June’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 June!
Unity Health celebrated Education Week by holding three different award events: St. Michael’s Hospital Medical Education Achievement Day, St. Joseph’s Health Centre Physician Teaching Awards and the Unity Health Education Awards. Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!
Dr. Anju Anand, respirologist at St. Michael’s, has received U of T Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Alumni Award for her humanitarian work. The award recognizes Anand’s advocacy around culturally-appropriate public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anand co-founded the South Asian COVID Task Force, and her work directly led to the establishment of a testing centre and vaccination site serving vulnerable populations in the Toronto area. Well done!
Dr. Yvonne Bombard, scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and Dr. Rola Saleeb, pathologist and researcher at St. Michael’s, received funding from The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research to support their projects which aim to improve the lives of cancer patients. Well done!
Dr. Joan Cheng, chief of emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Toronto Women in Emergency Medicine. Congrats!
Dr. Mathias Claeys, interventional echocardiography fellow, presented at the American Society of Echocardiography conference. Well done!
Neurosurgeon and scientist Dr. Sunit Das and St. Michael’s Hospital have been awarded a $100,000 grant from Brain Cancer Canada to acquire a top-of-the-line, next generation DNA sequencer. The sequencer will allow St. Michael’s to develop and test innovative new treatments for the toughest forms of brain cancer. The sequencer will be part of a new genetic testing facility at St. Michael’s, which will allow doctors to analyze tumours more quickly and precisely, and design individual treatments for patients. Congrats!
Dr. Hagar Labouta will be joining Unity Health at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science. Labouta has extensive research experience in nanomedicine, drug delivery and biomedical engineering. Welcome!
Dr. Karim Ladha, clinician-scientist and anesthesiologist at St. Michael’s, was awarded the Career Scientist Award by the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society. Well done!
Dr. Alexandra Muccilli, neurologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, was awarded the Teaching Award by the University of Toronto neurology residents. Congrats!
Congratulations to the Pinnacle Group, a Unity Health anesthesiology and perioperative medicine research group, whose members have won Merit Awards from the Anesthesiology Medicine program at U of T. Congrats to Drs. David Mazer, Duminda Wijeysundera, Karim Ladha, Greg Hare, Ashwin Sankar, Michael Sklar, Bijan Teja, and Andrew Baker on your awards!
Catherine Stratton, PhD candidate, has been selected as a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar. The honour recognizes individuals who have shown academic excellence, leadership and engagement, and a willingness to engage with a plurality of perspectives. Well done!
Dr. Sharon Straus, physician-in-chief and scientist at St. Michael’s, is leading a team of researchers who have been awarded $150,000 in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to explore solutions to meet the critical demand for physicians in Canada. Congratulations!
