Canada Research Chair awarded to UBC Nursing associate professor

Dr. Emily Jenkins, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, has been awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Socioecological Approaches to Mental Health and Substance Use. Tier 2 Chairs, which are tenable for five years and renewable once, are awarded to “exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in her field.” Dr. Jenkins is one of 15 UBC researchers appointed to a new chair. All new Tier 2 Chairs receive a $20,000 research stipend to help support their research program.

Dr. Jenkins’s CRC research program aims to develop effective strategies to promote mental health to and minimize substance use harms in youth under 24 years of age, a research priority locally, nationally and globally. As an expert in interdisciplinary research in mental health and substance use, she focuses on using participatory processes with marginalized youth and equity-seeking communities to facilitate co-discovery, and bring their voices to tackle key health and social policies and practices.

The Canada Research Chairs Program is at the centre of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development by attracting world-class talent and reinforcing excellence in Canadian universities. Chairholders improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada's international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching, and the coordination of other researchers’ work.

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced an investment of more than $139 million to support 176 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs across 46 Canadian institutions. The 19 new and renewed UBC chairholders announced represent an investment of $19.3 million through the Canada Research Chairs program.