Meredith Vanstone appointed as the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Chair in Family Medicine

The Department of Family Medicine is excited to announce that Meredith Vanstone has been appointed as the new David Braley and Nancy Gordon Chair in Family Medicine.

This prestigious Chair is awarded to faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to the discipline of family medicine. It plays a vital role in supporting and enhancing the department’s reputation for excellence in family medicine research, education, and clinical care.

Vanstone is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She also serves as Director of the MD/PhD Program in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Ethical Complexity in Primary Care.

Vanstone’s research explores ethically complex issues in primary care. “Ethical complexity” arises in clinical encounters that generate uncertainty, moral dilemmas, or emotional distress for the patient, the clinician, or both. Her current projects include investigating pay disparities in Canadian family medicine, examining administrative burdens faced by family physicians, and examining the effects of focusing on attachment to primary care as an indicator of health system performance.

As the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Chair, Vanstone will help shape the future of family medicine through innovative research, academic leadership and a commitment to improving primary care delivery and policy. She will also play a key role in mentoring the next generation of academic health researchers and translating research into policy and practice.

In recognition of her exceptional contributions to research, Vanstone was also recently named a 2025 University Scholar by McMaster University.

To learn more about Meredith Vanstone’s research, visit her website.