I would like to share the news that Dr. Stephanie Nixon, Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science Institute and Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, innovative scholar and change-maker, will be taking on the role of Vice Dean (Health Sciences) and Director, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, at Queen’s University effective July 1, 2022. We congratulate Stephanie on this well-earned opportunity, although we are very sad to see her leave. She will continue to have an appointment with the Department of Physical Therapy and we look forward to ongoing collaboration with Stephanie in her new role.
Stephanie has been a physiotherapist, global health researcher and activist scholar for over 25 years. She co-founded the field of rehabilitation in the context of HIV in Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Stephanie joined the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto in 2007 as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2021. She was Director of the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation from 2012-2021.
Much of Stephanie’s research explores how systems of oppression shape health research, education and practice, and the role of people in positions of unearned advantage in disrupting these harmful patterns. In 2019, Dr. Nixon published the Coin Model of Privilege and Critical Allyship: Implications for Health, an article that translates core concepts in anti-oppression with a focus on accountable action among people in positions of privilege. Stephanie has been instrumental in introducing and integrating an anti-oppression lens into the MScPT curriculum. She is a highly respected supervisor to her many graduate students across the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Please join us in congratulating Stephanie on her new role at Queen’s University as Vice Dean (Health Sciences) and Director, School of Rehabilitation Therapy. We wish Stephanie all the best in this next exciting chapter of her career.
