Public health and Indigenous storytelling among impacts recognized.
Award-winning author, Dr. Warren Cariou, and Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality, Dr. Lisa Lix, are among the newest Follows elected by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). The RSC is the Canada’s highest honour for academics in the arts, social sciences and sciences.
UM celebrates two RSC Fellows and two new College members. The RSC recognizes scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.
“I congratulate our highly accomplished UM community members honoured by the Royal Society,” says Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “The diversity of research at the core of the UM strategic research plan is on full display among these honourees, whose highly impactful scholarship is shaping the future of Canadian society.”
Warren Cariou, Distinguished Professor of Indigenous Literature and Culture, Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media, Faculty of Arts.
With his body of work spanning poetry, photography, memoirs, fiction and film, Warren Cariou investigates fundamental questions of Indigenous belonging -- especially in connection to his own Red River Métis heritage.
As founding director of UM’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture, Cariou worked to establish an enduring hub for creativity and learning for students, faculty, Elders and Knowledge Keepers across the wider Manitoba community. With scholarship grounded in oral tradition, he has shaped Indigenous literary studies at UM and built editorial frameworks used nationally and internationally.
His work in film and photography document the impacts of oil extraction megaprojects on Indigenous communities and ways of life near his home community of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. By contrasting extractive colonial practices with Indigenous environmental philosophies and land-based traditions, Cariou inspires urgent needed environmental and social debate.
Cariou is recognized for his reciprocal and future-oriented research, expanding public understanding of Indigenous land relations through acclaimed creative works.
Lisa Lix, Distinguished Professor in statistical and data-science methods for population health, Department of College of Community and Global Health, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
Each province and territory in Canada runs its own independent system for health information, posing many challenges health officials hoping to chart the spread of a disease or determine if a drug is safe. To connect the dots, Lisa Lix leads cross-provincial studies in partnership with federal agencies to improve the way chronic diseases and population-based risks are tracked in Canada.
Her innovative use of machine-learning models has inspired changes internationally to address issues of bias and completeness to inform improvements to health-care performance, policy and monitoring of population health trends. Lix was also previously elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.
At home in Manitoba, her research program is building more equitable access to care and training the next generation of highly skilled experts. In 2025, Lix received the Bowman Rh Award, UM’s highest honour awarded to its own faculty, in recognition of visionary leadership and exceptional mentorship.
Jeremy Patzer, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Comparative Indigenous Rights, Department of Sociology and Criminology with adjunct appointment to the Department of Indigenous Studies, Faculty of Arts.
Patzer has published extensively on Indigenous rights in Canada and comparatively across the Global North, examining how communities pursue justice through courts, truth commissions, government arenas, the UN system, and grassroots protest. His work clarifies the opportunities and structural barriers shaping Indigenous self-determination and rights advocacy.
Nicole J. Wilson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arctic Environmental Change and Governance, Department of Environment and Geography, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources.
A former Vanier Scholar, Wilson’s work advances Indigenous priorities and societal needs by examining how self-determination, institutional change, and co-produced knowledge support just and sustainable water systems in a changing Arctic. Her research is transforming how communities and policymakers safeguard water as a cornerstone of resilience.
For nearly 150 years, UM has transformed lives through groundbreaking research and homegrown innovation. We push the boundaries of knowledge and do the hard work here in Manitoba to move our community and the world forward. With a spirit of determination and discovery, we are shaping a better future for our province and beyond.
How Niigaan Sinclair is helping shape the future of Indigenous education.
First-year students begin journeys in respiratory, physical and occupational therapy.
All are invited to join the walk, offering their prayers, songs and hopes for the water’s healing as they walk.
The Inaugural Exercises marked the start of the master of physician assistant studies program for the Class of 2028.
