Dr. Moira McPherson is pleased to announce that Dr. Michel Bédard has been appointed Lakehead University's new Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

Dr. Bédard was appointed Interim Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences in the fall of 2015, and will now begin a five-year term as the Faculty's newest Dean.

"Dr. Bédard has played an important role in the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences as a teacher, researcher, and most recently as the Interim Dean. He is absolutely passionate about the Faculty, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with him," said Dr. McPherson, Lakehead's Provost and Vice-President (Academic).

Dr. Bédard said he is honoured to be chosen as the next Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

"The Faculty is thriving and I look forward to engaging with faculty members, staff, and students, and working with the University, to continue this success," he said.

Dr. Bédard graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2000 and was hired by Lakehead University as an Assistant Professor of Psychology in 2001; he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2004 and to the rank of Professor in 2010. His primary academic appointment is with the Department of Health Sciences, but he remains affiliated with the Department of Psychology as an Internal Adjunct and as Professor of Aging and Health with NOSM.

Dr. Bédard has an active research program that includes several staff, post-doctoral, and graduate trainees. He is the author/co-author of more than 150 peer reviewed articles and 200 scientific presentations and he has received over $12 million in research funding as Principal or Co-investigator. He is past Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal on Aging and has received several research awards including a Canada Research Chair in Aging and Health from the Government of Canada and a Premier's Excellence Research Award from the province of Ontario.