Faculty and Staff

Executive Leadership Team

Dr. Anderson is a cardiologist and was a professor in the Department of Medicine, department head of Cardiac Sciences and director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta from 2010 to 2019. An internationally-recognized clinician-scientist in the study of blood vessel function, Todd is the Merck Chair in Cardiovascular Research and has a tremendous amount of published research, including three publications that have been cited more than 1000 times.

He has held leadership positions for scientific peer review at the Heart and Stroke Foundation was chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress and was co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society dyslipidemia guidelines panel, responsible for updating the national guide for treating a blood condition that leads to heart disease.

Dr. Adams has served numerous senior leadership positions with the CSM, including senior associate dean, Education, since 2018. During her tenure, the CSM opened its Student Advocacy and Wellness Hub to all learners in the faculty for counselling on academics, career planning and mental health. The transdisciplinary Precision Health Program also launched, advancing professional development of current and future health care practitioners across Canada and internationally. The CSM entered an innovative partnership to help shape medical education in the United Arab Emirates and celebrated four Rhodes Scholars from within the faculty.

Prior to that, she served as associate dean, Office of Professionalism, Equity and Diversity for more than a year, introducing Equity Guidelines at the CSM and the Network of Women in Medicine. She also led the collaboration of academic and clinical female faculty supports for women in all stages of their career, including the CSM’s first-ever summit on advancing professional success for women in medicine.

She is a professor and was the Head of the Department of Psychiatry from 2013 until 2018, after holding the position on an acting basis for more than a year.

Dr. Adams continues to practice psychiatry and co-leads research on the use of magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) to treat resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

She completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of Alberta with a special interest in OCD and brain imaging. She has served as section chief in the Department of Psychiatry for In-patients, Consultation Liaison and Emergency in the Calgary Zone; director of the Psychiatry Residency Training Program from 2002 to 2010; and has been involved in clinical trials for schizophrenia since starting at the Foothills Medical Centre in 1993.

Dr. Leigh joined the Faculty of Medicine at UCalgary (now CSM) in 2004.  

Dr. Leigh’s areas of research interest include understanding the basic mechanisms underlying airway remodeling in asthma, the assessment of airway inflammation and early phase clinical trials in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His research studying the role of rhinovirus infections in the pathogenesis of airway remodeling in asthma is funded through a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is also a principal investigator in the AllerGen Clinical Investigator Collaborative, a national group of leading researchers conducting clinical trials to evaluate new treatments for allergic asthma.

Dr. Leigh’s clinical practice focuses on severe asthma and other airway diseases. He is a professor in the departments of Medicine and Physiology and Pharmacology. He is also a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. He served as the division chief, Respiratory Medicine, prior to being appointed to head the Department of Medicine in 2016.

Dr. Welikovitch is originally from Montreal where she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work degree from McGill University. She completed undergraduate medical studies at McMaster University, followed by postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto. This was followed by subspecialty training in Adult Cardiology at Queen’s University and an additional two years of Fellowship training in echocardiography at The Toronto Hospital. In 1992 Dr. Welikovitch assumed her first faculty appointment at Queen’s University, as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology.

Welikovitch was recruited to the University of Calgary in 1998 and served as program director for the Cardiology residency training program for 10 years. After stepping down from this position she was appointed Education Director for the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Welikovitch assumed the role of PGME Accreditation Chair in 2015, a position she held until 2017 when she was appointed Associate Dean, PGME. She is the chair of the Royal College Examination Board for Adult Cardiology and a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialty Committee in Cardiology, as well as the RCPS Residency Accreditation Committee.

Dr. Tonelli is the Associate Vice-President (Research) in the Office of the Vice-President (Research), and Senior Associate Dean (Health Research) within the Cumming School of Medicine. He identifies potential advances that our institution can make in clinical research, drawing on expertise from across our faculties and plays a major role in advancing our research priority areas in health sciences. Within the Cumming School of Medicine, Dr. Tonelli is developing and leading faculty strategies to enhance clinical and population health research.  He will also engage in designing and supporting the necessary infrastructure for this type of research.

Dr. Zamponi is the former head of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. His research focuses on the mechanisms that control electrical activities of brain and heart cells, and how they are compromised in disorders such as epilepsy, pain and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. He has contributed to building capacity in the scientific community through trainee education and mentorship. He is a widely-published and internationally renowned neuroscientist, and his research programs have resulted in numerous impactful contributions to both basic and applied science.

Dr. Osei-Tutu is well established as a provincial and national leader in change transformation. The founder and president of the Black Physicians’ Association of Alberta, he elevates the voices of Black physicians, trainees and learners and is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta’s Anti-racism Anti-discrimination Action Committee. He informs the development of policies, educational programs and curricula that are inclusive and has established partnerships with regulatory and licensing bodies to advance health equity.

In this inaugural leadership position and portfolio, Dr. Osei-Tutu will carry the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) forward as a partner for health equity in the community. He will develop policies and actions that support equity culture and increased diversity of the CSM, including development of a social accountability plan with the Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office leadership team. He will champion anti-racism culture while implementing concrete steps to address change within the CSM and beyond.

Rose has nearly two decades experience in financial management including strategic leadership roles. She was most recently a director and senior finance officer within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta (U of A), overseeing the development of multi-year budgets, leading projects to achieve academic strategic plans and overseeing facilities and space planning. She also led the development of an Environmental Health and Safety program and created a central finance unit within the faculty.

Rose  has past experience in several roles with Alberta Health Services from 2001 to 2012 including as director of Business Advisory Services from 2009 to 2012. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce from the U of A.