Ottawa, ON (October 2021) – The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sioban Nelson RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN, FCAHS as President of its Board of Directors. Sioban, who is a CAHS Fellow, succeeds Dr. Christopher Simpson MD, FRCPC, FACC, FHRS, FCCS, FCAHS, now past President.
“Dr. Nelson will bring great perspective and leadership to CAHS,” said past President, Dr. Christopher Simpson. “The Academy has made great strides in the past years through our participation in assessments and advice on key issues relevant to health sciences. Dr. Nelson will undoubtedly continue to mold our vision to providing informed, actionable solutions that improve the health of Canadians and their families.”
Dr. Sioban Nelson is a historian and policy scholar, a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a Charter Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nurses, and fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She has published nine books covering a span of historical issues and contemporary analyses of the health professions. Currently, she is co-editor of the interdisciplinary Culture and Politics of Health Care Work series for Cornell University Press. Dr. Nelson served as co-chair of the 2014 Assessment Committee of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences on Scope of Practice in the Health Professions. She is the former Head of the School of Nursing at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and former Dean of the Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. She has also served as Vice Provost Faculty and Academic Life and Vice Provost Academic Programs at the University of Toronto.
Most recently, Dr. Nelson launched the academy’s ten-part Dialogue Series that look to explore some of the key questions facing Canadians and health care today with expert guest speakers from across the country.
Dr. Nelson thanked Dr. Simpson for his service and added that she was “pleased to lead the Academy as it moves forward in an increasingly active and relevant phase of its existence where it continues to promote trust in science and provide advice and evidence to policy and decision makers on health sciences issues.”