• Team member, Dr. Michael Strong
    Dr. Michael Strong
    President @ Canadian Institutes of Health Research

    Dr. Michael Strong was appointed President of CIHR, effective October 1, 2018. Prior to joining CIHR, Dr. Strong was Dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a Distinguished University Professor at Western University. From 2000 to 2010, he served as the Chief of Neurology and Co-Chair of the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences at the London Health Sciences Centre and Western University. He has also served as Co-chair of the Canadian ALS Research Consortium and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the ALS Society of Canada.

    Dr. Strong's clinical research has focused on understanding the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He is particularly interested in the occurrence of non-motor manifestations of the disease including the cognitive, behavioural, and emotional syndromes associated with ALS. His lab has focused on defining the role of alterations in tau protein metabolism in the frontotemporal syndromes of ALS and, increasingly, in traumatic brain injury.

    Dr. Strong has published over 185 peer-reviewed articles and 29 chapters, edited four textbooks, and been invited to give over 160 lectures on ALS research, throughout Canada and around the world. He is a recipient of both the Sheila Essey Award and the Forbes Norris Award, the only Canadian to have received both awards for ALS research. He was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, in 2012, for his contributions to ALS research and care.

    Dr. Strong earned his degree in medicine at Queen's University, undertook neurology training at Western University, and completed postgraduate studies at the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

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  • Team member, Dr. Tammy Clifford
    Dr. Tammy Clifford
    Vice-President, Research Programs @ Canadian Institutes of Health Research

    Dr. Tammy Clifford was appointed Vice-President, Research Programs at CIHR, on October 4, 2018. In this role, Dr. Clifford provides leadership for the design, development, and administration of CIHR’s funding programs and science policies. As a member of CIHR’s Executive Management Committee, she also works with Governing Council and Scientific Directors to help define and oversee the organization's strategic directions.

    Before joining CIHR, Dr. Clifford was the Chief Scientist and Vice-President, Evidence Standards, at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), where she served in a number of senior leadership roles over the past decade. As a member of CADTH’s executive team, she led the implementation of four strategic plans, piloted important organizational changes, and oversaw the production of evidence synthesis reports for Canadian decision makers.

    At the beginning of her career, Dr. Clifford worked on a number of maternal and child health research projects at CHEO’s Research Institute, where she also served as a member of the Research Ethics Board. More recently, she had been a principal investigator on a number of knowledge translation research projects, a peer reviewer, and a member of CIHR’s Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health Advisory Board. 

    Dr. Clifford received her PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Western Ontario, and her BSc and MSc from McGill University. She is currently an adjunct professor with the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa, where she supervises a number of masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students. She is recognized for her exceptional leadership abilities, as well as for her passion and commitment to knowledge translation, and to mentoring the next generation of health researchers.

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  • Team member, Dr. Sarah Viehbeck
    Dr. Sarah Viehbeck
    Associate Vice-President, Research Programs - Strategy @ Canadian Institutes of Health Research

    Dr. Sarah Viehbeck is the Associate Vice-President, Research Programs Strategy at CIHR. In this role, Dr. Viehbeck is responsible for all science-related strategy and policy development. She also leads the design of a comprehensive suite of programs and initiatives to support CIHR’s mandate, with a priority focus on growing and maintaining a strong and sustainable Canadian health research workforce. Prior to this role, Sarah was Head of Governance Renewal at the Agency and, in this capacity, led an agency-wide change and continuous improvement agenda to clarify decision-making processes and structures and CIHR’s Head Performance Measurement where she played an instrumental leadership role in the implementation of the Government of Canada’s Policy on Results. Sarah has offered leadership for strategic activities related to performance measurement and evaluation, population and public health ethics, knowledge translation, international partnerships, and Indigenous health research. Sarah is a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society and graduate of the International School on Research Impact Assessment. Through her role as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health and Health Systems and the University of Ottawa’s Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Sarah maintains a research program and is engaged in teaching. Sarah is a proud mother and volunteers as a Board member of the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health and as President of her neighbourhood’s Community Association Board.

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  • CS
    CIHR Scientific Directors
    Members
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  • CS
    CIHR’s Science Council
    Members

    The Science Council (SC) is chaired by the President and composed of all 13 Scientific Directors, the Executive Management Team, the Director of Science, Knowledge Translation and Ethics and two non-voting ex-officio members. SC develops, implements and reports on CIHR's research and knowledge translation strategy, in accordance with the CIHR Act and the overarching strategic directions set out by Governing Council. This includes approving funding for all research and knowledge translation initiatives.

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