Here are some highlights and achievements at the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences this year.

• Many members received research grants, including considerable funding from the Tri-Agencies, a sign of the School’s dynamism.
  • Professor Angel Foster was named University Research Chair in Medication Abortion. She works to increase the safety and affordability of abortion care in Canada and around the world, and has led research projects on health care, reproductive rights and justice in different regions, such as Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Professor Lara Pilutti received a University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prize. As well, she has developed an internationally-renowned research program based on the studying the benefits of physical exercise for people living with multiple sclerosis. She has taught and supervised over 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. Her teaching and mentoring are based on learning through practical application in real-life settings.
• April 7, 2025: The annual Research Day took place at the Lees campus. It highlighted the outstanding and, notably, interdisciplinary quality of School research. Fourth year undergraduate, and graduate, students, along with School professors, both spoke about their research and made poster presentations, all in a friendly, professional atmosphere.Congratulations to all those who received awards from Dean Lucie Thibault.
• In recent months, the School has been preparing to move to its new location in Montpetit Hall, where it will be settled in for the return to classes this September.

The School of Human Kinetics (SHK) continues to stand out among the university elite, once again ranking among the top seven schools for sports-related subjects in Canada. We also ranked an impressive 34th in the QS world rankings. These rankings speak to our outstanding teaching, research and international reputation.

• We received three new strategic teaching and research positions this year: two in sport management and a prestigious Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neuro-musculoskeletal Aspects of Movement. These additions strengthen our position as a leader in the field.
• The School also showed strong leadership in dialogue and strategic reflection by organizing a two-day retreat bringing together professors, administrative personnel, long-term appointment professors and lab co-ordinators. The retreat allowed for discussion on key topics such as emotional regulation, neurodiversity among our students and accommodation needs, the impact of generative artificial intelligence and its effect in the academic sector, and the School’s future, particularly with regard to graduate programs.
• We welcomed our first cohort in the new co-op programs, an option now offered in all our undergraduate programs. This initiative strengthens our commitment to offer hands-on training attuned to the needs of the labour market.
• Our sustained efforts to promote French-language programs, particularly in social sciences, led to a significant increase in the number of francophone students enrolled.
• The fonds de maillage funds for promotion of French-language programs also allowed us to host several francophone high schools on campus and in our laboratories. Students were able to discover human kinetics and imagine careers in this exciting field.

The 2024–2025 academic year has been marked by the significant achievements of School of Nursing professors and students. We would like to highlight some of them here.

• Professors Josephine Etowa and Patrick O’Byrne received King Charles III Coronation Medals for significant contributions to Canada while also raising Canada’s reputation abroad. Professor Ian Graham, cross-appointed to the School of Nursing, also received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his work in knowledge translation science.
• Professor Michelle Lalonde was named the new University of Ottawa / Institut du Savoir Joint Chair on the Health of Francophones in Ontario, which will make significant contributions to patients receiving health care in Ontario and their families by ensuring Francophone nurses are prepared to be skilled, ethically-oriented practitioners.
• Master of Science in Nursing graduate Aya Kahil was awarded the Graduate Studies Thesis Prize in Humanities for her work “A Secondary Analysis of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” supervised by Professor Wendy Gifford.
• Undergraduate students Colton Chaput and Sarah-Laure Xavier were awarded the Bourse d’excellence clinique for their outstanding clinical performance during their final consolidation practicum at Monfort Hospital.
• Undergraduate students Scarlett Montserrat Sanabria-Ramos and Aniella Mutoni joined the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association national board of directors as director of communications and francophone caucus chair, respectively.

On top of those achievements, the School of Nursing was involved in the following activities:

• On November 20, 2024, fourth-year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing program participated in a simulation of an emergency.
• On May 2, the Bachelor of Nursing class of 1975 celebrated its 50th graduation anniversary with a visit to the new Lees campus.
• We produced a School promotional video to showcase the cutting-edge simulation laboratories at the Louise McEntyre West Nursing Simulation and Peer Mentorship Centre.

For several years, the School of Nutrition Sciences has been actively committed to providing a productive, inclusive, innovative learning and research environment.

One of our most notable successes was reviewing our programs so we could better meet students’ changing needs and the nutrition field’s requirements. For example, we updated the Honours Bachelor of Science in Food Sciences program as well as the Graduate Diploma in Food Policy and Regulatory Affairs program.

In addition to our progress in academics, we improved personnel retention to promote continuity, retain knowledge and foster a more motivating work environment. We also implemented a work optimization approach so we could focus our efforts on pursuing achievable projects, improving our efficiency and supporting our team’s well-being. This approach is helping us to make co-ordinated, sustainable progress and to protect the priceless human resources that we have invested in.

Internal talent recognition is at the heart of our operations. We strive to put the right people in the right places by emphasizing individual strengths and initiative. This is a perfect example of how we seek to make each employee’s skills shine for the benefit of the entire School and community.

As part of our goal to continually improve our organization and transparency, we also adopted new processes, including for laboratory bookings. The booking process now includes verification of users’ certifications to make our labs safer and optimize resource management.

These achievements demonstrate our shared commitment to making the School of Nutrition Sciences a hotbed of excellence, collaboration and innovation, where everyone can fully participate in promoting our mission.

The School of Rehabilitation Sciences has experienced another exciting year. Continuous curriculum improvements have enhanced our programs and supported student success. Recent innovations will further improve our program accessibility and increase our student cohort diversity.

The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology program met the requirements for an additional four years of accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Canadian University Programs in Audiology and Speech-Language-Pathology. In its detailed report, the council praised the program for professors’ and personnel’s enthusiasm and commitment, excellent professor-student relationships, high quality clinical education and outstanding physical learning environment.

In the Physiotherapy program, continuing work to uphold the highest quality of education led to a remarkable accomplishment: 100% of our graduating students passed the Physiotherapy Competency Examination on their first attempt.

The Occupational Therapy program received approval for a new, innovative program for part-time students. It’s the first of its kind in Canada to allow students to become occupational therapists while studying part time. This four-year program, which will admit its first cohort in September 2026, will increase the accessibility of occupational therapy education and improve diversity among occupational therapy students.

The doctoral program in Rehabilitation Sciences received approval for French and English distance programs, which will welcome their first cohorts in September 2025, improving accessibility for students wishing to develop high-level skills in interprofessional research related to rehabilitation.