Dr. William A. Ghali appointed vice-president (research)

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. William A. Ghali as vice-president (research), for a five-year term effective March 1, 2020. The vice-president (research) is the principal leader in driving innovation, research and discovery at the university, fulfilling the priorities outlined in the Eyes High Strategy and the Academic and Research Plans.

A world-class researcher, Dr. Ghali is currently the scientific director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary and physician in the Cumming School of Medicine (General Internal Medicine, Community Health Sciences).

Dr. Ghali has held millions of dollars of peer-reviewed research funding from a number of agencies, through his research program focused on evaluating and improving health system performance for better patient outcomes and improved system efficiency. He has held a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Health Services Research for two five-year periods and has published more than 420 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

“Dr. Ghali brings a wealth of leadership expertise and a strong vision to the vice-president (research) role. He has done a tremendous job in developing the O’Brien Institute for Public Health into the dynamic institution it is today. We look forward to seeing him build on these achievements even further, as he takes the university’s research mission to new heights of excellence and impact,” say Gail and David O’Brien, named donors of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health.

Dr. Ghali is a Fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. He is co-director of the University of Calgary World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in Disease Classifications and Health Information. He served as the John A. Buchanan Chair in General Internal Medicine from 2003 to 2018.

He was featured by the Globe and Mail in April 2012 as the Canadian public health researcher with the highest publication H-index, and has also been named in the Thomson-Reuters listing of the top one per cent of most highly cited researchers by discipline.

Dr. Ghali holds an MD from the University of Calgary, and completed his postgraduate medical residency training at Queen’s University. He also holds a Master’s in Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) and completed a general internal medicine fellowship from Boston University.

I would like to thank Dr. André Buret for his dedication serving as interim vice-president (research). He will continue to serve as interim vice-president (research) until Feb. 29, 2020. His leadership during this time of transition has been incredibly important.

I would like to thank the selection committee for their advice throughout the selection process, which included: Dr. Dru Marshall, provost and vice-president (academic); Dr. Jon Meddings, Dean’s Council representative; Dr. Penny Werthner, Dean’s Council representative; Dr. Susan Graham, General Faculty Council representative; Dr. Jocelyn Hayley, General Faculty Council representative; Dr. Benedikt Hallgrimsson, General Faculty Council representative; Humaira Waqar, MaPS representative; Erik Henningsmoen, AUPE representative; Dr. John Baker, TUCFA representative; Marcela Lopes, GSA representative; Kevin Dang, SU representative; Saifa Koonar, Alumni Association representative; and Matt Brister, community member-at-large.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Ghali on his appointment.

Dr. Ed McCauley
President and Vice-Chancellor