Two health sciences faculty appointed to the Order of Canada for public health contributions

Two members from SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences are among those being honoured with prestigious appointments as members of the Order of Canada.

Professors Donald MacPherson and Jeff Reading are being recognized for their contributions to public health policy, research and advocacy in Canada.

MacPherson, a FHS adjunct professor and former executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition based at SFU, is being recognized for his long-time advocacy of harm reduction and evidence-based approaches to drug policy reform. He is one of the country’s leading figures in drug policy and is an advocate of policies based on principles of public health, scientific evidence, human rights and social inclusion.

Recipient of the Canadian Public Health Association’s 2023 Public Hero Award, and SFU’s Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy (2017), MacPherson has been involved in drug policy development and implementation at every level, from local to global. His work began as a municipal response to the overdose crisis and the HIV epidemic in the 1990s and has been made more urgent over recent years by the country’s ongoing and worsening drug toxicity crisis.

For a decade he served as North America’s first drug policy coordinator at the City of Vancouver, and drafted the city’s groundbreaking and award-winning Four Pillars Drug Strategy, which borrowed from European approaches to address drug problems based on public health principles, and the appropriate regulation of all psychoactive substances.

In 2010, MacPherson co-founded the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, a policy advocacy organization comprised of more than 50 organizations and 7,000 individuals from across the country. The group is committed to advancing and realizing drug policies grounded in compassion, social justice and guided by science, and aims to reduce stigmatization of people who use drugs and center their voices at policy development tables.

Macpherson served as the organization’s executive director for 13 years, guiding policy engagement projects and directing CDPC’s advocacy and research efforts before retiring in 2023.

Reading is a well-respected scholar who over the past two decades has made ground-breaking contributions that have advanced Indigenous health nationally and globally.

Additionally, he has helped establish and lead Indigenous health scholarship initiatives for several organizations, serving as the founding director of the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at the University of Victoria, and then as the inaugural scientific director of the Institutes of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) between 2000 – 2008.

From 2012-13, he travelled to Australia where he led the development of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute’s Global Indigenous Health stream, and served as the inaugural Interim Director for the donor-supported Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health (WBIIH) in 2015.

Reading’s trailblazing leadership in these roles broadened the scope and depth of Indigenous health research, and provided pathways and opportunities for other Indigenous health scholars to contribute their work and perspectives

He is currently co-directing the new Centre for Collaborative Action on Indigenous Health Governance at SFU, together with FHS assistant professor Krista Stelkia, to establish a research program focusing on excellence in Indigenous Health research.

Reading is also working with FNHA, Providence Health Research Foundation, the Cardiology department at St. Paul's Hospital, and the BC Heart and Stroke Foundation to support Hishuk-ish tsawalk (everything is one, everything is connected): Restoring healthy family systems in Indigenous communities, a long-term study being led by Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) that aims to improve health and wellness outcomes for Indigenous children.

To suggest an SFU researcher for nomination to the Order of Canada, please contact Institutional Strategic Awards at awards@sfu.ca.