USask Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre

Dr. Karen Chad is the Vice-President Research at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and is also a faculty member in the U of S College of Kinesiology.

With a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland in Australia, Dr. Chad is a prolific researcher holding several research grants and contracts and has supervised numerous graduate students.  She received the YWCA Woman of Distinction (Health and Education) award and was awarded the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal.  In addition, Karen has earned five teaching awards including the U of S Master Teacher Award.

Dr. Chad sits on a number of national boards and has chaired or overseen more than 100 key boards, committees, research programs, and teams.  Honors include an International Award for “Innovation in Research”, the National Leadership Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and in 2011 was identified as a “Woman of Influence” by Saskatchewan Business Magazine.

The University of Saskatchewan is committed to enhancing its capacity for research, scholarly and artistic work; strengthening its performance; and promoting the transfer of knowledge for the benefit of communities.  As the Vice-President Research, Dr. Chad plays a strategic leadership role in achieving these objectives within the context of the University’s key goals: to attract and retain outstanding faculty; to increase campus-wide commitment to research; to establish the University of Saskatchewan as a major presence in graduate education; and to recruit and retain a diverse and academically promising body of students.

Building on the University of Saskatchewan’s renowned history of discovery and innovation spanning more than a century, Dr. Chad, the University’s Vice-President Research, aims to enhance globally important research under the banner of “discovery with impact”; bringing its expertise on issues of importance to communities and to society.