Awards & Accolades - August 2020

Congratulations to the outstanding researchers, teachers and trainees who were recognized at the Department of Medicine 2020 Virtual Awards Celebration. Visit the event page for highlights and a complete list of awardees. 

Eunice Chow, Department of Medicine, was awarded the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance 2019 Dermatologist of the Year award.

School of Dentistry

Nicholas Doblanko, DDS 2021, received the inaugural Dr. Barry Zochodne Memorial Endowment for his summer research project, “The effect of thermal cycling on surface defect propagation and biaxial flexural strength of a lithium disilicate ceramic.”

PhD student Raisa Catunda won the University of Alberta Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize, acknowledging outstanding accomplishment and potential in pursuit of new knowledge. 

Simran Sarao, DDS 2022, is the recipient of the 2020 Pierre Fauchard Academy (PFA) Scholarship for her research work under the supervision of Liran Levin. 

Blaine Aucoin is the winner of the Gibb Clinical Teaching Award. 

Tarek El-Bialy received the Align Technology award. 

Maryam Amin was awarded the first Oral Health for Children, Youth and Families Fund (OHCYFF) for her project entitled “Social media addiction, parental mental health, and children’s oral health among recent immigrants.”

Department of Pediatrics 

Congratulations to Qutuba Karwi, post-doctoral fellow, and Gary Lopaschuk, Department of Medicine, on receiving the 2020 Paul Dudley White International Scholar award.

Trainee awards

Sarah Lopaschuk Memorial Scholarship 
Austin Ericson 
Reshma Sirajee 

Azza M. Darwish Memorial Scholarship 
Anna Serebrin 
Anastasia Zello 

Dr. Mario I. and Elizabeth Tedeschini Scholarship 
Ellery Cunan 

Quinlan Patric Baxter Langen Award 
Amol Moray 
Ravneet Sekhon 
Hilal Al Riyami 

E.W. Gauk Scholarship in Pediatric Neurology Research
Andy Ng
Amanda Yaworski 

Dr. William C. Taylor Award for Improvement in Medical Education 
Christopher Novak 

Pediatric Grand Rounds Award 
Sandra Botros
Rozalyn Chok 
Kimberly Connors 

Teaching awards

Teacher of the Year Award for a Subspecialty Pediatrician - Chris Gerdung 
Teacher of the Year Award for a General Pediatrician - Karen Forbes 
Promotion of Resident Well-Being Award - Jessica Foulds

Division of Developmental Pediatrics
The Division of Developmental Pediatrics extends congratulations to the following award recipients:

2018-’19
Keith Goulden - Dr. Keith J. Goulden Award for Teaching Excellence
Lisa Lemieux - Dr. Joe Watt Award for Teaching Excellence
Patrina Pelletier - Sandy Litman Award for Teaching Excellence

2019-’20
John Andersen - Dr. Keith J. Goulden Award for Teaching Excellence 
Janette Mailo - Dr. Joe Watt Award for Teaching Excellence 
Helly Goez - Sandy Litman Award for Teaching Excellence 

Learners as leaders
Cameron Griffiths (supervisor: David Marchant) was awarded the Med Star Award for Graduate Students for the publication “IGF1R is an entry receptor for respiratory syncytial virus” in Nature.                                    

Michael Jewer (supervisor: Lynne Postovit) was awarded the Med Star Award for Postdoctoral or Clinical Fellows for his publication “Translational control of breast cancer plasticity” in Nature Communications.

Women and Children’s Health Research Institute
The WCHRI Graduate Studentship program offers competitively funded trainee support to students engaged in a full-time, thesis-based graduate level program of study at the U of A. Congratulations to the following winners from FoMD.

Tejal Aslesh (supervisor: Toshifumi Yokota), Department of Medical Genetics - Development of novel DNA-like molecules for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.
Simran Ghoman (supervisor: Georg Schmolzer), Department of Pediatrics - Remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: using simulation-games to teach health-care providers how to save babies at birth.
Claudia Holody (supervisor: Stephane Bourque), Department of Pediatrics - Understanding how the baby's heart develops when iron is low can help prevent disease in adults.
Kim Cuong Nguyen (supervisor: Lawrence Le), Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging - Imaging dental tissues in children using ionizing radiation-free ultrasound and artificial intelligence.
Mazhar Pasha (supervisor: Sandra Davidge), Departments of Physiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology - How impaired blood vessel function can impact pregnancy outcomes in older mothers.         
Reshma Sirajee (supervisor: Michael Hawkes), Department of Pediatrics - Identifying proteins to predict growth and learning problems in HIV-exposed but uninfected infants in Uganda.
Shubham Soni (supervisor: Jason Dyck), Department of Pediatrics - Testing a new treatment for babies with developmental defects caused by iron deficiency during pregnancy.
Carmen Tessier (supervisor: Anita Kozyrskyj), Department of Pediatrics - How the bacteria in our gut impact the developing brain: insight on a pathway from maternal stress to infant brain development.
Adrianne Watson (supervisor: Anastassia Voronova), Department of Medical Genetics - Engaging neural stem cells for healthy brain development.

Resident doctors of distinction

The Alberta Jenkinson & Stephen Buhl Award was awarded to the following individuals:

Nazia Sharfuddin, resident, General Internal Medicine 
Ellery Cunan, resident, Pediatrics
Isabelle Colmers-Gray, resident, Emergency Medicine
Seyara Shwetz, resident, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Craig Ferguson, resident, Diagnostic Radiology
Sophie Jaarsma, resident, Family Medicine
Baljot Chahal, resident, Diagnostic Radiology

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Gordon Denchfield Thompson Scholarship was awarded to Joshua Bezanson, resident, Emergency Medicine.

Jessica Hann, resident, Emergency Medicine, received the 2020 Terry Sosnowski Memorial Award for demonstrating outstanding achievement and exceptional mentorship to others. 

Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI)

2020 ADI Graduate Studentship

Jenneffer Braga Tibaes (supervisor: Caroline Richard)
Ezra Ketema (supervisor: Gary Lopaschuk)
Julia Montenegro (supervisor: Carla Prado)
Stepheny Zani (supervisor: Cathy Chan)

2020 ADI/Helmholtz Research School for Diabetes (HRD) Award

Amanda Gomes (supervisors: Patrick MacDonald and Stephan Speier)
Janyne Johnson (supervisors: Peter Light and Stephan Speier)
Qiming Tan (supervisors: Andrea Haqq and Timo Muller)
Emad Yuzbashian (supervisors: Cathy Chan and Siegfried Ussar)