After two decades in the United States, Lisa Tannock is back home.
Appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Director of the School of Medicine, and CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO), Dr. Tannock officially joined Queen’s on July 1 to start her new role. Her position is for a five-year term, concluding on July 1, 2030.
For her, the move represents both a professional milestone and a personal homecoming.
“I never intended to finish my career in the U.S.,” Dr. Tannock said in an interview with The Journal. “Ontario’s my home, Canada’s my home. […] when the Queen’s opportunity came out, it felt like the perfect fit. Although I didn’t go to Queen’s myself, I have long respected and admired Queen’s.”
Dr. Tannock arrives at Queen’s following a 20-year career at the University of Kentucky, where she rose from junior faculty to senior administrator. Starting as a physician-scientist, she specialized in endocrinology with a research focus on cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes. Over the years, she shifted toward leadership, serving as head of the Division of Endocrinology, vice chair of her department, vice dean, and associate provost for faculty affairs.
Before her career, Dr. Tannock studied at McGill University, later earning her medical degree and completing residency at the University of Toronto.
Her progression gave her, as she described it, “lived experience” across education, research, and clinical work. “There’s some advantages to having seen some different environments, different institutions, different approaches, that I think relate and translate to coming back,” she said.
Looking ahead, Dr. Tannock outlined her vision for the Faculty of Health Sciences in multiple parts, including focusing on excellence in education, growth in research, and service to patients and the broader Kingston community.
“I want to build on all the incredible things that Queen’s already does,” she said. “I want to build on its research strength and grow things like the Research Excellence Clusters, and see them mature, expand, and become centers of excellence here.”
To foster and maintain a strong community, she referenced the rollout of a new initiative, “Coffee with the Dean,” designed to strengthen community by bringing together Health Science faculty, staff, and students for informal coffee chats in small groups of 10 to 12 participants.
“I don’t necessarily plan on taking notes, but [it’s] just so I can hear from people’s experiences, hear what’s going well, [and] hear where people are facing challenges and barriers that hopefully I can help address.”
On the online form to sign up for a chat, it’s explained that each sign-up is added to a queue, and the Office of the Dean will reach out to coordinate a time. However, it’s not guaranteed that all requests will be met.
Dr. Tannock outlined her goal of balancing different voices and needs within the faculty, given that she oversees the schools of medicine, nursing, and rehabilitation therapy. She noted that the heads of each of the schools in Health Sciences sit at the faculty’s executive table as Vice-Deans, which she said feels like a model that’s quite unique when compared to other schools.
“Medicine may be the largest school, but it’s not the most important school by any means. I think that sort of equal representation at the table is critically important.”
Beyond campus, Dr. Tannock said she wants the University to continue addressing healthcare gaps in Ontario, such as a lack of healthcare professionals. She highlighted training partnerships like the Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine program at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa and the Weeneebayko Health Education Campus with Weeneebayko Area Health Authority in Northern Ontario.
“Data shows that health professionals are likely to work in areas that they either grew up in or trained in,” she said. “Those are areas that have huge gaps in ability of patients to get the care they need, and nursing shortages and other disciplinary areas, so these are great initiatives that are already underway.”
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Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, medicine
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