April’s honour roll at Unity Health
Every month, staff, researchers, physicians, learners and teams across Unity Health Toronto celebrate important honours, achievements and awards. Congratulations to all who’ve been recognized in April!
Dr. Andrew Beckett was awarded the 2023 Canadian Medical Association John McCrae Memorial Medal. The medal is awarded to current or former clinicians of the Canadian Armed Forces for exemplary service and for demonstrating compassion, self-sacrifice and innovation beyond the call of duty.
Dr. Yvonne Bombard is part of a group of researchers who was awarded $7 million from the Canadian Cancer Society. The group is building on previous work to develop a genetic blood test that can detect tumour DNA circulating in the blood stream.
Graduate students Sonya Grewal and Carly Butkowsky have won CIHR Canada Graduate scholarships for their Master of Science projects on equity in cancer genetics and care experiences of hereditary cancer patients.
PhD Students Curtis J. D’Hollander and Hamzah Khan were awarded CIHR Doctoral Research Awards for their research projects respectively titled, “Nutrition Recommendation Intervention Trials in Children’s Healthcare (NuRISH)” and “Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Predict Outcomes in Patients with Vascular Disease.”
Drs. Monica Farcas, Eno Hysi and Darren Yuen are recipients of the Institute for Biomedical Engineer, Science & Technology (iBEST) Translational Partnership Grant.
Dr. Jenny Huang won a poster award from the Canadian Geriatrics Society for her project titled “Prevention, and Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury-related Delirium: A Systematic Review.”
Dr. Anish Kirpalani has accepted an offer to be the Chief of Radiology at St. Michael’s Hospital.
PhD Student Chloe Mighton was awarded the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation Ted Goldberg Award. The award recognizes academic excellence and promise in candidates in health systems research.
Dr. Ripudaman Minhas was awarded the 2023 Empowered Kids Ontario Tribute Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have made lasting, game-changing contributions for kids with disabilities and their families.
Dr. Sharmistha Mishra has joined the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) as a scientist. Mishra’s research focuses on health disparities and heterogeneity in epidemics.
Drs. Brodie Nolan and Johannes von Vopelius-Feldt accepted an award on behalf of a St. Michael’s team at the Trauma Association of Canada’s (TAC) annual meeting. The team won a TAC-Learners Research Grant to examine the feasibility of bringing trauma bay- level care to the site of major roadside traumas with a critical care response team.
PhD Student Omar Nusrat presented his research on photoacoustics at the iBest Research Symposium and was one of three winners in the poster contest.
Graduate Student Melissa O’Neill was awarded Top Poster by the Trauma Association of Canada.
Dr. Janissardhar Skulsampaopol was awarded the Byron Cone Pevehouse Young Neurosurgeon Award. The award goes to the best socioeconomic abstract submitted by a young neurosurgeon.
Dr. Subodh Verma has won the 2023 Cumming School of Medicine Alumni of Distinction Award for research. He was recognized for his research that has improved outcomes for cardiac patients.
Dr. Dan Werb is the Toronto Public Library Spring 2023 Writer in Residence. Werb has won awards and recognition for his books of literary non-fiction, including “The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure,” which was published last year.
Dr. Nashmia Zia was awarded the 2023 PRiME-Unity Health Toronto Clinical Catalyst Competition. Zia’s research project is titled “Study of the Effect of microRNA Modulation on the Macrophage-Mediated Immune Regulation of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in a Trans-Well Model.”
