Professors Steven Hoffman and Rebecca Pillai Riddell are among 74 new Fellows elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Election to fellowship in the academy is considered one of the highest honours for individuals in the Canadian health sciences community. It carries with it a covenant to serve the academy and the future well-being of the health sciences irrespective of the Fellow’s specific discipline.

“I extend my congratulations to professors Hoffman and Pillai Riddell,” said York University’s Vice-President of Research and Innovation Amir Asif. “These fellowships recognize their outstanding contributions to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences through leadership, academic performance, scientific creativity and willingness to serve. Their recognition will benefit both York University and Canadian health, and I hope you will join me in congratulating them on this prestigious honour.”

Professor Steven J. Hoffman (Osgoode Hall Law School, Faculty of Health)
Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair
Director, Global Strategy Lab

Professor Hoffman is a world-leading authority on global health law and the global governance of health threats that transcend national borders. He has achieved important scientific breakthroughs and policy impacts by combining law and epidemiology to address challenges faced by the numerous national governments and United Nations agencies that rely on his advice. As a Canadian Institutes of Health Research scientific director, he is a leading voice in public health and champion for integrating research evidence into policy-making processes. Hoffman is a Distinguished Research Chair at York University, director of a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and frequent contributor to news media.

Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell (Faculty of Health)
Associate Vice-President Research

Professor Pillai Riddell has focused her research in the pediatric behavioural and biobehavioural sciences. As a professor of psychology and an expert in pain, she has built the first and largest cohort in the world studying young children through painful vaccinations over the first years of life. Pillai Riddell has generated an unrivalled published literature on the biopsychosocial dimensions of infants’ and young children’s acute pain. She is a tireless advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion and strives to create systemic infrastructure that supports a more just future for patients, their families, health professionals, research trainees and researchers.

To learn more about the fellowships, see the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences website.