Interprofessional Skills Based Behavioural Health for Health Professionals

Prof. Tanya Packer holds the dual positions of Professor, School of Occupational Therapy and Director, School of Health Administration (SHA). She is a highly accomplished senior scholar, academic leader, and a tenured full professor. In addition to her leadership at the School of Health Administration, she is the Assistant Dean (Partnerships) within the Faculty of Health.

Prof. Packer brings to her role a background as a health practitioner, and extensive international scholarship and research networks. She completed her undergraduate professional qualification as an occupational therapist at Western University, London Ontario, followed by a master's and Ph.D. in the Department of Anatomy at Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario.

Her academic career spans three continents (North America, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand) and four prestigious universities (Queen’s University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Curtin University, and Dalhousie University). She co-leads the International Chronic and Complex Condition Research Group (IC3RG), a successful research group. In addition to her leadership positions, Prof. Packer has an active research program focused on “chronic and complex conditions”.

Recognised as a world leader in self-management science, she has published over 125 peer-reviewed manuscripts and currently holds more than CAN $3.5M in research funding as either principal or co-investigator. A visiting professor at Radboud medical university in the Netherlands and an Honorary Professor at Umea University in Sweden, she has supervised over 40 research trainees and is currently supervising trainees from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Iran, the Netherlands, and Taiwan.

Working with partners and research trainees, her currently funded projects are focused on the design and testing of self-management interventions including fatigue management, development of a patient-reported outcome measure, low vision rehabilitation, and health services research. Her work is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and often conducted in conjunction with community agencies.