President and CEO Search

Research Canada, through its President and CEO Search Committee, is currently undertaking a search for a new President and CEO. The Board recognizes the important role that Deborah has played in leading this organization over these past twenty years and therefore is putting in place a process that will ensure strategic and operational continuity. Research Canada’s Members, Supporters and Partners will continue to receive the excellent benefits of their engagements with Research Canada.

The following announcement was shared with Research Canada’s Members, Supporter and Partners on April 4, 2023.

Research Canada’s President and CEO, Deborah Gordon-El-Bihbety, Stepping Down in Early Fall 2023:
Message from Research Canada’s Chair, Rose Goldstein, MD

On behalf of Research Canada’s Board of Directors, I would like to inform our Members, Partners and Supporters that our President and CEO, Ms. Deborah Gordon-El-Bihbety, will be stepping down early in the fall of 2023 from her position after twenty years of exemplary service to the organization. It is Deborah’s intention to travel and pursue her dream of establishing a social enterprise for young adults with intellectual disabilities.

Deborah led the transformation of the Council for Health Research in Canada, Research Canada’s predecessor organization, into our multi-stakeholder alliance, Research Canada: An Alliance for Health Discovery. In the first year, she doubled both memberships and corporate revenues, established a strong and committed top team and put in place a solid governance model and innovative business approaches that expanded the alliance during challenging financial times for the not-for-profit sector.

The Parliamentary Health Research Caucus is now a mainstay of Research Canada’s advocacy efforts. It was Deborah’s brainchild in 2009 to create this educational forum with Senator Wilbert Keon in an effort to raise awareness among Parliamentarians about the social and economic benefits of Canadian health research and health innovation.

Research Canada’s National Public Opinion Polling Program, CanadaSpeaks!, also owes its creation to Deborah. Through this program, the organization has engaged Canadians in the national discussion on Canadian health research and health innovation, providing decision-makers with valuable polling data to inform policy decision-making.

Deborah has set many collaborative advocacy tables among health research and innovation ecosystem stakeholders over the years and in so doing has amplified the sector’s policy influence and contributed to health research and health innovation becoming higher national priorities. Her dedication to building strong and cohesive partnerships in the sector has contributed to making the health research and innovation advocacy effort in this country stronger and more unified.

It is no surprise that Deborah will be greatly missed by her Research Canada colleagues and by Research Canada’s Members, Supporters and National Partners. We do want to celebrate Deborah’s achievements with all of you and will reach out in the near future with plans for such a celebration.

In the meantime, and on behalf of the Board, Staff and Members of Research Canada, I would like to thank Deborah for her twenty years of dedicated service to our health research and innovation advocacy cause and wish her all the best in her future adventures, which we know will be extraordinary!