December Honour Roll
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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 December!
In November, several members of Unity Health Toronto’s research community were recognized for their contributions to Research during Research Month. Congratulations to all of the Research Award winners and the many nominees. As a result of your work, Unity Health Toronto was named the 11th best research institute in Canada for 2023, and first in researcher-intensity for large hospitals with budgets over a billion dollars.
For the Keenan Research Centre:
- Dr. Alan Lazarus, scientist, won the Legacy Award
- Cardiac Surgery Research Manager Adrian Quan, Project Manager Mahfam Janbakhsh, and Senior Research Associate Sri Batchu won Culture of Discovery Awards
- PhD candidates Andreea Furdui and Zoya Tawhidi won Excellence Awards
For the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute:
- Scientist and Director of the Knowledge Synthesis Team in the Knowledge Translation Program Dr. Andrea Tricco won the Legacy Award
- Funding and Awards Specialist Dr. Arianna Rath, Research Coordinator Yasmin Garad and RADIS Lab Research Manager Nicole Cancelliere won Culture of Discovery Awards
- Dr. Stephanie Garies won the Excellence Award for a Postdoctoral Fellow
- Melissa Perri won the Excellence Award for a Graduate Student
- Manager of Research Contracts Karen Ung and Critical Care Research Manager Marlene Santos won the Dalton Charters Leadership Excellence Award
The Stroke Team at St. Michael’s Hospital won the 2023 Toronto Stroke Network’s People’s Choice Quality Improvement Award. The team was recognized for their initiative to empower bedside staff to recognize and activate a code stroke, which resulted in a significant reduction in median time to CT.
The St. Michael’s Hospital Trauma Program was verified as a Level 1 Trauma Centre by the American College of Surgeons. The verification ensures that injured patients brought to St. Michael’s receive the best care, supported by the best evidence. The achievement highlights quality of patient care but also the dedication of staff and physicians who’ve worked over the years to meet the ACS standards.
The Treatment of Endometrial Atypia and Malignancy (TEAM) Clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital was recently recognized by the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario (CQCO) with an honourable mention at their annual Quality Awards. The TEAM Clinic, run by Drs. Alysha Nensi, Andrea Simpson, Deborah Robertson and Sari Kives, addresses a critical need in healthcare, focusing on the intersection of endometrial cancer and obesity. The Quality and Innovation Awards recognize significant contributions to quality and innovation in the delivery of cancer care. They encourage and reward initiatives that improve the performance of cancer care in Ontario.
Congratulations to Dr. Kevin An and Dr. Mimi Deng, cardiovascular surgery residents who won awards for their research. An won the Joseph West Post-Grad Research Award and Deng won the Edwards Christie Stephen’s Fellowship and the Joseph West Family Memorial Fund.
Dr. Tara Kiran, family physician and researcher at St. Michael’s, won the North American Primary Care Research Group Mid-Career Researcher Award. The award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments of a mid-career clinician.
Dr. Ripudaman Minhas, pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital, won the Dr. Vincent Hughes Humanitarian Award from the St. Michael’s Hospital Medical Staff Association and the Media Engagement Trailblazer Award from The Medical Post.
Dr. Carolyn Snider, chief of emergency medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital, was named the 2024 PSI Mid-Career Knowledge Translation Fellow by the PSI Foundation. The fellowship recognizes Snider’s research and outreach programs in Ontario’s emergency departments that address the profound impact of social determinants on health.
Dr. Sharon Straus, physician-in-chief and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, has been named the 4th top female scientist in Canada, and 123rd in the world, by Research.com. The annual ranking of female scientists is compiled to give more visbility into the scientific achievements of women in STEM.
Dr. Andrea Tricco, St. Michael’s Hospital scientist and director in the Knowledge Translation Program, was named among the top 1 per cent of cited researchers in the world, authoring papers which consistently rank in the top of their fields by citation, according to Clarivate. Congratulations and well done!
Dr. Subodh Verma’s research on semaglutide in patients with obesity and a common form of heart failure was among a list of research publications recognized by Science Magazine as contributing to the Breakthrough of the Year. Science Magazine recognized GLP-1 drugs, like semaglutide Ozempic, in part because this year, clinical trials – like Verma’s — found that they not only help with weight loss, but can also have cardiac benefits.
