OTTAWA, December 2, 2020 — Research Canada is pleased to announce the 2020 Individual and Organization Leadership in Advocacy Awardees: Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University and the Director of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health Project (The ENRICH Project), and HealthCareCAN, the national voice of healthcare organizations and hospitals across Canada.

The Research Canada Leadership in Advocacy Award recognizes outstanding champions of health research and health innovation. Recognition of Canadian health research—the kind that attracts the necessary public and political support—often comes from the dedicated and tireless efforts of health research advocates who educate policymakers, the media and the public about the social and economic benefits of health research and its promise of future cures and, importantly, a better quality of life for all Canadians. This year’s winners exemplify this.

“Our sector is fortunate to have many highly skilled and dedicated individuals and organizations working tirelessly to ensure that health research and innovation is supported by Canadians and their leaders,” said Dr. Rose Goldstein, Chair of Research Canada and Professor of Medicine at McGill University. “It is the life-changing nature of our work that makes this activity so special, and our champions so cherished.”

“This year’s Awardees have gone above and beyond what is expected of health research advocates,” added Ms. Deborah Gordon-El-Bihbety, President and CEO of Research Canada. “Dr. Waldron has taken important strides in tackling social inequities and environmental racism adopting a novel community-based approach while HealthCareCAN has championed Academic Health Science Centres (AHSC) taking on some of the most pressing challenges this sector has faced over the years and most notably over the past year in the face of COVID-19.”

Research Canada will continue to recognize the achievements of our best and brightest advocates in the coming years with this annual award. We wish to thank those who submitted nominations, all of which were outstanding, for the 2020 Leadership in Advocacy Award.

 About the Winners

Ingrid Waldron, Ph. D.

Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Ph.D., was born in Montreal to Trinidadian parents. She is a sociologist, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University, the Director of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health Project (The ENRICH Project), and the Flagship Project Co-Lead of Improving the Health of People of African Descent at Dalhousie’s Healthy Populations Institute. Her research, teaching, and community leadership and advocacy work in Nova Scotia are examining and addressing the health and mental health impacts of structural inequalities within health and mental health care, child welfare, and the environment in Indigenous, Black, immigrant, and refugee communities. As the Director of the ENRICH Project over the last 8 years, Dr. Waldron has been investigating the socio-economic, political, and health effects of environmental racism in Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities. The ENRICH Project formed the basis for the creation of the provincial bill An Act to Redress Environmental Racism (Bill 31) in April 2015 and the federal bill a National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism (Bill C230) in February 2020.

HealthCareCAN is the national voice of action for health organizations and hospitals across Canada. They advocate in support of health research and innovation to enhance access to high-quality health services for Canadians and to empower health professionals through their best-in-class learning programs. As an organization, HealthCareCAN has encouraged countless Canadians to take part in advocacy efforts through their training and mentorship activities to local health research institutes. They unite health organizations across Canada, networking their individual strengths to catalyze and capitalize on the disruptive innovation occurring in health.