Her research has offered fundamental insights about how general anesthetic drugs depress brain function, how these drug cause side-effects, and how these side effects can be mitigated. Her studies that first demonstrated the unique properties of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors in health and disease have led to patented new treatments. She founded or co-founded organizations that aim to improve patient care including ISMP-Canada (www.ismp-canada.org), the Perioperative Brain Health Centre (www.perioperativebrainhealth.com). Her contributions have been recognized by the Award for Excellence in Research from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (2018), the Gold Medal from the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (2017), the Peter Dresel Award in Pharmacology from Dalhousie University (2017), the first Canada Research Chair awarded to an anesthesiologist (2003), the first Frontiers in Anesthesia Research Award from the International Anesthesia Research Society (1995), and recognition awards from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2013, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.