May 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 May!
To celebrate Nursing Week, Unity Health Toronto held ceremonies to recognize the winners of our Nursing Awards. Congratulations to all the award recipients:
From Providence: Maria Luz Salera (Nursing Legacy Award), Lisa Ross (Nursing Leadership Award), Arnel Baricaua (Rehabilitation Nursing Award), Seeta Green (Nursing Advocacy Award), Dana Tomas and Zahra Mohamed (Nursing Innovation Award), Raquel Russell (Nursing Preceptorship Award)
From St. Joseph’s: 6G Transitional Care Nursing Team (Nursing Innovation Award), Sarah Robbins (Academic Achievement Award), Hasti Jahangir (Community Builder Award), Stefanie Filion (Sisters of St. Joseph Award Patient and Family Centred Nursing Care), Clarice John (Nursing Preceptorship Award)
From St. Michael’s: Ruth Mega (Chuckie Shevlen Nursing Scholarship), Nnenna Anagor (Parthenia Maria Wilson Culture of Caring Nursing Excellence Award), Alia Maulgue (Parthenia Maria Wilson Nursing Education Grant), Janeth Velandia (C. William and Ruth Daniel Innovation in Nursing Excellence Award), Charlene Chan (Healthy Work Environment Nursing Excellence Award supported by Mark and Ann Curry), Andrew Broadfield (Culture of Discovery Nursing Excellence Award), Daniela Gaeta (Elizabeth Crawford Clinical Scholarship Nursing Excellence Award), Lee Barratt (Mehramat & Satwant Gill Nursing Scholarship)
The following nurses were awarded Syron Nursing Fellowship assistance: Alexandra Kusnierczyk; Alia Maulgue; Allison Grant; Ansu George; Ben Le; Daniela Gaeta; Danniella Battagin; Francis Calixto; Jeannelle Nichol; Joel Persaud; Jordan Shell; Karah Bruce; Karlie DeAngelis; Katherine (Katie) Jedemann; Ken Fox; Les Porter; Luwieth Bolt; Mary Grace Guiyab; Mary Saegh; Mikaela Allan; Nicole Baker; Nicole Demers; Nnenna Anagor; Rose Bishenden; Ruth Mega; Sabrina Parker; Simone Stothers; Thomas Sawyer; Yasmin Tarrant
Thank you to all of the nurses at Unity Health Toronto for the innumerous ways you contribute to the best care experiences for patients!
Congratulations to all of the winners of the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Our Shared Values Awards! This year’s winners were recognized for going above and beyond to embody Unity Health’s values of human dignity, compassion, excellence, community and inclusivity. This year’s winners are: Spiritual care Practitioner Hogan Brock (Human Dignity Award), the St. Joseph’s Courtesy Volunteer Team (Compassion Award), Environmental Services Cleaner Anna Isidoro (Excellence Award), Social Worker Rachel Dickson (Community Award), Patient Care manager Michael Nguyen (Inclusivity Award). As a bonus, Anaesthesiologist Dr. Ali Abbas and Senior Clinical Director Laurie Thomas won the inaugural Spotlight on Sustainability recognition. Well done everybody!
Dr. Venkat Bhat, psychiatrist and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital, was awarded the 2024 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Award for Early Career Leadership in Professional Practice/Patient Care.
Carly Butkowsky, graduate student and genomics health research, won the Best Oral Presentation Award in health systems research for her presentation at the 2024 IHPME Research and Impact Day.
Sonya Grewal, genomics research coordinator and graduate student, has been selected as one of the recipients of the Network for Health Populations Graduate Award for September 2024 – August 2025.
ScarDx, a company founded by St. Michael’s Hospital Scientist Dr. Eno Hysi and Clinician Scientist Dr. Darren Yuen, is the first recipient of funding from the Critical Technologies Program from Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization and the Province of Ontario. The funding will help ScarDx integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into its proprietary fibrosis imaging software.
Chloe Mighton, PhD student and genomics researcher, was awarded a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Dr. Heidi Rehm at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University.
The research of Dr. Vitor Pereira, Schroeder Chair in Advanced Neurovascular Interventions at St. Michael’s, Neurovascular Research Program Manager Nicole Cancelliere and their team landed the cover of Science Translational Medicine. The team employed optical coherence tomography imaging with a tiny probe to view blood vessels in 32 patients with common neurovascular conditions, such as aneurysm, ischemic stroke and arterial stenosis. The OCT photos provided a clearer picture of the vasculature and could have large implications in stroke and other neurovascular diseases.
James Watson, REACH Nexus research manager at St. Michael’s Hospital, won the 2024 CAHR-CANFAR Excellence in Research Award in the Community-Based Research track. The awards highlight and celebrate the contributions of Canadian HIV/AIDS researchers. Well done!