She was appointed as the 2017 Chancellor’s Research Chair. Dr. Gavrus is a vibrant and expressive researcher who will be working on a biography of Dr. Wilder Penfield, a renowned Canadian neurosurgeon and Renaissance man, during her three-year term as Chair. Dr. Gavrus’ areas of research include the history of science, medicine, technology, as well as American and Canadian cultural and social history. Her work explores the ways in which theories about the human brain and mind have been fashioned in conjunction with the various scientific, clinical, social, and cultural realities of the 19th and 20th centuries.