Heather Munroe-Blum

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Heather Anne Elyse Lilian Munroe-Blum (born 1950) is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

Contents 1 Academic life and early career 2 Principal of McGill 3 Awards and recognition 4 Sources

[edit] Academic life and early career

Munroe-Blum was born in Montreal and raised in Ontario. She received her B.A. and B.S.W. from McMaster University, M.S.W. from Wilfrid Laurier University, and Ph.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to her appointment as Principal of McGill, she was a professor at York University, McMaster University, and the University of Toronto, where she later served as the Vice-President of Research and International Relations) between 1994 and 2002. In January 2003, Munroe-Blum replaced outgoing Principal Bernard Shapiro as McGill's Principal, the first woman to occupy the position. Shapiro now serves as the federal ethics commissioner in Canada.

Trained as an epidemiologist, Professor Munroe-Blum has led large-scale epidemiological investigations related to psychiatric disorders. She is the author or co-author of over 60 scholarly publications, including four books. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Medical Research Council of Canada (now the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) as well as on international reviews of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health (USA).

Munroe-Blum is a member of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill and a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

[edit] Principal of McGill

As Principal, Munroe-Blum has demonstrated a number of priorities. Chief among these is rectifying what she often cites as systemic underfunding of McGill. Examples of this can be seen in her attracting of Canadian philanthropists such as Marcel Desautels and Seymour Schulich to make notably large donations to the University, resulting in the controversial decision to rename the faculties of Management and Music respectively.

Munroe-Blum began her term as Principal with a strong focus on McGill as a research intensive university. However, after receiving much criticism from the student population for straying from her predecessors' vision of a student-centred institution, Munroe-Blum launched a number of student focused initiatives including the Principal's Task Force on Student Life and Learning [1].

[edit] Awards and recognition

Munroe-Blum has received many accolades from the Academic community including honorary degrees from the University of Montreal, University of Edinburgh, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and École normale supérieure de Lyon. She is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is married to screenwriter Len Blum. They have one daughter.

[edit] Sources

• Biography from the McGill University Administration and Governance site
• Brief biography from the Canadian Olympic Committee
• Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry

Preceded by: Bernard Shapiro

Principals of McGill University 2003–present

Succeeded by: Incumbent