Dr. Michael Dunbar and Dr. Janice Graham are influential health leaders who will make an even greater impact on health care and policy now that they are fellows of the prestigious Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). 

A leading orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Dunbar has led revolutionary research and development efforts to improve the results of joint replacement surgeries in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip, knee and spine. These technologies and approaches are reducing rates of implant failures (and therefore of corrective procedures), freeing up surgeons’ time, cutting wait times, and improving patients’ quality of life. 

Dr. Janice Graham is an internationally recognized anthropologist of science, technology and medicine. In part, she studies how evidence for the safety and effectiveness of emerging therapeutic drugs and vaccines is constructed, and asks, how do products that do not always improve health get approved while public and general health systems are declining? She has played a senior advisory role to many influential organizations, including the Canadian Parliament, the World Health Organization and the United Nations. 

The CAHS is one of three on the Council of Canadian Academies, which also includes the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineers. According to the council’s “statement of common understanding,” the three academies collaborate to “bring together intellectual resources in synergistic ways to generate capacity for credible, evidence-based, and independent scientific advice in support of the development of sound public policy in Canada.” 

Dr. Tom Marrie, former dean of medicine and current interim vice president of research and innovation for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, is a long-time fellow of the CAHS, as an expert in infectious diseases.

“One of roles of the academy is to answer questions in the public interest,” he says. “The CAHS plays an advisory role to government, synthesizing information about complex issues and presenting it in a format that governments can understand. It creates an interface between science and politics and policy.”

Admission to the CAHS is extremely limited. Fellows must have made significant lifetime contributions to the health of Canadian society and be committed to serving the nation, on a volunteer basis, by providing their advice, expertise and experience on important issues.

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Induction into the CAHS as a Fellow is considered one of the highest honours within Canada’s academic community. CAHS Fellows, who serve as unpaid volunteers, are nominated by their institutions and peers and selected in a competitive process based on their internationally recognized leadership, academic performance, scientific creativity and willingness to serve.

CAHS pledges to serve Canadians by volunteering the time and expertise of our Fellows in conducting independent, unbiased, expert assessments on health-related topics of major importance to Canada.

Learn more about CAHS