Executive management
Vice-President – Strategic Science and External Relations
Dr. Tammy Clifford
Dr. Clifford’s substantive position at CIHR is Vice-President, Strategic Science and External Relations. In this role, she develops and implements integrated, evidence-informed strategies that advance CIHR’s mandate and positions Canada as a global leader in health research. She also leads the agency’s external engagement efforts and international collaborations, establishing strategic partnerships to shape policy development and the international health research landscape. As a member of CIHR’s executive management team, she works closely with CIHR senior executives and Institute Scientific Directors to help define and oversee the organization’s strategic directions.
Prior to this role, Dr. Clifford served as Vice-President, Research-Learning Health Systems following her previous tenure as Vice-President, Research-Programs at CIHR, providing leadership on the design, development, and administration of CIHR’s funding programs and science policies.
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 more than a decade. As a member of CADTH’s executive team, she led the implementation of four strategic plans, piloted important organizational changes, launched new programs, and oversaw the production of evidence synthesis reports for Canadian decision makers.
At the beginning of her career, Dr. Clifford led and supported 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. During her academic career, she was a principal investigator on a number of knowledge translation research projects, and served as a CIHR peer reviewer, as well as 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 has supervised or advised 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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