I am pleased to announce that the Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FOMD), for a five-year term, effective January 1, 2020. Dr. Hemmelgarn will be joining us from the University of Calgary where she serves as Head of the Department of Community Health Sciences, and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences.
Dr. Hemmelgarn earned her first two degrees in nursing, before going on to earn an MD from McMaster University and a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University. She is a practicing clinician and specializes in nephrology. Dr. Hemmelgarn also holds the Roy and Vi Baay Chair in Kidney Research and is co-lead for the Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration. Her research expertise focuses on using administrative and other secondary data sources to improve patient oriented research, patient engagement, and integrated knowledge translation.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and clinician-scientist, Dr. Hemmelgarn has an international reputation as a leader and innovator in health services research with over $20 million in funding as principal investigator, and over 500 peer-reviewed publications that have been cited more than 14,000 times. Among her many awards and honours, Dr. Hemmelgarn recently received the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation Award-Outstanding Achievement in Health Innovation.
From her earliest career as a nurse, to her patient-oriented work as a clinician-scientist, to her leadership on multiple boards, Dr. Hemmelgarn brings with her a wealth of relevant community experiences and relationships. Her leadership skills are highlighted by significant front-line experience in healthcare, a strong knowledge of operational issues and an in-depth perspective of health-care issues for Albertans. In her current role as Alberta Health Services Board Vice-Chair, Dr. Hemmelgarn has established an excellent working relationship with AHS leaders and has a detailed understanding of the opportunities for collaboration with AHS and academic institutions. In her role as Chair of the Community Engagement Subcommittee of the Board, Dr. Hemmelgarn has established relationships with the Health Foundations across the province, including those in the City of Edmonton.
I wish to thank those who participated in the selection process, especially the members of the Dean Selection Committee, for all of their hard work and commitment to finding an exceptional candidate for this role. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Dennis Kunimoto for his excellent contributions and dedication leading the Faculty as Interim Dean. Dennis will continue in this role until December 31.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Hemmelgarn to the University of Alberta community as the next Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
- Steven Dew, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)