Congratulations to each of the following RI-MUHC researchers!

Jonathan Afilalo led the CoreSlicer team that won the First Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize at the 6th Annual McGill Clinical Innovation Competition. CoreSlicer is a cloud-based AI platform that automates the measurement of frailty and body composition from clinically available medical images (CT, MRI, ultrasound). Learn more

Susan Bartlett received several honours recently:

She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Behavioral Sciences and Health Services Assembly of the American Thoracic Society in 2023. The award is for outstanding scientific and scholarly contributions relevant to the behavioral sciences, clinical epidemiology, patient-centered outcomes research and measurement in lung diseases, critical illness, or sleep disorders.

She received the Carolyn Thomas Award for Best Scientific Abstract at the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Canadian Rheumatology Association/Arthritis Health Professions Association for her abstract titled “Riding Multiple Waves of Uncertainty: The Impact of COVID-19 on RA Patients in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort (CATCH).”

She was named president-elect of the NIH PROMIS Health Organization (PHO). The PHO is professional membership organization aimed at advancing the science of health outcomes by promoting widespread use and adoption of NIH PROMIS tools in research and clinical care.

She also received the Jeffrey Shiroky Award for contributions to the field of inflammatory arthritis at the Laurentian Conference of Rheumatology in 2023, and delivered the keynote address on “The Power of the Patient Voice in Helping Us Transform Rheumatology.”

John Bergeron was appointed to the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to scientific excellence in the field of proteomics. He has distinguished himself through his highly cited studies of the proteins in human and animal organs, uncovering their functions in health and disease. Learn more

Geneviève Bernard received the 2023 Pfizer Research Award of Excellence from the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation for initiatives that have made a unique and significant contribution to pediatric care. Learn more

Sasha Bernatsky gave the podium presentation at the 2023 Canadian Rheumatoid Association (CRA) Annual Scientific Meeting that took place in Quebec City in February. Her topic was “Immunogenecity of Covid-19 VaCcinEs in ImmunE-mediated Inflammatory Diseases (IMID): Preliminary Results from the First 1251 SUCCEED Patients.” Learn more on the CRA website.

Cecilia Costiniuk co-chaired the 32nd Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research (CAHR 2023) with Jérôme Estaquier, Université Laval, in April 2023 in Quebec City. The conference theme was “A Boomerang Effect: From HIV to SARS-CoV2 and Back again.” Learn more on the conference page.

Andrey Cybulsky received The Kidney Foundation of Canada's Medal for Research Excellence in May 2023. The Medal is awarded annually to a Canadian resident who is recognized nationally and/or internationally for career accomplishment in kidney research. An expert on the mechanisms of injury in glomerular diseases, and specifically how podocytes are injured, his body of research has been called an essential resource for the exploration of new methods to tackle kidney disease. Learn more

Gustavo Duque was named the next editor-in-chief of the biological sciences section of The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, effective January 2023. He was selected for this prestigious position by the Gerontological Society of America, the largest interdisciplinary organization in the U.S. devoted to the field of aging. Learn more

Sherif Emil received the 2023 Leadership Award of Excellence from the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. This award honours an influential volunteer in the community who has advocated for this hospital, and whose contribution to the Children’s has been marked by exceptional leadership and service. Learn more

Carolyn Freeman was appointed to the Order of Canada in recognition of her impactful career as a radiation oncologist at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and as a Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at McGill University. Dr. Freeman’s assiduous passion has changed the lives of cancer patients for the past 40 years, improving care for children with cancer as well as patients of all ages with sarcoma. Learn more

Lucy Gilbert was appointed as the Robert Kinch Chair in Women’s Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University. The Chair was established to promote research into the various and often underserved elements of women’s health, including reproduction, infertility, perinatal medicine, gynecological oncology and issues of women’s health in an aging population. Learn more

Gabriella Gobbi received the 2022 International College of Neuropsychopharmacology Sumitomo/Sunovion Brain Health Basic Research Award for her outstanding contributions in neuropsychopharmacology. Learn more

Phil Gold was recognized with a McGill University Medal for Exceptional Academic Achievement at the 2022 Fall Convocation ceremony. The renowned scientist, teacher and clinician retired last year after a decades-long career at McGill that began auspiciously with the discovery of the world’s first (and still most used) cancer biomarker, CEA. Learn more

Theresa Gyorkos was appointed in June 2022 to a World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on the Prevention and Management of Anaemia, to advise the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) on Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition for an initial term of three years (2022-2025). This working group of international experts will engage STAGE members on the development of a global action plan and on matters related to addressing the global public health problem of anaemia.

Loydie Jerome-Majewska received the Anne McLaren Award for Outstanding Women in Developmental Biology by the International Society for Differentiation (ISD) in recognition of her pioneering studies of genes responsible for human craniofacial syndromes and placental biology. She will give the Anne McLaren Lecture on disease models at the 82^nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology (DevBio) this summer in Chicago, Illinois. Learn more

Bertrand Lebouché received the 2023 Canadian Association for HIV Research─Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CAHR-CANFAR) Excellence in HIV Research Award, Clinical Sciences track. This award recognizes his track record of excellence and demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of those living with, or at risk for, HIV. Learn more

Leonard Levin is the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s (ARVO) 2023 recipient of the Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology. ARVO is the largest and most respected eye and vision research organization in the world, with nearly 11,000 members representing 75 countries. Dr. Levin will present the Weisenfeld Award Lecture at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting to be held in April 2023 in New Orleans. Learn more

Isabelle Malhamé received a Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award from the Gairdner Foundation and the Canada Gairdner Awards. Selected by Gairdner Award laureate Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta for her research on severe maternal morbidity across the pregnancy continuum, she is one of the promising young researchers who will join the laureates in Toronto for Gairdner Science Week. Learn more

Heidi McBride was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Elected by their peers, RSC Fellows and Members must meet the criteria of having made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities, the sciences, and Canadian public life at an early stage in their career. Learn more

Dick Menzies is director of a newly designated Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Collaborating Centre for Tuberculosis Research. Under WHO reference number CAN-101, the McGill International TB Centre achieved this status for a period of four years beginning November 17, 2022. Learn more on the McGill University website.

Géraldine Merle and Edward Harvey are members of the BacPen DIAGNOSTIC team that won the First-Place MI4 Innovation Prize and the Bereskin & Parr Innovation Prize at the 6th Annual McGill Clinical Innovation Competition. BacPen DIAGNOSTIC is a medical device start-up focused on a real-time point-of-care approach for diagnosing bacterial infections. Learn more

Martin Olivier’s research team, with collaborators at the Université de Montréal and McGill University, uncovered a mechanism for the transmission of drug resistance between Leishmania parasites. Named one of Québec Science magazine’s Top Ten discoveries of 2022, the discovery of this mechanism used in intercellular communication could lead to important advances in combating resistance to drugs that are used in treating not only this tropical infection, but also cancer and other infectious diseases. Learn more

Nitika Pant Pai received several honours recently:

She was nominated for membership in Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, for a term beginning December 2022.

She was also elected Treasurer of IUSTI-Canada, the newest branch of the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections, for a term beginning January 2023.

She was honoured by Wiley in February 2023 for a Top Cited Article of 2021-2022: “‘You're only there on the phone?’ A qualitative exploration of community, affect and agential capacity in HIV self-testing using a smartphone app.” Read the article on Wiley’s Online Library.

She also contributed to the creation of a Target product profile for readers of rapid diagnostic tests as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) Target Product Profile Development Group. The profile was published by WHO and FIND in February 2023.

Vassilios Papadopoulos received an Honorary Investigator appointment to the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in 2022. This appointment recognizes his distinguished contributions in multiple roles: as former Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the RI-MUHC, senior scientist in the Metabolic Disorders and Complications Program, holder of the Phil Gold Chair in Medicine at McGill University, and mentor of numerous researchers and trainees. His vital role in obtaining Canada Foundation for Innovation funding for new research facilities at the Glen site, overseeing the move and establishing a new program structure have left an enduring legacy at the RI-MUHC. Learn more

Anie Philip led the PL Signals team that won the 2023 Hakim Family Innovation Prize at the 6th Annual McGill Clinical Innovation Competition. The team developed a novel anti-fibrotic biologic that traps TGF-beta with high specificity and efficiently reduces lung fibrosis in preclinical models and in vitro in patients’ fibrotic cells. Learn more

Robert Platt was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association for his outstanding contributions to statistical science. He was also elected a fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology for his leadership in that domain.

Dan Poenaru is a member of the PeTIT VR team that won the Second Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize at the 6th Annual McGill Clinical Innovation Competition. PeTIT VR (Pediatric Trauma Innovative Training) is a virtual reality course designed to enhance the skills of healthcare students and providers in pediatric trauma care. Learn more

Pramod Puligandla was named the 2022 Royal College Program Director of the Year. Learn more

Simon Rousseau was named director of the Canadian Respiratory Research Network as of January 2023. He will lead a network of outstanding investigators and trainees in the creation of projects on the national level. Learn more

Ruth Sapir-Pichhadze’s research team created a movie sharing transplant patients' stories that was among six short-listed to compete for the 2023 International Society of Nephrology (ISN) Community Best Film and World Kidney Day (WKD) Best film. Learn more on the ISN website.

Giada Sebastiani will represent Canada in the International Delphi Consensus on Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. In August 2022 she joined a panel of 55 experts from more than 30 countries to determine the relationship between fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease and provide recommendations for clinical practice in hepatology, cardiology, and endocrinology. Learn more

Ben Smith and his team won the RI-MUHC Trottier Webster Innovation Award from the McGill University Health Centre Foundation for a groundbreaking study that will give hope to patients living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to breathe normally again. Using a new class of treatments called RNA therapeutics, the team hopes to repair damaged lung tissue and move one step closer to a cure for this deadly disease. Learn more

Nathan Spreng was elected a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). Elected by their peers, RSC Fellows and Members must meet the criteria of having made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities, the sciences, and Canadian public life at an early stage in their career. Learn more

René St-Arnaud is the recipient of the 2022 Louis V. Avioli Founders Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. This award will be presented during the society’s 2022 Annual Meeting at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX, USA. Learn more

Rita Suri is one of five new members worldwide elected to the Executive Committee of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) in 2023. Representing Canada, she is one of twenty kidney disease experts from around the world nominated to the foundation’s governing body. KDIGO is a global organization developing and implementing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in kidney disease.

Togas Tulandi is the 2022 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Gynecologic Excellence (CanSAGE). This award recognizes a gynecologist currently working or recently retired from practice in the surgical and/or medical management of benign gynecological conditions who have made a significant contribution to their field of expertise on a national level through leadership positions, research, advocacy or education. Learn more

Andrea Van Hulst received the 2022 Rosemary Wedderburn Brown Prize from McGill University. The prize recognizes individuals with outstanding scholarly potential and demonstrated research excellence in the early stages of their career. Learn more

—published August 2022– July 2023

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