A professor at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, Greenwood is an internationally recognized expert in health research, specifically in Indigenous health and well-being, according to a news release from the premier’s office. He has also held several roles at research institutions and served as vice-president of Indigenous health for the Northern British Columbia Health Authority. She will fill a Senate vacancy for BC and sit as an Independent, the premier’s official said. Greenwood said she learned of the news of her appointment in a call from the prime minister “about a week ago”. “He asked me if I wanted to be a senator and I said ‘OK,’” she said from her home in Vernon, B.C. “It was pretty exciting.” Greenwood, who is Cree on her father’s side, grew up on Treaty 6 lands in central Alberta. She moved to BC in her late teens and has been working at the University of Northern British Columbia since 1997, where she is a professor in the education program. Margo Greenwood said the Senate appointment is “very exciting.” (Provided by the National Collaborating Center for Indigenous Health (NCCIH)) She is an academic leader for the National Collaborating Center for Indigenous Health and earlier this year was appointed interim scientific director for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the federal health research funding agency. In 2021, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for her work in early childhood education and Indigenous health policy and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee. Speaking Thursday, Greenwood said she will bring her perspective as a Cree woman and mother to the Senate and that she takes seriously the job of providing a “sober second thought” to Canadian laws. “I think this is an opportunity where I can really think about what we’re dealing with as a country, as a province, and hopefully I can share my own experiences and my own thinking,” he said. “It’s incredibly important to take into account the diversity of the country we live in.”