Genetic Counselling Medical Director, Dr. David Chitayat has been elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Congratulations to Dr. David Chitayat on his election as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) is one of three national academies that comprise the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), the highest honour granted to scholars in Canada. The two other CCA academies are the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences brings together Canada’s top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars to make a positive impact on the urgent health concerns of Canadians.

The CAHS has two functions: a) To conduct assessments on urgent health matters that affect Canadians; b) to recognize individuals of outstanding achievement in the health sciences through elections to fellowship.CAHS fellows are entitled to use the post-nominal FCAHS (Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences)

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) recognizes individuals of great achievement in the academic health sciences in Canada. Founded in 2004, the CAHS has approximately 500 Fellows and appoints new Fellows on an annual basis. The organization is managed by a voluntary Board of Directors and a Board Executive. The main function of the CAHS is to provide timely, informed, and unbiased assessments of urgent issues affecting the health of Canadians. The Academy also monitors global health-related events to enhance Canada’s state of readiness for the future, and provides a Canadian voice for health sciences internationally. The CAHS provides a collective, authoritative, and multidisciplinary voice on behalf of the health sciences community.

These Fellows, drawn from all disciplines across our nation’s universities, healthcare and research institutes, evaluate Canada’s most complex health challenges and recommend strategic, actionable solutions.

Until the 21st century, the societies of top-ranked academics in Canada played a very limited role in providing expert advice to Canadians. In 2004, the Federal Government committed to creating a national alliance of academic societies. The purpose was to establish a process whereby experts from all disciplines including science, arts and humanities, engineering, health and biomedical sciences could provide timely, evidence-based analysis to inform public policy development. With the establishment of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), a key member representing the health and biomedical sciences emerged from the former Canadian Institute of Academic Medicine.

This new organization, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS), was fashioned after the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) in the USA, to provide independent, objective, evidence-based analyses of health challenges that inform both public and private sectors in decision-making about policy, practice and investment.

The academy recognizes the full breadth of academic health science ranging from fundamental science to social science and population health. Fellows elected to the Academy will be well recognized by their peers nationally and internationally for their contributions to the promotion of health science. They will have demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies & background, and a commitment to advance academic health science.

Fellows of the Academy are entitled to use the election FCAHS (Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences) or MACSS (Membre de l’academie canadienne des sciences de la santé).

In order to achieve this role it:

1. Elects fellows to the Academy, Canadian citizens or Canadian residents for the preceding three years, who are recognized by their peers nationally and internationally for their contributions to the promotion of health sciences, and who have demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies and a commitment to advance academic health sciences;

2. Serves as a credible, expert and independent assessor of science and technology (S&T) issues relevant to the health of Canadians;

3. Supports the development of timely, informed and strategic advice on urgent health issues;

4. Supports the development of sound and informed public policy related to these issues;

5. Enhances understanding of science and technology issues affecting the public good by transmitting the results of assessments and providing opportunities for public discussion of these matters;

6. Provides a collective authoritative multi-disciplinary voice of health sciences communities; and

7. Represents Canadian health sciences internationally and liaises with like international academies to enhance understanding and potential collaborations on matters of mutual interest.