Awards & Accolades - November/December 2021

International excellence

Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology and founder/director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology (LKSIoV) was recently celebrated with two prestigious international awards: the 2022 Baruch S. Blumberg Prize from the Hepatitis B Foundation and the 2021 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research. Well done! 

Dr. James Shapiro, member of the Department of Surgery, Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI) and Alberta Transplant Institute (ATI), is the inaugural winner of the Leonard Award, Research Category. The award is part of a new global program celebrating 100 years of innovation in diabetes care.

Dr. Neil Gibson, Department of Medicine, was awarded a mastership of the American College of Physicians (ACP). 

Dr. Lindsay Bridgland, Department of Medicine, received the 2021 Laureate Award from the Alberta Chapter of ACP.

National recognition

Congratulations to Dr. Loree Larratt, Department of Medicine, for receiving the Canadian Hematology Society Lifetime Achievement Award for 2021.

Dr. Chester Ho, Spinal Cord Injury Research Chair, received the 2021 Champion of Change Award at the National Spinal Cord Injury Conference.

Dr. Christopher Fung, Department of Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging, was elected Fellow of the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound.

Dr. Lori West, Director of ATI and member of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI), ADI and the Department of Pediatrics, was selected to deliver the John Keith Lecture at the 2021 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, held virtually this year. She presented on “Heart Transplantation through the Ages:  A Success Story through the Lens of a Clinician-Scientist."

Provincial Accolades

Congratulations to Dr. Wayne Clark, executive director of the Indigenous Health Initiatives Program (IHIP), on receiving the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award from Athabasca University! 

Dr. Gino Fallone, Department of Oncology and Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta (CRINA) researcher, received the Alberta Lifetime Contribution in Cancer Research Award, and Dr. Xuejun Sun, Department of Oncology, received the Alberta Cancer Research Accelerator Award. Both awards were presented at the Alberta Cancer Research Conference held virtually in October. 

Dr. Yogesh Thakker, Dr. Pierre Chue, and Scott Phillips from the Department of Psychiatry were awarded the True Imagination Award from the Lieutenant Governor’s Circle of Mental Health and Addiction, for their work on the 2019 Innovations in Practice Conference. 

Entos Pharmaceuticals, led by CEO Dr. John Lewis, Department of Oncology, was named 2020 Best Company of the Year by BioAlberta.

Congratulations to the University Hospital Foundation (UHF) Rowland Haryett Endowment Foundation Award recipients!

• Dr. Lawrence Le, Department of Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging
• Dr. Paul Major, School of Dentistry
• Dr. Neel Kaipatur, School of Dentistry
• Dr. Fabiana Almeida Marques, School of Dentistry
• Dr. Kumaradevan Punithakumar, Department of Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging
• Dr. Edmond Lou, Department of Surgery 

Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40

Congratulations to the members of FoMD named in Edify magazine’s 2021 Top 40 Under 40 list:

• Peter Anto Johnston, MD student
• Dr. Marc Curial, Department of Emergency Medicine
• Dr. Joshua Fanaeian, Department of Emergency Medicine
• Dr. Mohit Singh, Department of Psychiatry

U of A gold

Congratulations to members of the FoMD who were celebrated at the 2021 Celebration of Service.

Dr. Maria Ospina, Obstetrics & Gynecology and WCHRI researcher, received the University of Alberta Martha Cook Piper Research Prize.

Dr. Tyler Verhaeghe, School of Dentistry, received the Dentistry Students’ Association Pre-Clinical Teaching Award. (Photo supplied)

Learners as leaders

Dr. Andrew Woodman, MD student and ‘21 PhD grad, received the Governor General's Gold Medal at Fall 2021 convocation. 

Congratulations to the Department of Medicine’s graduate-student winners of the 2021 Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship:

• Chikku Sadasivan (supervisor: Dr. Puneeta Tandon)
• Hazal Babadagli (supervisors: Dr. Glen Pearson and Dr. Sheri Koshman)
• Dr. Benson Weyant (supervisor: Dr. Carlos Cervera)
• Arafat Alam (supervisors: Dr. Cynthia Wu and Dr. Linda Sun)
• Danielle Munsterman (supervisor: Dr. Glen Jickling)

John Christy Johnson, MD/MSc student, received a 2021 Stars of Alberta Volunteer Award.