Last Thursday, I hosted our annual reception to recognize members of our faculty who had recently been promoted. It is always a pleasure to see so many familiar faces and celebrate some important career milestones, but this reception was made even more special by the faculty’s good fortune in naming several new chairs over the last year. That night, it was a thrill for me to introduce Dr. José Pereira as the inaugural Dr. Gillian Gilchrist Chair in Palliative Care Research to our community for the first time.

One of the great joys of these last eight years as dean has been working alongside one of Canada’s most well-known and talented scientists, Dr. Roger Deeley. Roger’s successes are many, but importantly, a very major one just opened its doors this morning – the W. J. Henderson Centre for Patient-Oriented Research.

It is hard to believe that this will be my eighth September as the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I wrote my first blog! There are a number of traditions and annual events that fall during this month, but my favourite is welcoming of new students and faculty to our campus. There’s a palpable buzz at this time of year for all of us at the Queen’s campus, or for that matter, all around Kingston. I love it.

There is always an expectation throughout the Macklem House that the academic year will be somewhat hectic, and collectively at the university I think we all take a big breath when the summer finally comes. That said, this past month has felt busier than Julys of the past. With great anticipation, I look forward to signing off at the end of this week to spend some quality time with my family and take a break from the emails (and this blog).