American epidemiologist Sheryl Magzamen has moved from Colorado State University to Université de Montréal, where a research chair worth C$8 million will support her work on environmental threats to health.
Speaking to AFP for a report published Sept. 9, Magzamen cited repeated grant withdrawals and declining academic freedom in the United States. Montreal, she said, offered “an incredible amount of resources” for long-term research.
Her departure adds a named case to the pattern of American academics leaving the US over research funding cuts. It also illustrates what those departures involve beyond a change of employer: moving children into new schools, learning another language and finding a place to continue work built over decades.
Canada’s recruitment money is reaching researchers
Magzamen holds an Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair, part of a federal initiative to attract established researchers working outside Canada. The C$8 million supports her research program; it is not a personal relocation payment.
On Aug. 27, the Canadian government announced C$504 million over eight years for 64 research chairs. Another C$37 million-plus will support institutions recruiting 63 early-career researchers over the following year.
The awards sit within Canada’s broader C$1.7 billion Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative, launched in December 2025.
Of the 64 senior researchers recruited in the first round, 48 were moving from the United States, Nature reported Sept. 1. That is three-quarters of the cohort, although it measures where researchers worked, not their citizenship. The government says the overall intake includes dozens of Canadians returning home.
Magzamen, whom Université de Montréal identifies as American, is among those who have already relocated.
The research moves with her
At Colorado State, Magzamen studied how environmental exposures affect health. Her work covers wildfire smoke, air pollution, chronic respiratory disease and the risks facing children. She has collaborated on projects supported by NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health, according to the university’s announcement of her appointment.
Her research also examines how to make schools healthier, with communities and public-health officials helping identify problems and develop responses. The new chair brings together human, animal and environmental health rather than treating them as separate subjects.
The school question followed her family out of Colorado. Before they left, her two children had already experienced early dismissals because of heat, she told the university’s news service. In Montreal, she plans projects in the city’s east end and in Rouyn-Noranda, while continuing collaborations in the United States, including with NASA.
Another move to Montreal is coming
Magzamen isn't the only researcher leaving a US institution over conditions for science.
Phillip Zamore, a molecular biology professor at the University of Massachusetts, plans to join McGill University in Montreal in April. He described a hostile research climate and increasing difficulty recruiting postdoctoral researchers.
"I decided I had to move somewhere else," he said.
Magzamen's family has already made the transition. By Aug. 26, she was unpacking, preparing her children for school and taking French lessons. She plans to keep working with US collaborators, including NASA, from her new base in Montreal.
