Elizabeth Dowdeswell

Elizabeth Dowdeswell has been named president of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), replacing Dr Peter Nicholson who left the position at the end of 2009. Dowdeswell's appointment is effective April 1st. She has chaired the CCA's scientific advisory committee since its inception and is an adjunct professor at the Univ of Toronto's McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. Doweswell has had a long career in the public and private sectors, having worked for the federal and Saskatchewan governments and holding board positions with several corporations. Past positions include executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program and under-secretary of the United Nations. She holds a MsC in home economics from the Univ of Saskatchewan and an MSc in behavioural sciences from Utah State Univ. During the four months when the CCA was without a president, Dowdeswell was part of a transition team by headed by CCA board chair Elizabeth Parr-Johnston and including Richard Drouin and Henry Friesen....