In conversation with Interim Dean Stephen Vanner

Feature Stories | 17 Dec 2024

Dr. Stephen Vanner took on the role of Interim Dean, Queen’s Health Sciences (QHS), earlier this month. No stranger to Queen’s, Dr. Vanner is an alumnus who has built his career in gastrointestinal diseases research and clinical practice at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and has held numerous leadership roles throughout the faculty during that time, including interim vice-dean (clinical) for the School of Medicine and as medical director for the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO).

What are you most looking forward to over the next number of months in your new role?

I’m excited to work more closely with the faculty and staff in QHS. I think there is much to be optimistic about and many opportunities. We have a great faculty with people who are exceptionally talented.

What do you see as the challenges and opportunities ahead?

I'm trying to change the channel a little bit from just talking about challenges and start talking more about the opportunities we have. Specifically, these include growing our research capacity, and in expanding our clinical care and educational opportunities. We are a significant research engine for Queen’s, and I think there’s an opportunity for us to really shine in this area. I plan to incentivize growth and continue to drive important research.

I believe there are also opportunities for us to engage with primary care to have a bigger footprint in the community for training, as well as grow our partnership with Lakeridge Health.

It has been a challenging time for faculty and staff recently in dealing with the budget situation on top of heavy workloads. Being in this role, I can really appreciate how hard everyone is working and how valuable they all are to the organization. Despite these challenges, I think there are many things we can get excited about in realizing the opportunities we have in front of us.

What are your goals?

In addition to what I just mentioned around growing our research, and clinical care and educational opportunities, I want to increase engagement and communication within the faculty. Together with Patrick Legresley, our new Chief Financial and Administration Officer, I plan to have more frequent meetings with leaders within each department and school so we can hear directly from them about the challenges they are facing and talk about some solutions and ways we can improve.

What are you hoping to learn while in this role?

I am looking forward to better understanding how the faculty works overall and how it works within the broader university to achieve its goals. I am fairly familiar with the inner workings of the faculty, but looking at that more broadly will be new for me.

I understand you have your clinical practice ‘on pause’ while in this interim role, but you are continuing with your research program. Can you tell us about that?

I will continue to develop my research program around developing novel pain analgesics. We are working towards a first-in-human study for medication that could replace conventional opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.