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Lorelei Lingard elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
By Emily Leighton
Leading medical education scholar recognized for influential work on communication, teamwork and collective competence in health care
By Emily Leighton
Lorelei Lingard, PhD, a professor at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and an internationally recognized leader in health professions education, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
She is among nine Western scholars elected Fellows of the RSC in 2026, a record number for the university.
Election to the RSC is one of Canada’s highest academic honours, recognizing distinguished scholars, scientists, researchers and artists for significant contributions to Canadian society.
“I’m incredibly honoured by this national recognition of my collaborative work,” said Lingard. “Especially as someone who does interdisciplinary research that doesn’t fit easily into a single box, as it bridges education, medicine, humanities and social sciences.”
Lingard’s research has helped reshape how communication and teamwork are understood and taught in medical training. Her work has informed policy, curriculum and assessment across Canada, and her scholarship on research methods and scientific writing has influenced the field internationally.
Central to that work is the concept of collective competence – the understanding that high-quality health care depends not only on the abilities of individual practitioners, but also on how effectively they work together.
Lingard is currently exploring how collective competence can be assessed. “Now that we know how much it matters, we have to be able to assess and provide feedback on it,” she said.
“Everyone who has been a patient, or accompanied a patient on their health-care journey, knows firsthand that good care depends on many pieces fitting together without things falling between the cracks,” she added. “Educating for better team communication is all about that.”