholarship explores how youth, communities, and systems can collaboratively advance holistic wellbeing through strengths-based, relational, and culturally-resurgent approaches. Her community-led research interweaves developmental psychology, Indigenous methodologies, and public health to explore how education, mental health, and digital technologies shape adolescent wellness. She leads interdisciplinary projects focused on digital wellbeing, youth-centered implementation science, and Indigenous data sovereignty—offering relational alternatives to deficit-based models by centering protective factors, community governance, and collective knowledge systems. Through longstanding partnerships with youth, educators, Elders, Indigenous knowledge holders, health practitioners, and policy leaders, Dr. Sam’s research supports equity-oriented, evidence-informed practices rooted in local priorities. Her scholarship contributes to culturally-resurgent systems change and affirms Indigenous self-determination in health and education.