On the recommendation of Dean Jane Philpott, Mark Green, Provost and Vice Principal (Academic) at Queen’s University, has appointed Dr. Stephen Archer as the C. Franklin and Helene K. Bracken Chair, School of Medicine. This appointment is effective October 1, 2020, for a five-year term.
Dr. Archer earned his BA and MD from Queen’s University, graduating with the Gold Medal in Medicine. He interned at the Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia, and completed training in Internal Medicine and a Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Archer remained at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Veteran Affairs Medical Center, where he was appointed Professor of Medicine in 1997. From 1998 to 2007, he held an appointment as Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Director of the Cardiology Division at the University of Alberta and Heart & Stroke Chair for Northern Alberta. In 2007, Dr. Archer became the Chief of Cardiology and Harold Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He also served as the President of the Chicagoland chapter of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Archer returned to Queen’s University in 2012 as Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine. He remains active as a clinical cardiologist, specializing in pulmonary hypertension. He is cross-appointed to the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. Dr. Archer currently directs a CIHR- and CFI-funded research laboratory. He is also grateful for the funding he has received form the W.J. Henderson Foundation. Dr. Archer is the founder and scientific director of the Queen’s Cardiopulmonary Unit (QCPU), a translational research facility seeking cures for heart, lung, blood and vascular diseases.
Dr. Archer is a prolific and respected researcher. He is a proud mentor and has trained some of North America’s leading scientists. In 2018, Dr. Archer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. The focus of his research is defining the role of mitochondrial fission, fusion and metabolism in oxygen-sensing/cell proliferation and translating this into pulmonary hypertension and cancer therapies. He has recently begun research on the role of SARS-CoV-2-related mitochondrial injury in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, with the goal of developing a mitochondrial-targeted therapy for this disease. The Bracken Chair endowment will support his continued intellectual leadership to conduct interdisciplinary, patient-centered, research in the cardiovascular sciences.
Dr. Archer is a widely celebrated physician and researcher. He holds memberships in more than a dozen medical societies and serves on the Editorial Board of Circulation. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and was named the Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association in 2016. His research is published in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Circulation, Cancer Cell, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Circulation Research. He has more than 275 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 97) and these papers have been cited over 39,000 times. He also has published five books and holds a patent for cancer treatment resulting from his work. His research is currently supported by more than $15 million in active grant funding.
Dr. Archer wishes to acknowledge the scientists in his laboratory that make his research possible and the unswerving support of his wife, Dr. Kathie Doliszny and their children Elizabeth, Ben and Anya. He also acknowledges his mentor, Dr. E. Kenneth Weir, without whom his career in science would not have occurred.
Dean Philpott is confident that research at Queen’s will continue to greatly benefit from the expertise of Dr. Stephen Archer. Please join the dean in congratulating Dr. Archer on his appointment as C. Franklin and Helene K. Bracken Chair.