Earl Nowgesic, RN, BScN, M.H.Sc., PhD is Anishinaabe and a member of Gull Bay First Nation / Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (KZA). He is the son of the late Frederick Nowgesic of KZA and the late Deana Nowgesic (née MacLaurin) of Fort William First Nation who attended St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s Indian Residential Schools, respectively, in Ontario.
Dr. Earl Nowgesic has experience in First Nation and non-First Nation arenas, being employed as the Associate Director of Research and Data Management at the Chiefs of Ontario, the Director of the First Nations Centre at the National Aboriginal Health Organization, and the first Epidemiologist for the Assembly of First Nations. Dr. Nowgesic was both the inaugural Associate Scientific Director and Assistant Director of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He has been Interim Director and Interim Associate Director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto (U of T). Within two Health Canada branches—the Health Protection Branch and the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch—Dr. Nowgesic held positions as a Canadian Field Epidemiologist and the National HIV/AIDS Program Specialist, respectively. His experience includes being a U of T Assistant Professor (status only) in DLSPH with a cross-appointment to the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Dr. Nowgesic is a Registered Nurse in Ontario.
Dr. Nowgesic has volunteer experience participating on numerous councils, boards and committees including: the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada (now the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association) Board of Directors; the Canadian Academy of Nursing Advisory Committee of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA); the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network Community Advisory Committee; the CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee; the CIHR Institute Advisory Board on Health Promotion and Prevention; the CNA Aboriginal Health Nursing and Health Advisory Group; the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics Guiding Consortium for the Development of the Tri-Council Policy Statement Guidelines for Research Involving Aboriginal People (now Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada); the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) National Aboriginal Council on HIV/AIDS; the PHAC-supported National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health Advisory Committee; the Public Health Ontario Board of Directors; the U of T Truth and Reconciliation Commission Steering Committee’s Indigenous Research Ethics and Community Relationships Working Group as the Working Group’s Co-Chair; and the University of Ottawa Indigenous Alumni Council. Dr. Nowgesic is a past President of the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health and past Vice-President of the International Union for Circumpolar Health.
Dr. Nowgesic holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health Science (specializing in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences) and a Master of Health Science in Community Health and Epidemiology from U of T and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Ottawa.