Dr. Morrison is a Professor and Clinician Scientist in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael’s Hospital. She held the Robert and Dorothy Pitts Chair of Acute Care and Emergency Medicine from 2008 until 2020. Her program of research is focused on the evaluation and implementation of time sensitive interventions in acute emergencies. She conducts clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses in topics pertaining to Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. She established a collaborative prehospital research network to conduct randomized controlled trials and outcome validation studies in resuscitation research (cardiac arrest and trauma) on behalf of the Rescu Investigators. (Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, Canadian CanROC) She co leads the Canadian COVID-19 Emergency Department Rapid Response Network developing clinical decision rules to guide the emergency management of suspected COVID 19. She has held research grants from the US National Institute of Health, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Laerdal Foundation, Ontario Government, Brain Canada and the American Heart Association. She has published over 280 papers, held over $17M as a principal investigator and has an h index of 59 (web of science). She contributed to the development of the 2005 and 2010 and 2015 AHA Guidelines. She is currently providing scientific oversight of the Continuous Evidence Evaluation strategy for International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Dr Morrison is the founding director of the Collaborative Specialization in Resuscitation Sciences program of graduate training at the University of Toronto. There are 84 students enrolled since inception in 2012 and of these 48 have graduated. There are over 50 faculty involved from 14 different departments or institutes. Students have accrued over 1.5M in salary support. She is the founding director of the biannual Resuscitation in Motion international meeting which brings senior and emerging scientists together in a format conducive to learning, sharing and building capacity in science. She is founding member and current chair of the Network of Canadian Emergency Medicine Researchers. This network provides peer review and mentorship of emerging researchers and support for multicenter trials.
Dr Morrison has received the Canadian Medical Association award for excellence in mentorship; the May Cohen award and a similar award from the U of T with the Department of Medicine; Bob Hyland award. She was awarded the William Goldie award from the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto for outstanding contribution as a leader and scholar in Emergency Medicine. And, she and her committee were awarded the U of Toronto Helen P. Batty Award in 2014 for Excellence and Achievement in Faculty Development for Sustained Contribution to the field. She received the distinction of Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2016 and was granted honorary membership by the European Resuscitation Council for life time achievement in 2017. She was awarded the 2017 Dickinson W. Richards Memorial Lecture by the American Heart Association.