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Dr. Miriam Stewart is Professor in the Faculty of Nursing and in Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine (University of Alberta). She is a Health Senior Scholar, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and a former Medical Research Council of Canada and National Health Research Development Program (MRC/NHRDP) Scholar. Dr. Stewart was Director and Chair of the Centre for Health Promotion Studies University of Alberta (1997- April 2001); Director of the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre (1992-1997); and, co-principal investigator and co-creator of the Maritime Centre of Excellence on Women's Health (1996-2000). The total research monies awarded to the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre during her term as Director was over $7,000,000. The Centre for Health Promotion Studies was awarded $6.4 million in research funding during her tenure as Director. Furthermore, the Centre received a grant from Alberta Learning for permanent base funding of $340,450 annually in 2000. The two health promotion research centres facilitated over 100 projects conducted by others during her directorship.
Research funding generated for her interdisciplinary research programs over the past decade includes over $13 million from national peer review agencies (e.g., Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, NHRDP, MRC, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation), other national and provincial foundations (e.g., AHFMR), and government (i.e., Health Canada). These research programs and centres have attracted over $26,000,000 in support. Dr. Stewart's research programs emphasize social determinants of health and relevance to policies and programs for vulnerable populations. In the research programs and research centres, she has focused on building research capacity; mobilizing interdisciplinary and multi-site research teams; creating research infrastructures; and, establishing partnerships with public, practice and policy domains. She has published extensively including five books, over 160 articles and research reports and 28 chapters, and has given more than 550 research-relevant presentations at national and international scholarly conferences.
Following an international review, Dr. Stewart was appointed as the inaugural Scientific Director of the national research institute devoted to the study of gender at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. As first Scientific Director, Dr. Stewart had to build a new institute representing an emerging area of research with unknown research capacity and partners. In this position, she successfully built research capacity, created research infrastructures, and established research partnerships. The landmark impact and originality of this Institute (the first of its kind in the world) has been promoted through her leadership of 38 strategic research initiatives that draw attention to gaps in research, address major issues in Canada and internationally, and attract many investigators. Approximately 6,000 researchers across the country have now affiliated with or been supported by this Institute which had extremely limited research capacity at its inception. Initially, her institute had no nationally aligned funding partners. Dr. Stewart created new research funding partnerships with 31 national and 22 international research and policy organizations over the past five years.
Dr. Stewart is recognized as a leader at national and international levels for fostering knowledge generation and knowledge mobilization focused on gender and globalization, violence and gender, reducing disparities/inequalities and promoting equity for vulnerable populations facing inequities linked to income, ethnicity, gender, disability and literacy. These initiatives have created collaborations in Mexico, Latin America, South Africa, Australia, the UK, European Union, and Thailand. Moreover, she is leading an impressive initiative engaging twelve national research funding agencies and numerous policy influencers dedicated to women in science. The National Science Advisor has strongly endorsed this initiative which has attracted partnerships in the USA, UK, Japan, and France. Funding for research on gender in Canada has multiplied eightfold through partnerships attracted under her leadership of a national institute.
University administrative posts include Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Health Professions, and Secretary of Senate.
Dr. Stewart was Canadian representative on the Pan American Health Organization Advisory Committee on Health Research. She was Chair and Scientific Officer of a MRC committee, Chair of a NHRDP committee, and committee member or reviewer for several national (e.g., NHRDP) and provincial research funding agencies. She is appointed to the College of Reviewers for the Canada Research Chairs.
Dr. Stewart has received (e.g. Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, induction into McMaster Alumni Gallery and into Canadian Academy of Health Sciences) and been recommended (e.g. SSHRC Gold Medal, Royal Society of Canada) for prestigious awards in recognition of contributions at provincial, national, and international levels.
Term end: December 31, 2007
