When you fly from Kingston, Ontario to Moosonee, Ontario on a cold winter day, you realize that Canada is a very big country. This was the journey taken in late February 2023 by a team from Queen’s University and Mastercard Foundation. Though the flight path crosses just a small neck of land in the big map of Canada, we flew over miles and miles of open territory with very few signs of human habitation.

Revolutions are about people – the people leading them, and the people transformed by them.  

A year ago, we introduced our new strategic plan as “a revolution in the academic health sciences.” Fittingly, the plan’s impact on real people and communities is already front and centre. 

To realize our vision of Radical Collaboration for a Healthier World, the faculty established “The Big 10” implementation teams to move forward on ten key initiatives.  

“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” 

Those words come from Jimmy Neil Smith, founder of the International Storytelling Center. The feeling of connectivity he evokes comes to mind as I think about the multitude of Queen’s Health Sciences’ stories from 2022 – the successes, milestones, partnerships, publications, and collaborations that define us. Our network. Our stories – big and small – of working to build a healthier world. 

In the next 25 years, Queen’s Health Sciences (QHS) will continue its mandate to build a healthier world – and we want you to be part of that journey.