Erin Brennand

Biography

Dr. Erin Brennand, MD, is a practicing urogynecologist in Calgary, a clinician-scientist and an associate professor within the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) who completed her post-graduate medical training and obtained a Master of Science in Community Health Sciences at UCalgary in 2020. She has been recognized on local, national, and international scales for her knowledge, expertise, and outstanding academic achievements.  

Brennand’s relentless advocacy for women’s health has led her to being appointed as academic and clinical department head, obstetrics and gynecology for the CSM and Calgary zone of Alberta Health Services. She is the first woman to hold this role in Calgary’s history. She has demonstrated commitment to mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, clinical trainees, and peer faculty members. She attained $4.5M in research funding for women’s health, including numerous tri-council grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Brennand’s work has been highlighted in leading journals in the discipline of obstetrics and gynecology, and this work has informed health-care practices and policies on a national level.   

Brennand is also the director and founder of the Sex, Gender, and Women’s Health Research Unit with the O’Brien Institute for Public Health. Through her work in leadership roles within and outside Calgary, she has successfully gained the attention of the leaders in the Cumming School of Medicine and Alberta Health Services to draw awareness to issues which disproportionately affect women in the hopes of creating positive and meaningful change.  

Brennand also co-leads the CIHR-funded national training program known as GROWW (Guiding interdisciplinary Research On Women’s and girls’ health and Well-being). This program aims to develop new ways in which research on women’s health is carried out in Canada by breaking down disciplinary and institutional constraints and taking an intersectoral approach. She believes in the value of training programs in the hope that future generations can continue to work towards improvement in the health of  women and female-identifying people, so that it does not end with her.