New faculty hires in the Faculty of Community Services
This Fall 2026, FCS welcomes five new faculty members. These professors bring diverse experience, approaches and research specialties to our School of Social Work and the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing.
School of Social Work
Dr. Viveka Ichikawa began her social work journey in anti-poverty work in Japan. She has since worked as a social worker and trauma-informed narrative psychotherapist with LGBTQ+ and racialized refugee claimants and migrants, youth experiencing homelessness, and mixed heritage individuals, couples, and families across Ontario and British Columbia. She also conducts community-engaged research with these groups and the organizations and professionals working alongside them, both in Canada and Japan. She is passionate about the anti-oppressive use of storytelling as a pathway to transformation in both critical clinical social work and research practice.
Any words of wisdom to share with students?
“Being a social worker in today’s world calls for an even firmer grounding in our ethical commitments to human rights, dignity, and social justice. There may be times when our work feels insufficient or the path ahead seems overwhelmingly long. One of my favourite quotes is from Japanese author Haruki Murakami: ‘Without despairing or trying to accomplish too much, simply do what each day requires.’ As a student, find your own North Star in Social Work and enjoy the journey!”
Dr. Nyaga’s scholarship focuses on critical research methodologies and how it connects to community development and capacity building. His published work has shed light on issues of anti-Black racism within the paradigm of contemporary western research. He also explores the Indigenizing of research methods and the use of psychic analysis to decolonize how we come to think and act in research and practice. He is currently investigating how care can at times produce death within health care systems, and how we can undertake research using approaches that critically care about community needs.
How does your background inform your approach to teaching?
“Teaching and learning within the classroom setting is a negotiation — of what counts as knowledge and what gets discarded as useless information. As a professor who has taught in a university built on the site of a former residential school, I’ve seen how students and educators play a central role in Indigenizing and decolonizing classroom culture. It should be an environment not just of producing knowledge but passing knowledge on in ethical ways — going beyond including diverse perspectives to finding substantive ways to transform and enhance the learning experience for all.”
Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing
Dr. Ashfield brings 15 years’ clinical experience as a nurse practitioner and 10 years teaching in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs at several universities in Canada. Her clinical expertise includes generalized primary care, vaccine communication, gender affirming care, and child and adult ADHD treatment. Her research specialties include: Digital health literacy and vaccine-related issues, including parental vaccine decision making, online vaccine information seeking, vaccine hesitancy, and the ethical concerns of vaccine-hesitant people. Passionate about bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, she also teaches other healthcare providers how to approach the concerns of vaccine-hesitant, vaccine-questioning, and vaccine-refusing people.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy weight lifting, cycling, running and open water swimming. This year, I participated in the two-day Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Ride, where over 4000 cyclists ride 200 kilometers to raise funds to fight cancer. Each week during summer, I spend a few early mornings swimming in a quarry with other triathletes. It is an amazing way to start the day!
Visit Prof Ashfield’s bio page
Alanna Nicole De Fry is a Nurse Practitioner (NP) practising in primary care and also a PhD candidate in Urban Health at TMU. As an active NP, she brings current, real-world clinical experiences into the classroom. Her teaching includes graduate-level NP education, where she draws on her clinical practice to support the development of advanced assessment, diagnostic reasoning, and clinical decision-making skills. Her PhD research examines the intersecting urban, social, behavioural and access-related factors that influence health outcomes among younger South Asian adults with type 2 diabetes.
Any words of wisdom to share with students?
“Stay curious and never be afraid to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” In healthcare, some of the most important learning comes from asking questions, challenging your assumptions, and recognizing that becoming a strong clinician is a lifelong process. Knowledge will continue to evolve throughout your career; what matters is having the curiosity to keep learning, the confidence to ask questions, and the humility to know there will always be more to learn.”
Rezwana Rahman is a Registered Nurse and also a PhD candidate in Urban Health at TMU. Her background spans clinical nursing, federal health policy, educational development and community-engaged research. These experiences have shaped her interest in how education, technology, culture and health systems influence the ways care is taught, experienced and sustained across families and communities. Her research interests include: Nursing education and curriculum design; Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in nursing education; Intergenerational caregiving and immigrant family health; Muslim health equity and culturally responsive care; Qualitative and participatory research methods.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love travelling, trying new and unique foods, and watching Broadway shows. Hadestown is a particular favourite — I’ve seen it four times so far! I’m drawn to experiences that bring together storytelling, creativity, culture, atmosphere and, of course, really good food!