Noni MacDonald

Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, 11:45 am - 12:45 pm MST

At the completion of this session participants will be able to define MicroResearch and describe its potential applications in both low and high income countries (HIC); identify the challenges for developing research capacity in Lower Income Countries (LIC) and community focused research in HICs like Canada; describe the top-down knowledge translation gap in LICs and HICs and how community focused research can address this.

Noni MacDonald is a Professor in the Dept. of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University. She received her BSc. from Queen's University (1970), MSc in microbiology/immunology from the University of Ottawa (1971), MD (awarded medal for highest standing) from the University of Ottawa (1975), residency (RCPSC) in pediatrics from the University of Ottawa (1978) and became a Fellow, RCPSC, for Infectious Diseases through McGill University and the University of Rochester (1983). She was the first paediatrician in Canada to be certified in paediatric infectious diseases.

From 1981 - 1999, Dr. MacDonald served as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor in the departments of Paediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology and founded the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Ottawa. In addition to her teaching and research work she was a clinician at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and served as it’s Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases from 1991 to 1999. In 1999 Dr. MacDonald became the first woman dean of medicine in Canada when she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and held this position until 2004.

Over her storied career Dr. MacDonald has worn many other hats including founding editor of the journal Paediatrics & Child Health, co-founder of MicroResearch, a non-profit organisation which aims to build research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa, publisher of over 170 papers, and member of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization. As quoted in The Lancet Philippe Duclos, a former Senior Health Adviser in the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO who worked with MacDonald for over 30 years sums up Dr. MacDonald’s career like this: “Beyond her scientific contribution, the legacy of Noni's career has been how she has energized, inspired, and motivated thousands of physicians, scientists, and vaccinologists, and to have helped build local and national capacity to enable countries and local health-care workers find long-term local solutions for maternal and child health problems”.