Research Chairs
Canada Research Chairs
Jennifer Brunet
Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity Promotion and Cancer Prevention (Tier 2)
Dr. Brunet’s research is critical in today’s context of a growing cancer burden and ongoing physical inactivity epidemic. Her research aims to prevent and treat adverse disease- and treatment-related symptoms in persons at risk of or diagnosed with cancer by promoting physical activity to optimize health, wellbeing, and quality of life. She develops, implements, and tests innovative and sustainable interventions to increase physical activity, reduce cancer-related cognitive impairment, decrease autonomic nervous system dysregulation, and enhance body image – factors that impair health, wellbeing, and quality of life in people at risk of or diagnosed with cancer.
Chaires de Recherche sur le Monde Francophone
Michelle Lalonde
University of Ottawa/Institut du Savoir Montfort Joint Chair on the Health of Francophones in Ontario
Dr. Michelle Lalonde will advance evidence-based research to support the development of high-quality health services for Francophone communities in Ontario and across Canada. As the chairholder, Professor Lalonde will focus on researching ways to ensure that future generations of Francophone nurses are well-equipped with the skills needed to provide safe, ethical health care in Ontario. With Ontario having the lowest nurse-to-population ratio in Canada and an urgent need for 25,000 more nurses, the outlook for Francophones in the province is especially concerning. This research chair’s program has several key goals, including understanding how the next generation of Francophone nurses is preparing for and transitioning into practice. The research aims to identify practical solutions to challenges such as language barriers and limited French-language resources, focusing particularly on the experiences of nurses taking exams like the NCLEX-RN, which often fail to reflect the specific needs of Ontario’s Francophone community.
University Research Chairs
Yan Burelle
University Research Chair in Integrative Mitochondrial Biology
The research of Dr. Burelle pursues three main objectives. The first objective is to characterize Mitochondrial Derived Vesicles, dissect their mechanism of formation, and evaluate their physiological role. The second objective is to define the role of mitophagy in the regulation of muscle Satellite Stem Cell function and tissue regeneration. The third objective is to explore novel therapeutic avenues for genetic mitochondrial diseases through determination of the therapeutic effect of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and delineation of the underlying mechanisms in models of the French-Canadian variant of Leigh Syndrome.
Endowed Chairs
Rochelle Einboden
Research Chair in Nursing Care of Children, Youth, and their Families
Dr. Einboden is the Endowed Research Chair in Nursing Care of Children, Youth, and their Families, jointly funded by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) / CHEO Research Institute and the University of Ottawa. Her research is clinically grounded and socially relevant, drawing on critical social theory and methods to explore health policy, programs and everyday nursing practices. Committed to offering new ideas, perspectives and possibilities to address health inequity and enhance social justice for children, young people and their families, Dr. Einboden’s program of research is organised around three key priorities: 1) Informing and shaping social understandings of children, families and violence; 2) Methodological innovation to support analyses of practices, discourse, power and social positioning; and 3) Development of nurse-led equity-oriented care and policy across health and community services and settings.
Sponsored Chairs
Glen Kenny
SmartCone Technologies Research Chair in Heat Strain Monitoring and Management
The partnership between SmartCone and Dr. Glen Kenny will enable the development of next-generation heat protection solutions and technologies, including health monitoring to protect the public and workers in our changing climate. The use of wearable technology has been popularized for monitoring physical activity in the general population and has also increasingly been used for identifying disease states, tracking rehabilitation, and optimizing performance. However, there are no existing systems for the management and monitoring of heat strain in workers, athletes, military personnel, and other groups. Innovative systems will consider a multitude of factors that affect a person’s physiological capacity to dissipate heat such as age, sex, chronic disease and race, as well as factors within a person’s control that are modifiable over short periods of time, such as hydration, fitness and acclimation, and factors beyond a person’s control such as heat exposure duration.
University Teaching Chair
Raywat Deonandan
Chair in University Teaching
Raywat is the recipient of the 2023 Chair in University Teaching, promoting inclusive, innovative and effective teaching and learning practices that impact the University. As Chair, Raywat is examining how artificial intelligence can improve pedagogy, looking at how large language models can improve writing skills among health science students.