Over her four-decade career, Dr. Barbara McGillivray has brought leadership, dedication, and vision to the clinical trials industry in British Columbia. Her work has led to regulatory-compliant clinical trials, increased understanding of research ethics as they relate to trial regulation, and a stronger, qualified trial and ethics workforce.
Now, she is honoured with Clinical Trials British Columbia’s Leadership & Advocacy Award. The award recognizes outstanding leaders and advocates for clinical trials in the province. Recipients are leaders who educate, mentor, advocate, and spearhead projects, programs, and strategies that benefit the clinical trials community.
“Barbara’s advocacy and mentorship in Canada’s research ethics space have been transformational,” says Alison Orth, Executive Director, Clinical Trials British Columbia. “She brings a vision for how we can improve, and dedication to get us there. She is incredibly deserving of this award.”
Barbara is the Deputy Chair, Indigenous Research Ethics, Health Canada Research Ethics Board. She is also a former physician and medical genetics professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she developed courses for undergraduates, researchers, and physicians in training. She developed more than 150 lectures, teaching thousands of Canadian researchers and medical professionals about effective research ethics and clinical trials.
Throughout her career, Barbara has been committed to leadership in health research ethics. She demonstrated what research ethics governance should be, and supported it with policy development. She was on the UBC Ethics screening committee, Grace and Women’s Hospital Research Ethics Board, and was the UBC Ethics Committee Board Chair from 1992 to 2002. Afterwards, she joined the national Standing Committee on Ethics for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and held positions with ethics committees for the Vancouver Foundation and the Medical Research Council for Canada.
“Give Research Ethics Board membership a go,” Barbara says. “You actually owe it, I think, to research participants. Consider joining a committee and bringing your expertise to it.”
She is a motivated collaborator whose efforts are benefiting BC in lasting and impactful ways. She earned the nickname Canada’s “Mother of Research Ethics” for health research ethics resources she helped develop that are renowned across the country and internationally.
She became President of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research (NCEHR), where she led development of Canada’s first policy on research ethics guidelines. It was a Canadian viewpoint on researchers’ ethical responsibilities, supporting a European declaration on ethical principles for medical research involving human participants. It was later developed into Canada’s Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, which is the basis for a certification course widely considered mandatory and essential training to work in clinical research across Canada.
Barbara was appointed Chair of the Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada Research Ethics Board, a position she served from 2015 to 2022. She emphasized informed consent, and strengthened clinical trial regulations and guidelines. During her tenure, Health Canada findings related to informed consent issues dropped to less than one percent, and remain at that level today.
Lately, she’s been continuing her advocacy for Indigenous-led health research, clinical trials, and ethical reviews in her role as Health Canada Deputy Chair and Researcher External. She assumed the position in 2025, where she brings her specialized experience supporting Indigenous-led research ethics to mentor Indigenous members of research ethics boards.
“It recognizes the importance of being able to talk about the research from the community’s point of view,” Barbara says. “It’s about embracing what the community might want answered from research, and moving toward communities being responsible for their own research.”
