Gender and health institute appoints new scientific director

Ottawa, ON – Dr Joy Johnson has been named incoming scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Gender and Health. The appointment is effective January 1, 2008.

“Dr Johnson is a welcome addition to CIHR’s scientific leadership team,” said Dr Alan Bernstein, CIHR’s president, in making the announcement. “Her outstanding research accomplishments in women health issues make her an ideal choice as the next scientific director of the Institute of Gender and Health.”

Dr Johnson is a professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia where she is co-director of two research units: NEXUS (a multidisciplinary research unit focused on the social context of health behaviour) and NAHBR (Nursing and Health Behaviour Research Unit).

She was on the inaugural steering committee for the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, co-leader of the BC Network for Women’s Health Research and chair of the Research Advisory Committee of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. In addition, she served and chaired research review panels for CIHR and the National Cancer Institute of Canada.