{"id":330328,"date":"2026-08-26T17:42:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/330328\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:42:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:42:50","slug":"queens-researcher-receives-national-honour-for-work-supporting-defence-and-public-safety-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/330328\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen\u2019s researcher receives national honour for work supporting defence and public safety families"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Heidi Cramm, Associate Dean, Research Programs and researcher in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy in Queen\u2019s Health Sciences, has been elected a <a href=\"https:\/\/cahs-acss.ca\/fellows\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences<\/a> (CAHS). The honour recognizes her research on the mental health and wellbeing of veteran, military, first responder, and public safety families.<\/p>\n<p>Election to the CAHS is one of the country\u2019s highest distinctions in health sciences, recognizing peer-nominated leaders for outstanding contributions to the health of Canadians through research, health care, and leadership. Fellows join a national community of scholars that advise governments and the public on pressing health issues and help shape national research and policy priorities.<\/p>\n<p>An international expert in her field, <a href=\"https:\/\/rehab.queensu.ca\/heidi-cramm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Cramm<\/a> has helped shift how military and public safety organizations support the people connected to those who serve. Her research has built recognition of family health as central to the health of the workforce, while affirming that families\u2019 needs and experiences matter in their own right.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Cramm serves as research lead for <a href=\"https:\/\/garnetfamilies.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Garnet Families<\/a>, a national research and engagement hub based at Queen&#8217;s that supports defence and public safety families and those who study, serve, and support them. Named for the garnet gemstone that symbolizes love, loyalty, and safe return to family, the hub combines research and community development expertise with lived experience to bring attention to these families\u2019 distinct needs.<\/p>\n<p>At its core is the <a href=\"https:\/\/garnetfamilies.com\/fmrg\/partnership\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Garnet Families Partnership<\/a>, an interdisciplinary, international collaboration spanning 20 occupational sectors. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the partnership connects families, researchers, policymakers, and program leaders across jurisdictions to advance the health and well-being of the families the hub serves. It works to ensure families are recognized alongside the personnel they support, while building the relationships and infrastructure needed to move research into policy and practice.<\/p>\n<p>As an occupational therapist, Cramm sees the partnership as an example of her profession\u2019s wider role.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most common way that people interact with occupational therapists is through disability or injury. They may be less aware of the profession\u2019s direct work with communities to improve systems,&#8221; says Dr. Cramm. &#8220;Being named a CAHS fellow is particularly meaningful because it recognizes work that centres families who serve alongside defence and public safety personnel and highlights the role occupational therapists have as agents of change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Cramm has received several national honours for her research, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/vanierinstitute.ca\/the-colonel-russell-mann-family-research-award\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colonel Russell Mann Military Family Health Research Award<\/a>, Canada&#8217;s top honour in military family research, which she has received multiple times, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/caot.ca\/site\/about\/awards\/leadershipnomination?language=en_CA\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Leadership Award<\/a>. She was also the first researcher in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy to be awarded the Faculty of Heath Sciences\u2019 Mihran &amp; Mary Basmajian Award for Excellence in Health Research and was recently recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International.<\/p>\n<p>With her election, Dr. Cramm joins other Queen\u2019s researchers named CAHS fellows for their contributions to shaping the future of Canadian health sciences. The honour also reflects the university\u2019s commitment to research that directly informs policy and practice, a priority identified in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.queensu.ca\/research\/excellence\/themes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Queen\u2019s Strategic Research Plan<\/a>. Learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/cahs-acss.ca\/2026-59-new-fellows\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CAHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heidi Cramm, Associate Dean, Research Programs and researcher in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy in Queen\u2019s Health Sciences,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-330328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}