Associate Vice-President Research, Medical and Health Science

Associate Vice-President Research, Medical and Health Science

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) invites applications for the position of Associate Vice-President Research (AVPR), Medical and Health Science, a senior academic leadership role responsible for advancing world-class research, scholarly, and artistic work (RSAW) across the institution, with a primary focus on medical, health, and related interdisciplinary research.

Reporting to the Vice-President Research, the AVPR is a senior member of the Office of the Vice-President Research executive team and USask’s Senior Leadership Forum. The AVPR provides institution-wide, visionary leadership to set strategic direction, foster innovation, and enable success across USask’s medical, health, and related interdisciplinary sciences research portfolio. The AVPR also serves as USask’s Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Tri-Agency Leader, working closely with other Tri-Agency Leaders, Associate and Vice Deans Research, academic leaders, research centres and institutes, health partners, Indigenous communities, funding agencies, and other internal and external partners to advance USask’s innovation agenda across academic units.

This is an opportunity for an accomplished researcher and academic leader to help shape the next stage of health research at one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities. The successful candidate will bring strategic vision, scholarly credibility, and a collaborative leadership style to support research across laboratory, clinical, community, policy, arts-informed, knowledge-system-specific, population, public, Indigenous, health systems, biomedical, social, cultural, and environmental health research. They will work across disciplines and academic units to build capacity, support major research initiatives, strengthen funding success, and align USask’s medical and health research activity with institutional priorities and partner needs.

The AVPR will define, implement, and communicate priorities and outcomes for medical, health, and related interdisciplinary sciences research, while supporting strategic planning, resource alignment, knowledge translation, community engagement, and large-scale research initiatives. Working with the Vice-President Research and colleagues across the University, they will support interdisciplinary research, research clusters, centres and institutes, faculty complement planning, research chair strategies, and highly qualified personnel development. They will also advance and support clinical research and clinical trials activity across the University, promote public and community-engaged research, teaching, and learning, and enhance USask’s national and international profile through faculty recognition, awards, visibility, and strategic external relationships.

As a senior institutional leader, the AVPR will contribute to University decision-making, represent the Office of the Vice-President Research and the Vice-President Research on internal and external bodies, and may act on behalf of the Vice-President Research when required, including assuming the role of Acting Vice-President Research. The AVPR will work closely with the Joint Governance Council of the Academic Health Sciences, Deans, Vice Deans, Executive Directors, Centre Directors, Associate Deans, Tri-Agency Leaders, health sector partners, and external partners to strengthen interdisciplinary and institutional research activity. They will promote responsible risk-taking, accountability, transparency, ethical practice, and compliance with relevant regulatory requirements, University policies, collective agreements, and research standards. This will include working closely with research ethics, privacy, legal, Indigenous engagement, and research security offices to support ethical, timely, and accountable health research, including research involving human participants, clinical data, Indigenous data sovereignty, AI-enabled health systems, and community-based partnerships.

USask is committed to leadership rooted in nīkānītān manācihitowinihk | ni manachīhitoonaan — “Let us lead with respect.” The AVPR will be expected to foster a respectful, collaborative, and inclusive research culture grounded in dignity, integrity, and accountability. They will advance Indigenization, decolonization, and reconciliation by ensuring that research policies and practices respect and support Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing, and by supporting research by and with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. They will also embed equity, diversity, and inclusion across leadership, policy, and practice, and support institutional efforts to dismantle systemic barriers and promote fairness, respect, and equitable participation in research.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be an accomplished scholar, researcher, and academic leader with a strong record of research achievement, funding success, teaching, graduate supervision, and scholarly impact. They will bring a deep understanding of medical and health-related research, with particular strength in one or more areas such as clinical research, population health, public health, Indigenous health, health systems research, clinical trials, community-engaged health research, biomedical research, or related interdisciplinary fields.

Candidates should hold an MD or other health professional degree and/or PhD, or equivalent qualification, and have a strong record of research funding success, particularly from CIHR and other national or international health research funding bodies. Experience as a clinician-scientist, public health leader, Indigenous health scholar, health systems researcher, clinical trials leader, or leader in community-engaged health research would be considered an asset. Candidates should also bring at least 5 to 10 years of progressive academic leadership experience, including senior-level administration.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• A strong record of research excellence, scholarly impact, funding success, publications, teaching, and graduate supervision;
• Experience providing strategic leadership in a complex academic or research-intensive environment;
• Deep knowledge of the health research funding landscape, including CIHR and other national or international funding bodies;
• Demonstrated success advancing research administration best practices, interdisciplinary collaboration, institutional research priorities, and change in complex academic environments;
• Experience building relationships with internal and external partners, including academic leaders, researchers, funding agencies, government, health authorities, Indigenous communities, First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners, public and private sector organizations, community partners, and health sector partners;
• Strong communication, collaboration, consensus-building, advocacy, exemplary relationship-building, mentorship, and leadership skills;
• A demonstrated commitment to Indigenous engagement, Indigenization, decolonization, reconciliation, equity, diversity, and inclusion, with a demonstrated history of success in advancing Indigenous engagement and Indigenization, and the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion; and,
• Sound judgment, integrity, and the ability to navigate university governance, policy, risk, compliance, and change.