Jayne Garland has been appointed to a five-and-a-half-year term as dean of Health Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Current Health Sciences Dean Jim Weese will continue in the position until the end of calendar year.
Jayne Garland has been appointed to a five-and-a-half-year term as dean of Health Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Current Health Sciences Dean Jim Weese will continue in the position until the end of calendar year.
Garland, MClSc’85, arrives from the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she currently serves as professor and head of the Department of Physical Therapy. Prior to joining UBC in 2009, she was a member of Western’s Faculty of Health Sciences since 1989, including eight years as director of the School of Physical Therapy (2000-8). Prior to her faculty appointment at Western, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona and practiced physiotherapy in Kitchener-Waterloo.
A researcher in the fields of motor control and stroke rehabilitation, Garland is best known for her study of the motor control of force production, particularly under conditions of muscle fatigue, and for applying that work to several clinical populations, including breast cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and end-stage renal disease. Her current Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant is fueling her investigation into the postural control of standing balance; a 2012 Canadian Stroke Network/European Stroke Network collaborative research grant helps her pioneer the application of advanced techniques to measure muscle activation to the recovery of postural control following stroke.
In addition to being a registered physical therapist with the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia, Garland earned her BSc in physical therapy from Queen’s University in 1981, MClSc in physical therapy from Western in 1985 and a PhD in neuroscience from McMaster University in 1989.
Garland’s appointment was advanced at the recommendation of the Health Sciences Decanal Selection Committee, and received the formal endorsement of the president and Western’s Board of Governors through the Board’s Senior Operations Committee earlier this week.
Garland will be one of two new deans on campus next academic term. Robert (Bob) Andersen, BA’91 (Political Science), Dpl’92 (Sociology), MA’94 (Sociology), was appointed to a five-year term as dean of Social Science, beginning July 1. He joined Western June 1 in a temporary role as special advisor to the provost.
