Moira Smee, Michener’s academic services officer in the Registrar’s Office, has a keen interest in history and a resume dotted with some rather monumental moments in time.

“I know I’m really lucky,” Moira says. “I’ve been truly fortunate on the timing and nature of the roles I’ve filled.”

Though her journey is filled with some interesting twists and turns, it does feel like a natural progression to healthcare education.

Moira’s passion for history led her to study at the University of Ottawa. In her first year, she became one of the 40 young Canadians selected to the House of Commons Parliamentary Page program.

“I was one of only two pages from Manitoba,” she says. “That was a very unique and very interesting experience. I got to sit in on history being made and observe the political process as it happened.”

“I was there from 2015 to 2016, which was the election year when Justin Trudeau first became Prime Minister,” she says. “That made for an even more interesting experience.”

After the 10-month parliamentary page program ended and homesickness set in, Moira left Ottawa to attend the University of Winnipeg – a decision that would shape the rest of her career.

“At Winnipeg I took an undergrad course in medical history, and it ignited this specific interest in me for public health history in Canada,” Moira says.

As she dove deeper into the subject, she worked as a research assistant on a biography about Wilder Penfield – the famous neurosurgeon and subject of a Canadian Heritage Minute.

“Yes, the one about the burnt toast,” she says, with a smile.

Through the federal student work experience program, Moira also found a part-time opportunity at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg – home to Canada’s only Containment Level 4 lab.

“I had previously gained a hint of work in the public sector and still had my security clearance from the page program. Together that likely helped me make this transition to the public health agency,” she says.

Moira worked for a couple years in a student position at the lab, but says she quit a few months early to focus on finishing her undergraduate studies. Shortly after she left, the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Moira says she was suddenly presented with an opportunity to come back to the lab in a permanent capacity.

“The pandemic allowed them to hire me back full-time, and I certainly learned a lot more over that year I worked there,” she says. “My job became sort of like an administrative triage, which helped provide a fuller perspective on so many elements of our healthcare system.”

“To have had this experience of working in public health during a global pandemic, that helped me decide to pursue my Master’s degree and write my thesis on public health history.”

Moira earned her Master’s at the University of Guelph – she examined the polio epidemics in Manitoba and Ontario from 1927 to 1937 and the coverage of polio and interventions relating to polio in the popular press.

“I wanted to work in some capacity within the field of public health and epidemiology,” she says. “I’ve also always had a love of history and pop culture.”

Following her Master’s degree, Moira found work again as a research assistant for a paper on American pop culture in the 20th century. She would spend time researching in the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Moira decided to use her experience to stay in academia and found work in an admin and part-time instructor role at Conestoga College’s School of Business. However, when an opportunity arose at Michener to bring her back into public health, she jumped at it.

“I was always hoping to end up back in the realm of public health,” she says.

Moira says she is happy to be in a role that makes a positive impact on the health system. “With the ongoing human health resources crisis, it’s great to see Michener working to help fill some of the gaps,” she says.

“I feel like I’m back working at the ground level once again during another key moment in time.”