Professor Jeffrey Reading has more than two decades of experience enhancing knowledge in Indigenous health issues, both in Canada and globally. He was the founding director of the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. As inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health (2000-2008), he led a movement calling for a national advanced research agenda in the area of Aboriginal peoples’ health and led the Canadian Institutes of Health Research cross-cutting initiative in rural and northern health research.
Professor Reading held the first endowed research chair at the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto and played a pivotal role in the introduction of Canadian ethics guidelines for Aboriginal health research. He teaches global health, epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria. In 2015, Jeff led the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health (WBIIH) as the inaugural Interim Director of the WBIIH and in 2016, Jeff was appointed the Inaugural British Columbia First Nations Health Authority Chair in Heart Health and Wellness at St. Paul’s Hospital based at Simon Fraser University. Among his numerous distinctions Professor Reading has received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and was elected an inaugural Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.