Queen’s University researchers Robert Ross (Kinesiology) and Michael Green (Health Sciences) will be formally inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) Fellowship, one of Canada’s premier academic honours, on Thursday, Sept. 13. As internationally-recognized researchers, Drs. Ross and Green were selected for their global leadership, academic performance, and scientific creativity.

“Drs. Ross and Green have left indelible marks on their respective disciplines and, through their knowledge translation efforts, have improved physical health and access to health care for Canadians,” says Kimberly Woodhouse, Interim Vice-Principal (Research).

Dr. Ross has been recognized nationally and internationally for his research and knowledge translation activities concerning the unique role physical activity has in the management of lifestyle-based disease. Since 1992, he has received $8.3 million of research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), won two of the most prestigious international awards for excellence in exercise science research, and served as the first vice-president of the Ontario College of Kinesiology and chair of the American Heart Association Program Committee for the Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health.

“The generation of knowledge that leads to the creation of strategies designed to manage lifestyle-based disease, and the translation of that knowledge to the end user, has been my life’s work,” says Dr. Ross, of the Queen’s School of Kinesiology and Health Studies. “It is an honour to be named to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences for our work thus far, and I look forward to using the platform provided as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences to continue promoting the message that exercise is medicine, and consequently, improving the health of Canadians."

Dr. Green is a leader in academic family medicine in Canada and head of the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University. He is recognized across Canada and internationally for effective collaborations with Indigenous communities, and was instrumental in creating the College of Family Physicians Fact Sheet on Systemic Racism and Indigenous Health and on Canada's competency framework for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health. His research with Indigenous communities was recognized with a major Impact award from the Ontario SPOR Support Unit, and he leads the INSPIRE-PHC research program that includes six universities and 35 researchers.

“I am very grateful to be named as a fellow by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,” says Dr. Green. “I have spent my career working toward increasing access to and equity in primary health care, and improving Indigenous health. I see this award not just as recognition for how far we have come in those efforts, but as emphasizing the need to continue these improvements into the future.”

Drs. Ross and Green will be named to the CAHS Fellowship at a ceremony in Ottawa, joining the ranks of other Queen’s CAHS Fellows, including Anne Croy, Susan Cole, Roger Deeley, Stephen Archer, Jacalyn Duffin, John Rudan, Chris Simpson, Elizabeth Eisenhauer, and others. The CAHS is one of Canada’s national academies, along with the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. These academies inform government and the public on issues critical to health care and health improvement.

Learn more about the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellowship.