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As Vice-Principal Research at Queen’s University, Dr. Nancy Ross partners with the research community to advance the university’s research mission.

A highly accomplished research administrator and faculty member in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Ross first assumed the Vice-Principal role in August 2021. Since that time, she has distinguished herself as a national leader in research administration and as a driving force in advancing the research mission of Queen’s.

The Vice-Principal Research oversees the university’s research strategy and operations. Dr. Ross also plays a key governance role in numerous university-based and external research centres and institutes.

Among her accomplishments during her first term was leading the development and launch of the Strategic Research Plan 2025-2030, a comprehensive roadmap for strengthening Queen’s University’s position as one of Canada’s most research-intensive institutions, and accelerating the Research Impact goal of the Queen’s Strategy.

In the next few years, Dr. Ross will have a strong focus on top research talent recruitment, in alignment with federal government programs. Dr. Ross also serves nationally as vice-chair of both the U15 and Council of Ontario Universities research committees, roles that further elevate Queen’s University’s voice in shaping policy and supporting Canada’s research ecosystem.

Originally from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Dr. Ross obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Geography from Queen’s University and received her PhD in Geography from McMaster University. She spent four years working at Statistics Canada’s headquarters in Ottawa in research positions that included a postdoctoral affiliation with the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She joined McGill’s faculty in 2001 and earned a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator career award in 2002 and subsequently held multiple career awards with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS). She was also the Tier I Canada Research Chair in the Geo-Social Determinants of Health. 

Dr. Ross served as Associate Vice-Principal Research at McGill from 2016-2021, where she led and directed initiatives and projects that advance McGill’s research enterprise across multiple disciplines. Dr. Ross has served as a longstanding reviewer for national and international funding agencies and is past Scientific Editor-in-Chief of Health Reports, Canada’s flagship population health journal.

In 2023, she was named the recipient of the Melinda Meade Distinguished Scholarship Award in Health and Medical Geography, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancements of health and/or medical geography research.

Nancy Ross on LinkedIn