Kirsty Duncan was an Associate Professor of Health Studies at the University of Toronto and the former Research Director for the AIC Institute of Corporate Citizenship at the Rotman School of Management. A renowned international speaker, she has lectured for such organizations as the National Geographic Society, the Government of Japan, and the Young Presidents' Organization.

She sat on the Advisory Board for Pandemic Flu for the Conference Board of Canada, and the University of Toronto, and has helped organizations throughout Canada and the United States prepare for a possible flu pandemic. She sat on the boards of the Indigenous Cooperative on the Environment, the Scottish Studies Foundation, the St. Andrew's Society of Toronto, and the Toronto Foundation for School Success. She co‑chaired the 2006 Fraser Mustard Awards Gala in support of student nutrition and in October 2007, she chaired "Feeding Toronto's Hungry Students Week."

Ms. Duncan is passionate about helping build resilient communities and taking action on climate change. She has helped provide food, shelter and education to Toronto's youth, and served on the Nobel Prize‑winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Ms. Duncan holds a doctorate in geography from the University of Edinburgh.