The CPA is honoured to announce Diana Hopkins-Rosseel as the recipient of the 2022 Enid Graham Memorial Lecture Award

The Enid Graham Memorial Lecture Award is the most prestigious award that the CPA bestows on a member. Established in 1980 to honour Enid Graham, the founder of the CPA (formerly known as the Canadian Association of Massage and Remedial Gymnastics), the award honours a member of the CPA who has provided outstanding leadership and made a distinguished contribution to the profession.

Diana is an internationally recognized physiotherapist who has contributed to the growth of the profession, specifically in the fields of cardiorespiratory physiotherapy and business. Through her career Diana has demonstrated an ability to lead, advocate and educate for the profession.  


2022 Enid Graham Memorial Lecture Award Recipient

Diana Hopkins-Rosseel

DEC (Sciences humaines), B.Sc.(PT), M.Sc.(RHBS), Clinical Specialist (CR) Professor Emerita, Queen’s University

Professor Emerita Diana Hopkins-Rosseel was born in Shawinigan, Québec and raised in Beaconsfield on the west island of Montréal. Although bilingual at an early age, her early education was in English. Therefore, after graduating high school, she chose to rekindle her French language skills by attending both Cégep de Saint-Laurent in Montréal and, subsequently, Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy in Québec City, receiving a diplôme d’études collégiales (DEC) in 1976. After attending Queen’s University in biochemistry, she was accepted into the B.Sc. in Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1982. It was in 1987 that Diana took on adjunct teaching in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, while simultaneously undertaking a Master of Science degree, graduating in 1991.

Diana’s early physiotherapy clinical practices began in Toronto, soon relocating to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center the same year. She returned to Canada in 1985 to work as the lead in the critical care units at Hotel Dieu Hospital. She shifted to a casual position in acute care at Kington General Hospital at the time of the amalgamation of the hospital sites while adding to these practices the design, development, opening and management of an interprofessional cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) centre in 1989. The centre was publicly funded in 2002 and she continued to enjoy working there as a casual physiotherapist until 2017.

As an academic, Diana became a tenured full Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University and a Research Associate at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada. Diana’s research portfolio includes patient simulation in interprofessional (IP) education, behavioural modification in chronic disease prevention and management, best practices in cardiorespiratory rehabilitation, and entry-to-practice business and practice management competencies and curricula, the latter leading to the publication ‘Business in Clinical Practice: How to Get There from Here’ In addition, Diana has numerous peer reviewed publications and is a contributor to both the Canadian Guidelines for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and the Standards for the Provision of Cardiac Rehabilitation in Ontario. Diana has given over a hundred podium presentations provincially, nationally and internationally, as well as being an internationally invited speaker. Over the span of her career, Diana has been honoured to be awarded the Silver Quill award in 2008 (for best Canadian Physiotherapy Journal paper), the designation of Clinical Specialist in Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy in Canada in 2012, the Distinguished University of Toronto Physical Therapy Alumnus in 2013, the 2014 Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Award in Knowledge Transfer and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s Life Membership Award in 2015.

Diana derives great joy from being an educator, both early in her career as a Clinical Instructor and, subsequently, teaching undergraduate and graduate rehabilitation courses in professional practices, basic therapeutic practices, basic and advanced cardiorespiratory physiotherapy and business in rehabilitation. She has been recognized for her teaching approaches and outcomes by receiving numerous Queen’s, provincial and national teaching awards along the way. Some of these include three Queen’s School of Rehabilitation Therapy Blue Star Teaching Awards (most recently in 2012), the Ontario Physiotherapy Association’s Special Award for Education (2008), the national University of Western Ontario’s Barbara Edwardson Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching (2000, 2006), the Queen’s University Faculty of Health Sciences Education Award for Teaching Excellence (1991, 1997, 2002), and a Certificate of Commendation for the Queen’s Alma Mater Society’s Frank Knox Award of Excellence in Teaching (2001).

Diana’s professional involvements began at the District level right at the beginning of her career and have included Quinte-St. Lawrence District President (2 terms), Ontario Physiotherapy Association Board of Directors Secretary (2.5 terms), Canadian Physiotherapy Association Cardiorespiratory Division Chair (3 terms), CPA’s Specialization lead, and culminated in being a member of the inaugural World Physiotherapy’s International Council of Cardiorespiratory Physical Therapists Board of Directors (2, 5-year terms).

Diana has been a youth group leader, collegiate and Masters rower, loves to pump iron, swim, cycle and jog, and sings in a community choir. Most importantly, she has shared the raising of two sons and the pure wonder of 2 grandchildren with her husband John.

Diana Hopkins-Rosseel will be honoured at the CPA’s Congress 2023 where she will also present a lecture during the Enid Graham Award Recipient Lecture on Friday, July 14th between 11 am and 12 pm.

The CPA Congress 2023 is happening July 13 – 15, there is still time to register. You can now see our full schedule here.

Find all the details related to our sessions and presentations here.

Register for Congress 2023 here.