Deborah Gordon-El-Bihbety

Board Member

Q: Why do you volunteer on the Board of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute?

A: My heroes are health researchers, especially those at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Their mission is to alleviate the suffering of so many faced with diseases and conditions that can be overcome by science. They are leaders, innovators and the best of all of us because they give their lives to save ours. I am dedicated to working for them to ensure that they have what they need to undertake the ground-breaking research that is reinventing healthcare.

Ms. Deborah Gordon-El-Bihbety brings considerable executive level experience in public policy, health advocacy, government relations, association management, project management and media relations to the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Board as the past President & CEO of Research Canada: An Alliance for Health Discovery (2003-2023). In her former position, she developed the vision and led organizational change, transforming the Council for Health Research in Canada (CHRC) into Research Canada: An Alliance for Health Discovery (2005). She led Research Canada through 20 successful years of a collaborative advocacy mandate, cultivating public and private partnerships that strengthened the health research and health innovation advocacy endeavour in Canada.

Before joining Research Canada (then the Council for Health Research in Canada) in 2003, Ms. Gordon-El-Bihbety was the Associate Chief Executive Officer at the Canadian Public Health Association where she was responsible for the Association’s national programs and national businesses, several of which she created—notably the Plain Language Service.

Ms. Gordon-El-Bihbety has chaired numerous national health committees and conferences, including the Leaders’ Forum Steering Committee, which resulted in the successful Leaders Forum for Health Research in Canada. She has a background in health research, having published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and a number of other journals. Ms. Gordon-El-Bihbety is the co-author of the Report of the Expert Panel, entitled Vision for a Health Literate Canada, published in January 2008.

Ms. Gordon-El-Bihbety is a past Board Director of the Bruyère Research Institute and the Stem Cell Network and has worked closely with many national health associations on a wide variety of health research, health innovation and health policy issues. She received the Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Public Health Association in 2008 in recognition of her leadership in the area of public health and health literacy over the past 15 years.