He published 260 peer-reviewed journal articles, 84 review articles, and edited 7 books. He served on numerous editorial boards culminating in his appointment as Editor-in-Chief of Biochimica Biophysica Acta, 2007-11. He supervised 26 PhD students, 38 postdoctoral fellows and 22 visiting scientists.

Dr. Vance's research contributions have been recognized and honoured by many awards:
1973 Established Investigator of the American Heart Association
1986 Heritage Medical Scientist of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
1989 Boehringer-Mannheim Prize of the Canadian Biochemical Society
1995 Heinrich Wieland Prize, Germany (only Canadian to win this Prize)
1996 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
2003 Canada Research Chair (Tier 1)
2006 Avanti Award in Lipids, USA
2008 L.L.M. van Deenen Lecture, The Netherlands, International Conf. on Bioscience of Lipids
2009 J. Gordon Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research