Member Profile- Dr. Alice Aiken
A Hands-On Approach to Everything
Alice Aiken first pulled on a military uniform at the age of 18 in the Naval Reserve and went on to serve for 14 years. As a member of the first cohort to allow females to graduate as MaRS Officers, Alice was a trailblazer for demonstrating what women can do when getting their hands dirty in uniform and has remained a staunch advocate of females in the workplace to this day.
Having served during the first Gulf War Alice then retrained as a Physio and worked out of CFB Kingston for her last 4 years of service. During this period Alice was able to mix her varied skillsets to not only address the physical injuries that she saw but also to help those returning from deployment with undiagnosed mental conditions as well. “When you are so hands on with someone, they can often open up to you in ways that are very telling. The trust inherent in a physio treatment opened the doors to me to refer patients to other specialists in non-physical areas of health.” This innate desire to help others in unique ways continues in her role today.
Between being CFB Kingston’s Chief Physio and today, Alice found herself running the Queens University Physio clinic while getting a Masters and a PhD in Health Services and Health Policy. During that time and with the backing and encouragement of current and former bosses, Alice became a catalyst for and founder of Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR). This institute has since gone on to be the main hub for all meaningful research into Military and Veteran health issues, and not just in Canada. CIMVHR now enjoys key research relationships with close to 60 universities, including 13 internationally.
Having done her time running and growing CIMVHR, in 2016 Alice took up the role as Dean of the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. That role put her in the ideal place to pivot and become the VP of Research and Innovation for the entire university. This is the role that Alice describes as her ideal job. It allows her to help the dreams of others come true while working on the bleeding edge innovation across sectors. “We often deal with the typical startup founders - twenty-something year olds with a tech idea - but being in Halifax we also work with a lot of older first-time founders, typically sailors who have spotted a particular need after years of battling the seas in all conditions. I find my work very interesting and varied and I like being hands-on in the development of key research and innovation.”
Dalhousie University is committed to developing Canada’s eco-system for innovation and has courses for founders, mentors, investors and directors. If you are part of a start-up at any stage of the lifecycle then www.Dalinnovates.ca is likely to have resources that you can lean on.
When asked why she spends so much of her time helping others Alice reflected that “I’ve had some very good and generous mentors in my life. Whenever I can pay that forward, I do. I still see a particular need to support and advocate for women in the workplace. It’s much different and better than it was when I started but there is a long way to go before women are equally heard.”
Where does Alice fit within our network? As well as being a founding member of our Halifax chapter, she is happy to be used as a guide for anyone considering getting into the field of University Lecturing or Research and also as a mentor for women looking to make that next step in their career in any sector. If your business is looking to innovate you could do a lot worse than looking up Alice and connecting directly. She is a font of knowledge and has connections that you may otherwise take years to find.