Canadian Academy of Health Sciences - Emerging Healthcare Leaders

Eligibility

At the time of election, Emerging leaders working in a university will not hold the rank of Full Professor and those working in other non-academic sectors will not have senior positions. 

All emerging leaders must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents unless exceptional circumstances prompt the Board to rule otherwise. 

Elected emerging leaders will benefit from mentoring by senior Academy Fellows. This should put them in an advantageous position to become CAHS Fellows in the future. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honours for members of the Canadian health sciences community. This honour embodies a covenant to serve the Academy and the future well-being of the health sciences irrespective of the Fellow’s specific discipline.

If an applicant is unsuccessful, a new submission package must be submitted should they decide to apply again. If an applicant is unsuccessful on two occasions, consecutive or not, they will not be allowed to resubmit to the Emerging leaders call for candidates. Eligibility criteria, being within 8 years of the last degree completed, will stay the same.

Eligible candidates must answer “YES” to all FIVE of the following questions:

1. Are you within 8 years (between May 22, 2018 and May 22, 2026) of the last degree completed (PhD, MSc., M.D., J.D., DVM, PharmD, etc.)? 

For candidates who have obtained a dual degree MD/PhD (or equivalent, such as DMD/PhD) or consecutive degrees in the following order: 1) PhD, 2) professional degree, and 3) residency program degree (professional specialty), the 8-year period will begin at the end of the specialization training. However, if this training is followed by postdoctoral research, the duration of the postdoc will be counted within the 8 years.

(Please note that leaves of absence are not included in the 8 years. Leaves of absence should be reported to explain any period that is beyond 8 years).

In the last 8 years do you have achievements or recognitions that demonstrate:

2. your leadership skills/ abilities? 

• Influencing and inspiring others to lead change and organizational transformation in health and health care;
• Contributing to the research or scholarly excellence;
• Leading public outreach activities (e.g. organization of research promotion activities, leadership in research dissemination, etc.).

3. your ability to establish collaborations and networking in the local, national or international scientific and/or scholar community?
4. you have contributed positively to improve the health sciences? 
5. your commitment or your success in promoting inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) in healthcare, research, education, or outreach activities?

Summary

Emerging Leaders in Health Sciences in Canada will be recognized by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). The intent is, on an annual basis, to select top emerging candidates to be recognized for a term of five years.  These emerging leaders must have achieved independence in their activities, recognition from their peers, preferably on a national or international level, and they must demonstrate commitment to work with the Academy to advance its mission.

These leaders will receive mentorship from senior Academy Fellows. The CAHS is committed to: 

•  Excellence in research and scholarly work that improves health and well-being of Canadians;
•  Leadership to ensure a sustainable, diverse, equitable and accessible health and health care systems;
•  Regional representation of its Fellowship. 

Emerging leader candidates will have demonstrated strong proof / evidence of leadership in their discipline and even beyond, ability to establish collaborations and networking in the scientific community, improving the health of Canadian society and/or community and promoting/advancing inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) inhealthcare, research, education, or outreach in Canada. Emerging leaders’ candidates must also make a clear declaration of interest in participating in CAHS activities. 

Submissions should follow the order below and be submitted as one document by email to kbimm@cahs-acss.ca.

1. Eligibility questionnaire including explanation of leaves of absence (page 1).
2. Data sheet on candidate, citation and key words (page 4 and 5).
3. Personal statements (3) from the candidate (page 6), which includes outlining their desired participation in CAHS activities, their desired outcome/focus of mentoring, and a description of their contributions relevant to the CAHS’ mission and activities. (600 words combined). 
4. three (3) Letters of support: Each letter no longer than two (2) pages.
5. Curriculum vitae condensed to a maximum of 10 pages.
6. Please provide proof (copy of your last diploma issued between May 22, 2018 and May 22, 2026 ) that shows completion of degree within the last 8 years.

No additional document submissions will be considered for review by the committee.

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

To access the guidelines for submission, the application form and the rubric, please click here.

CAHS will hold a bilingual information session to review the guidelines and answer questions:

April 21, 2026 at 1:00 pm ET. Please click here to register.

Final decisions will be made by the Board of Directors of the Academy of Health Sciences in June and the results will be announced in July.