OTTAWA, June 3, 2021 – Research Canada held its 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was its second virtual AGM, on June 2, 2021. The meeting was an opportunity for Research Canada’s Members across the health research and innovation community to come together in the wake of Budget 2021 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to discuss what’s next in health research and health innovation advocacy. Research Canada was also pleased to appoint its new Vice-Chair and welcome four new Research Canada Board Directors.

Research Canada was pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Tarik Möröy, Director of the Hematopoiesis and Cancer Research Unit at the Montréal Clinical Research Institute, a professor at the Université de Montréal and an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, to the position of Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors. Dr. Möröy steps into this role after five years as a Research Canada Board Director, during which he chaired the Finance Committee and lent his valuable expertise and counsel to Research Canada’s management on a number of strategic priorities.

Research Canada was also pleased to announce and welcome four new Board Directors:

Ms. Sue Mack-Klinger is the Program Head of the Pharmacy Technician Program, School of Health Sciences at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. During her 25 years of pharmacy practice, she has gained extensive experience in health care collaboration, competency training, assessments, professional practice, quality assurance and workflow efficiency. Her award-winning leadership, committee and community contributions are guided by patient care, safety and access to medications aimed at ensuring advocacy for patients and the community.

Dr. Stéphanie Michaud is the President and CEO of BioCanRx. She brings more than 20 years of public, government and private sector experience in research and Science & Technology innovation policy. She strives to create partnerships between government, not-for-profits, academia and industry to maximize the impact of research. Prior to joining BioCanRx, Dr. Michaud was Deputy Director of the flagship Government of Canada Networks Centres of Excellence (NCE) program, where she led the implementation of high profile bilateral international initiatives and provided strategic advice to government and stakeholders.

Ms. Taylor Morriseau is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of Manitoba. She is working to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying youth-onset type 2 diabetes at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). As a recipient of a prestigious CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, she studies the complex interplay between genetics, diet, and disease with a particular focus on how traditional Indigenous foods may prevent or delay type 2 diabetes development in youth. She represents her own community, Peguis First Nation, in her work which is dedicated to a future where First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples have an equal right to the highest attainable standard of health.

Dr. Ingrid Waldron 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 eight years, Dr. Waldron has been investigating the socio-economic, political, and health effects of environmental racism in Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities. Dr. Waldron is the recipient of Research Canada’s 2020 Individual Leadership in Advocacy Award.

Dr. Robert McMaster, Vice Dean of Research at UBC Faculty of Medicine and Past Executive Director of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, was also honoured for his tireless advocacy for Canadian health research and innovation and the completion of his time as a Board Director, including his time as Chair of the Board and, most recently, his term as Past Chair.

Ms. Tara Bingham, TACTIX Governmental Relations and Public Affairs, Dr. Denis Roy, Past President and CEO of the Health Sciences North Research Institute, and Ms. Andrée Dumulon, Vice President of Public Affairs and Chief Communications Officer at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, all of whom have completed their terms on the Board, are stepping down after years of exemplary service. For a complete list of Research Canada’s Board of Directors, please visit rc-rc.ca/board-of-directors.

About Research Canada
Research Canada is a national alliance dedicated to increasing investments in health research through collaborative advocacy and engaging government, academia, industry and non-profit sectors to build support for long-term health research funding. For more information, visit rc-rc.ca.

For inquiries:

Christie Tomkins
Manager of Policy and Public Affairs
613-234-5129
ctomkins@rc-rc.ca