Dean of Medicine
Deans Biography

Thomas J. Marrie, M.D.  Biography

Thomas J. Marrie, M.D., a leading Canadian medical researcher, professor and clinician, became the twelfth Dean of Medicine at Dalhousie University on September 1, 2009.

Originally from Newfoundland, Dr. Marrie graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1970, after which he practiced as a family physician in his home province for three years. He returned to Dalhousie in 1973 to do a residency in general medicine, then went on to complete another residency in infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. In 1977, he joined the faculty at Dalhousie where, over 22 years, he built a distinguished career as a teacher, researcher and clinician. While a professor in the departments of Medicine and Microbiology at Dalhousie, Dr. Marrie established the Division of Infectious Diseases.

In 1999, Dr. Marrie was recruited to the University of Alberta to head the Department of Medicine. In 2004, he was appointed dean of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Under his leadership, the Faculty engaged in a major capital expansion with the construction of two health research buildings. He also developed an alternative funding plan that offered a new method to support faculty, enabling greater academic activity and more innovative patient care.

Well known across the country as a leading infectious diseases specialist, Dr. Marrie has maintained an active research program focusing on community-acquired pneumonia. Through his research, numerous publications and frequent lectures, he has contributed significantly to knowledge about this kind of pneumonia, particularly in the areas of outcomes and health services.

Dr. Marrie’s leadership on numerous national committees and boards includes terms as associate editor of “Physical Signs” for the American Journal of Medicine, president of the Canadian Association of Professors of Medicine, and president of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society. 

His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Excellence in Leadership Award (University of Alberta), a Master Clinician Lecturer Award (Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University), a Lifetime Achievement Award (Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of Canada), and an honourary doctorate (University of Mediterranean, Marseille, France). The University of Alberta has named a lectureship in global health and infectious diseases and two awards, one in dental hygiene and the other in dentistry in Dr. Marrie’s honour.

At Dalhousie University he has set an aggressive agenda that includes renewing the undergraduate medical curriculum, expanding research and its supporting infrastructure, and opening the university’s first distributed MD program in New Brunswick.