Biography – ICRH Scientific Director: Dr. Brian H. Rowe

Dr. Brian H. Rowe was born in Toronto, Ontario moved to Auckland, New Zealand and Baltimore, Maryland in his childhood, before returning to complete high school in Toronto. He earned his BA in biology from Queen's University, where he captained the Golden Gael's intercollegiate soccer team. His MD and training in Family/Emergency Medicine were completed at the University of Ottawa, and his graduate training in clinical epidemiology was completed at the McMaster University, where he was mentored by Drs. Andrew Oxman and Paul O'Byrne, among many others. Dr. Rowe first practiced academic medicine in Sudbury, Ontario at the Northeastern Ontario Family Medicine (NOFM) Program. He relocated to Edmonton, AB in 1997 and is now a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. He continues to practice clinical medicine on a part-time basis.

He held a Tier I Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Evidence-based Emergency Medicine (2011-2018) after a 10-year term as a Tier II CRC in Emergency Airway Diseases (2001-2011). He previously co-directed the University of Alberta's Evidence-Based Practice Centre (2002-2014), was co-editor of the Cochrane Airways Group (1995-2018), and the editor of the textbook Evidence-Based Emergency Medicine. Dr. Rowe was the Associate Dean (Clinical Research) in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta from 2010-2014 and was the Scientific Director of the Emergency Strategic Clinical Network within Alberta Health Services.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and has authored over 590 peer-reviewed publications and 35 book chapters. He has received funding from CIHR, Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, and other sources. He has methodological interests in the application of systematic reviews and clinical trials to clinical problems such as cardio-respiratory emergencies, injury, and health services/overcrowding. He is currently in the second term as the CIHR-ICRH Scientific Director.

Dr. Rowe is married to Katharyn Webb and they celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary in May 2022; they have two adult sons. Dr. Rowe’s older son, Bradley (29), graduated with a BComm from the University of Victoria is now a businessman in Kelowna, BC, and is getting married in August 2022. His younger son, Stewart (28), graduated from medical school at the University of Alberta in 2022, carrying on a family tradition of health care modelled after his uncle (Dr. Peter C. Rowe; professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University) and late grandfather (Dr. Richard D. Rowe; pediatric cardiologist). He started his Physiatry Residency at the University of Alberta in July 2022.

In his spare time, Dr. Rowe enjoys cycling, swimming, reading and skiing.

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