Please join us in congratulating
Madeline Boscoe, the Executive Director for the Canadian Women's Health Network,
and the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for the Women's
Health Clinic, Winnipeg, who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University
of Ottawa on June 5, 2005.
Boscoe was recognized for her substantial contributions promoting the health
of women and girls in Canada.
For over twenty years, Boscoe, an RN, has worked in health education and advocacy at the Women's Health Clinic in Winnipeg. Her leadership and activism on such issues as hormone replacement therapy, Depo Provera, silicone breast implants, the legalization of midwifery, and many other women's health concerns has ensured that the Clinic remains a leader in developing women's health policies. The Women's Health Clinic has received national and international attention as a recipient of the 1997 Commonwealth Award for Excellence in Women's Health, and more recently, acknowledgment in the first report by the Health Council of Canada, both as a direct result of Boscoe's work in building the Clinic's innovative programs.
"Madeline has made women's health her life-long vocation," says Jennifer Howard, Executive Director of the Women's Health Clinic. "For more than 30 years she has been committed to providing women the information they need to make choices about their own health care. Whether she's working with academics and policy-makers, or a few local activists around a kitchen table, her dedication and passion improve the lives of women daily."
Madeline Boscoe is also a founding member of the Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN), and has been the Executive Director of the CWHN since 1995. Boscoe's vision, tenacity and diplomacy have helped make the CWHN one of the foremost knowledge brokers in the health arena today, developing it as a critical bridge between and among researchers, clinicians, decision-makers, media, women's community groups, and the public.
"Madeline Boscoe's incredible energy, great sensitivity and unparalleled commitment have helped shape the Canadian Women's Health Network," says Abby Lippman, Professor of Epidemiology at McGill University and Co-Chair of the CWHN.
"Perhaps more than any other woman in Canada, Madeline is identified with the women's health movement and, under her leadership, the CWHN has evolved into a pre-eminent national and international organization committed to feminist social change in the area of women's health," says Lippman. "Her tireless efforts to promote women's health have been valued and recognized by her peers, by provincial and federal governments, and on the international scene for well over a decade."
Comprising women and men from across the country, the Canadian Women's Health Network promotes the health and well-being of girls and women in Canada and the world by collecting, producing, distributing and sharing knowledge, ideas, education, information, resources, strategies and inspirations on the pressing women's health issues of today. Boscoe has worked hard to make the CWHN a major leader in supporting gender-based analyses of programs and policies that are fully respectful of diversity, and of the role of structural determinants of health, such as poverty, on health status.
The University of Ottawa annually awards Honorary Doctorates to those individuals who have made a substantial contribution to their profession or society at large. "An Honorary Doctorate acknowledges that the recipient deserves to be recognized for their unsurpassed abilities due to life's learning and experiences," says the Office of the President.
Other 2005 recipients of the University of Ottawa Honorary Doctorate included
author and journalist, Charlotte Gray and the Honourable Michèle Rivert, President
of the Human Rights Tribunal. Past recipients include Kofi Annan (2004), John
Ralston Saul (2004), Roy Romanow (2003) and the Honourable Monique Bégin (2003).
Read Madeline Boscoe's acceptance speech
For media interviews, contact:
Jennifer Howard, Women's Health Clinic
jhoward@womenshealthclinic.org
204-947-2422 ext. 102
Kathleen O'Grady,
Canadian Women's Health Network
news@cwhn.ca
204-942-5500 ext. 20
For more information on the Canadian Women's Health Network, visit: http://www.cwhn.ca
For more information on the Women's Health Clinic, Winnipeg, visit:
http://www.womenshealthclinic.org
For more information on University of Ottawa, Honorary Doctorates, including past recipients, visit: http://www.president.uottawa.ca/hon_docs-e.php
