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Congratulations to our staff who have won awards!
Summary:
Congratulations to the following SickKids staff members who have been recognized by the health-care and science communities for their outstanding achievements and groundbreaking work.
Congratulations to the following SickKids staff members who have been recognized by the health-care and science communities for their outstanding achievements and groundbreaking work.
Mary McAllister – Canadian Nursing Association’s 150 Nurses for Canada
Mary McAllister, Associate Chief, Nursing Practice, was recognized by the Canadian Nursing Association (CNA), which honoured her as one of 150 nurse innovators and champions in health care across Canada that inspire passion for nursing as mentors or advisors who support of professional development.
The CNA acknowledged McAllister for “her exquisite knowledge of nursing’s importance to optimum patient care and health-system functioning…” and said “she is one of the strongest voices for nurses in the country.”
Jennifer Crosbie – Inaugural Susan J. Bradley Health Clinician Scientist
Dr. Jennifer Crosbie, Psychologist, Associate Scientist, Neurosciences & Mental Health Research Program, was appointed as the Inaugural Susan J. Bradley Health Clinician Scientist.
Funded by the SickKids Psychiatric Association, Crosbie’s appointment will help support and promote research initiatives in child and youth mental health at SickKids and at the University of Toronto. It will help ensure that SickKids is improving child and youth mental health-care delivery, clinical outcomes, and quality of life for children, youth and their families.
James Ellis – Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative 2017 Pilot and Research Award
Dr. James Ellis, Senior Scientist, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Research Program, has received a 2017 Research Award from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). The SFARI Pilot and Research Awards support investigator-driven research projects that aim to improve our understanding of autism spectrum disorders and to gain insight that will ultimately lead to novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
Ellis’ work specifically focuses on SHANK2 – a protein that is located underneath synapses in excitatory neurons – a high-confidence risk gene for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). SHANK proteins interact with other proteins that are implicated in neurotransmission and translation of proteins.
To determine the effect of SHANK2 mutation in human neurons, Ellis and colleagues recently isolated SHANK2 induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from individuals with ASD and their unaffected parents, and also used gene-editing technology to mutate SHANK2. By producing human neurons from the iPSC, they gathered preliminary evidence that SHANK2 neurons are more complex and more connected than controls.
New Canada Research Chairs
Congratulations to the following SickKids scientists who were recently named new Canada Research Chairs by the federal government this fall. They include:
- Dr. Anna Goldenberg, Scientist, Genetics & Genome Biology Research Program; Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Medicine;
- Dr. Jean-Philippe Julien, Scientist, Molecular Medicine; Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Structural Immunology; and
- Dr. Rulan Parekh, Senior Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences Research Program; Physician, Nephrology; Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology.
Janet Rossant – L’Oreal-UNESCO Outstanding Women in Science
Dr. Janet Rossant, Senior Scientist, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Research Program, and one of Canada’s leading stem cell researchers, will be honoured by UNESCO and the L'Oréal Foundation as one of five outstanding female scientists from around the world.
The 2018 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards in life sciences will be presented on March 22 in Paris. Rossant is being recognized for her contribution to the understanding of how tissues and organs are formed in the developing embryo – research that will help to combat birth defects and other serious medical conditions.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grants recipients
Congratulations to the following SickKids scientists who recently received grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
- Dr. Jean-Philippe Julien, Scientist, Molecular Medicine, was awarded up to $2 million for the development of structure-guided design of circumsporozoite protein-targeted malaria interventions.
- Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Co-Director, Director of Research, Centre for Global Child Health at SickKids, was awarded $1 million to improve service delivery and programming for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition in humanitarian crisis settings.
- Dr. Daniel Roth, Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, and Physician, Paediatric Medicine, was awarded $800,000 to develop new maternal and fetal biomarkers of preterm birth and fetal/infant growth impairment, and to specifically assess the potential role of selenium in preterm birth. Roth was also awarded $99,000 to focus on trial rationale protocol development and trial implementation planning for synbiotics in the prevention of neonatal sepsis in Bangladesh.
- Dr. Robert Bandsma, Scientist-Track Investigator, Translational Medicine Research Program, and Staff Gastroenterologist, was awarded $338,000 to evaluate the effects of nicotinamide supplementation on hepatic metabolic, intestinal and immune – neutrophil in particular – function in in-vivo and in-vitro models of severe malnutrition.
Bairbre Connolly receives Gold Medal Award from Society for Pediatric Interventional Radiology
Congratulations to Dr. Bairbre Connolly, Paediatric Interventional Radiologist, on receiving the Society for Pediatric Interventional Radiology (SPIR) Gold Medal award for clinical and academic leadership in the field of interventional radiology. The award was presented at the 5th International Meeting in Denver on Oct. 28.
SickKids Foundation’s Lori Davison named Canada’s Marketer of the Year
Lori Davison, Vice-President, Brand Strategy & Communications at SickKids Foundation, has been named Canada's 2017 Marketer of the Year by the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA).
Davison was awarded for her relentless commitment to propel a compelling Canadian brand onto the global stage – and craft a strategic brand reinvention to represent the very best of Canadian marketing. She was presented the award at the CMA Awards Gala, 50th Anniversary edition, on Nov. 24 in Toronto.
Zulfiqar Bhutta awarded BMJ’s Outstanding Contribution to Health in South Asia Award, Senate 150th Anniversary Medal
In addition, Bhutta was honoured with a Senate 150th Anniversary Medal for contributions to society and Canada. Congratulations!
Maureen Lovett receives 2017 Samuel Torrey Orton Award
