Associate Vice-President (Research) and Dean of Graduate Studies; Professor

BSc (Mount Allison); MSc, PhD (Dalhousie)

Dr. Sweeney-Nixon joined UPEI in 1997 and is currently a Professor of Biology. She served as Department Chair of Biology from 2012 to 2019. As Chair, she led the Department's strategic plan, development of new programs (Biotechnology, Paramedicine) and a seven-year MPHEC Quality Assurance review of academic programs in Biology. In 2011, she received the UPEI Hessian Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching. From 2005 to 2008, she held the Jeanne and J.-Louis Lévesque Research Professorship in Nutrisciences and Health.

Her research interests include cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, antioxidants, and diabetes, including over 50 journal articles and book chapters in these fields, with over $1.8 million of research funding. Dr. Sweeney-Nixon has contributed to the supervision of eight MSc students and seven Research Assistants and has served on numerous other MSc and PhD supervisory committees.