AWARDS/HONOURS/
ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Mike Wiley (Anatomy) received the Pre-clinical Dr. Hollington Teaching Award from the Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM). This award recognizes a teacher who has taught with distinction in the preclinical or basic science portion of the curriculum.

Hong-Shuo Sun (Anatomy) received a 3 year CIHRChina- Canada Joint Health Research Initiative Grant for his work entitled “The Role of Chloride Channel CIC-3 in Cerebral Ischemia and Its Therapeutic Potential in Stroke”.

George Christakis (CardSurg) received the Silver Shovel -Dean A. L. Chute Award from the Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM). This award celebrates excellent lecturing in clinical years of the medical school program.

Subodh Verma (CardSurg) received two awards from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada for his projects “Elucidating the Role of BRCA1 as a target to improve endothelial function, promote angiogenesis and attenuate atherosclerosis” and “The Role of Autophagy in Cardiovascular Disease: A Bench to Bedside Translational Approach”.

Jameel Ali

Jameel Ali (GenSurg) received the honorary fellowship in College of P&S of Pakistan, Nov 2012.

Nancy Baxter (GenSurg) was awarded a 2 year grant from Childhood Cancer Canada Foundation and the Kids with Cancer Society for her project “Initiative to Maximize Progress in Adolescent Cancer Therapy (IMPACT)”.

Ramy Behman (GenSurg) and her team won Best Poster for the Canadian Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association for the project: Impact of epidural analgesia and fluid resuscitation on major adverse events following pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Andrea Covelli (GenSurg Resident, PhD Candidate) received the Novartis Oncology Young Clinical Investigators Award (NOYCIA) for her abstract entitled “Taking control of cancer: Why Women Are Choosing Mastectomy” presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, 2013 in Chicago, IL

Charles de Mestral (GenSurg) was the recipient of the 2012 Chikai and Sawa Hiraki Award in Surgery.

Steven Gallinger (GenSurg) has been appointed as Leader of the PanCuRx Translational Research Initiative with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He will receive an OICR Investigator Award as Senior Clinician-Scientist

Julie Hallet (Surg Onc Fellow, GenSurg) received the best poster award from the Canadian Society of Colon and Rectum Surgeons during CAGS (Canadian hepatopancreatic- biliary association)for her poster presentation entitled Multimodality treatment of locally recurrent adherent colon cancer with neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy to optimize the achievement of R0 resection. J. Hallet, M. Cukier, H. Soliman, A.J. Smith, C.S. Wong.

Sherif Hanna (GenSurg) is one of four recipients of the Sixth Annual Leo N. Steven Excellence in Leadership Awards from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Daniel Kagedan and Josh Ng (PGY1, Gen Surg) achieved the second-highest mark nationally on the 2013 Resident in Training CAGS (Canadian Hepato-Pancreatic-Biliary Association) Examination for first-year residents.

Ahmed Kayssi (GenSurg) received the 2012-2013 CAGS Resident Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Toronto.

John Marshall (GenSurg) was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. This is one of the highest honours in Canadian health sciences. Those elected are recognized for their leadership, creativity and commitment of advancing academic health science.

John was also elected this past August as the Secretary- General of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, a body representing 74 intensive care societies from around the world.

John is also the inaugural chair of the International Forum for Acute Care Trialists, an umbrella group representing 20 investigator-led acute care clinical trials groups from around the world.

Avery Nathens (GenSurg) was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. This is one of the highest honours in Canadian health sciences. Those elected are recognized for their leadership, creativity and commitment of advancing academic health science.

Catherine O’Brien (GenSurg) received a 3 year Terry Fox New Investigator Award for her project “Understanding Cancer Stem Cell Heterogeneity and Dynamics: Implications for Therapy in Human Colorectal Cancer”.

Michael Reedjik (GenSurg) received a 3 year grant from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario Region for his work on “Establishing TRB3 as a therapeutic target in breast cancer.” Michael also received a 4 year grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for his project “The role of Notch in breast cancer microenvironment crosstalk”.

Chethan Sathya (GenSurg) received the CIHR Master’s award (Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship).

Matt Strickland (PGY2, Gen Surg) achieved the second- highest mark nationally on the 2013 Resident in Training CAGS Examination for second-year residents. A special shout out to Matt for winning the national laparoscopic suturing competition this year at CAGS.

Leo da Costa (NeurSurg) received the Marvin Tile Distinguished Service Award at Sunnybrook Hospital.

Leo also received a 1 year grant from the AFP Innovation Fund at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Michael Cusimano (NeurSurg) received the 2013 Dr. Tom Pashby Sports Safety Fund Award. The award recognizes efforts to prevent major sports and recreationrelated injuries. Michael is the founder and director of the Injury Prevention Research Office at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Karen Davis (NeurSurg) was named a 2013-4 Fellow of the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship Program by the Mayday Fund. The Mayday Fund is dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree and consequence of human physical pain. The Fellowship provides pain care leaders with skills to advocate and communicate on many of the issues they deal with, including the under-treatment of pain, pain research and treatment, pain education and policies to improve pain care.

James Eubanks (NeurSurg) received a three-year operating grant from the Pro Rett Ricerca Foundation (Italy, EU) for the project entitled “Pre-Clinical Investigations Towards Gene Therapy Treatment For Rett Syndrome”. (Co-PI: Nicoletta Landsberger, University of Insubria, Italy).

Michael Fehlings (NeurSurgery) has been appointed as Chairman of AOSpine North America (AOSNA). This appointment is for 3 years.

Michael also received the 2013 Henry Farfan Award from the North American Spine Society for his outstanding contributions to spine-related basic science research.

Michael received renewed funding (for Year 3) from the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation for the project entitled “Investigation of Human Piggybac Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Repair and Regeneration of the Injured Cervical Spinal Cord”.

Michael was awarded a one-year grant from the Stem Cell Network for the project entitled “Intravenous infusion of human umbilical cord matrix cells to treat spinal cord injury”.

Michael was awarded a 1-year bridge funding grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation for the project, “Myelin-axon interactions in ischemia: the role of unmasked K channels in axonal dysfunction”.

Michael was selected for a 21st Century Grant from the Cervical Spine Research Society for his project “Therapeutic Approaches To Protect Against Ischemia/ Reperfusion Injury Following Surgical Decompression For Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A Potential Solution To Attenuate Perioperative Neurological Complications Following Decompressive Surgery”.

Michael et al were awarded a 5-year, $7.5M grant from the Ontario Brain Institute for the continued collaboration of the Childhood Cerebral Palsy Integrated Discovery Network “CP-NET”.

Clement Hamani (NeurSurg) received the Scientific Award from the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at the WSSFN’s 16th Quadrennial Meeting, Tokyo, Japan

Mojgan Hodaie (Neurosurgery) was awarded a 5 year grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the project entitled “Diffusion Tensor Imaging as an in Vivo Technique to Study the Effects of Chronic Pain and Its Impact on the Brain”.

Andres Lozano (NeurSurg) was elected to 100 Españoles, a group of 100 distinguished individuals of Spanish origin.

Andres is the inaugural recipient of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery’s quadrennial Tasker Award. The society recognized Andres his outstanding contributions to the field of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, at the 2013 WSSFN Congress in Tokyo.

Andres Lozano has won the University of British Columbia’s Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize for his outstanding contributions to the treatment, improvement or cure of brain disorders. He is a pioneer in deep brain simulation, and has pioneered novel surgical approaches to Parkinson’s disease, depression, anorexia and Alznheimer’s disease treatments.

Loch Macdonald (NeurSurg) was awarded as PI a three year, $175,848 grant entitled “TNF signaling in subarachnoid hemorrhage” from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

James Rutka (NeurSurg) received the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Tumors’ Dr. Charles B. Wilson Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of neuro-oncology, and has been presented to only three recipients since 2004.

Mohammed Shamji (NeurSurg) has been advanced to the Editorial Board of PLOS ONE.

Michael Taylor (NeurSurg) has been selected as the Garron Family Chair in Childhood Cancer Research.

Charles Tator (NeurSurg) was featured in the CBC News (Online) July 22, 2013 regarding a concussion guide for doctors. (See Link)

Taufik Valiante (NeurSurg) has been awarded two 5 year grants from the Ontario Brain Institute.

Earl Bogoch (OrthoSurg) won the Osteoporosis Canada’s Lindy Fraser Memorial Award. The accolade recognizes individuals who have conducted exemplary research in osteoporosis, and have helped increase awareness and knowledge of the condition. Professor Bogoch is an expert in the surgical management of inflammatory arthritis, and hip and knee reconstructions.

Earl was also an inaugural recipient of the Merck Canada – Patient First Award. This award celebrates and recognizes doctors whose academic and/or clinical work have had a significant impact on the health of Canadians. He was nominated and selected for leadership in developing and implementing The Exemplary Care Program.

Diane Nam, Cari Whyne, Benjamin Alman (OrthoSurg) received a 5 year grant from the AO Foundation (Switzerland) for their work “Preclinical assessment of lithium to enhance fracture repair.”

Behzad Taromi (OrthoSurg) received the Excellence in Problem Based Learning award from the Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM) at its second annual MAM Excellence Awards to honour outstanding teaching and exceptional contributions by faculty, students and administrative staff.

James Wright (OrthoSurg) was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. This is one of the highest honours in Canadian health sciences. Those elected are recognized for their leadership, creativity and commitment of advancing academic health science.

Niloofar Dehghan (OrthoSurg Fellow) was winner of best paper for 2013 Trauma Association of Canada and Committee on Trauma Resident Paper Competition for Region XII. Her paper was entitled “Ankle Weightbearing and Mobilization vs Non-weightbearing and Immobilization after Surgical Fixation of Unstable Ankle Fractures, a Randomized Controlled Trial”.

Diane Nam, Michele Anderson, Cari Whyne (Orthopaedics) received 1 year of Bridge Funding from IMHA for their project on “The novel characterization of IL-17F in fracture repair”.

from left to right: Scott Saint, ; The Honourable Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Consumer Services; Manuel Gomez,; John Wiersma, Chair, Board of Directors, Electrical Safety Authority

Manuel Gomez (PlasSurg), Director, St. John’s Rehab Research, Sunnybrook Research Institute, received the “Chief Public Safety Officer’s Special Recognition Award” from the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) during the ESA’s 2013 Ontario Electrical Safety Awards Ceremony at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. The award recognizes Professor Gomez’ work with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s Electrical Injury Program. 2013

Manuel Gomez and co-authors were also congratulated by Elsevier Science & Technology Journals for their article “Use of Nintendo Wii Fit (TM) in the rehabilitation of outpatients following total knee replacement: a preliminary randomised controlled trial”. It was 6th of the top 25 papers published in Physiotherapy in 2012.

Ronald Zuker (PlasSurg) was honored with a “Triple Crown” of awards recently during a visit to Durban, South Africa at the invitation of The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Ron received an Honorary Fellowship of the College of Plastic Surgeons of South Africa, an Honorary Membership in the Association of Plastic Surgeons of South Africa and also received the Humanitarian Award from The Smile Foundation of South Africa. Ron ended the trip with a visit to Johannesburg to operate. Congratulations Ron!

Ron Zuker receiving the Humanitarian Award from the Smile Foundation of South Africa presented by Marc Lubmer and George Psaras.

Abdallah Daar (Surg) has been invited to become a member of a new Scientific Advisory Board under the United Nations Secretary-General. This prestigious UN board will strengthen global partnerships for sustainable development to provide political leadership grounded in science.

Dafydd Rhys (Dave) William (Surg), President and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre, will be inducted into the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour that recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.

Ranil Sonnadara (Surgical Skills Lab) received the 2013 ASE Award for Excellence in Innovation from the Awards Committee of the Association for Surgical Education for the Toronto Orthopaedic Boot Camp (TOBC) project. This award is given annually to a group of individuals who have demonstrated exemplary performance in surgical education with the intent to recognize novel ideas and/or methods for improving teaching and learning.

Marcelo Cypel (ThorSurg) was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Lung Transplantation.

Shaf Keshavjee (ThorSurg) received a Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Award and was named to the Order of Ontario recognizing his many contributions in lung transplantation, thoracic surgery, and surgical leadership.

Kazuhiro Yasufuku (ThorSurg) received the Geoffrey McLennan Memorial Award from the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology.

Darius Bagli (UrolSurg) and colleagues were successful in receiving a CIHR Catalyst Grant for New Teams and Research into Environments, Genes, and Chronic Diseases for his project entitled “Environmental Microbe- Gene Interactions: Role Of Host Epigenetics In Chronic Urinary Tract Infection”.

Tony Finelli (UrolSurg) received a Prostate Cancer Canada grant award for his project “Active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer: a population-level analysis of uptake, practice patterns and barriers to adoption”.

Robert Hamilton (UrolSurg) received a grant from Prostate Cancer Canada for his work entitled “The Influence Of Genetic Variation On The Association Between Statin And Metformin Use And Prostate Cancer Risk: Towards Discovering Personalized Chemoprevention”.

Robert also received a CUASF scholarship for his project “Molecular Characterization of Tumors Arising in Men On 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitors”.

Finally, Rob received a Career Development Award in Prevention from the Canadian Cancer Society.

Robert Hamilton, Linda Penn, and Neil Fleshner (UrolSurg) received a grant from Princess Margaret Hospital for their work “Window of Opportunity Study of Statins Prior to Radical Prostatectomy”.

Keith Jarvi, Kirk Lo, and Ethan Grober (UrolSurg) received a CIHR grant for their work on “Prediction Of Successful Sperm Retrieval In Patients With Non- Obstructive Azoospermia Using A Panel Of Protein Biomarkers Measured In Seminal Plasma”.

Keith Jarvi and Darius Bagli (UrolSurg) have been appointed to the Decanal Promotions Committee for a 3 year term.

Kirk C. Lo (UrolSurg) has been awarded a research grant by the Canadian Male Sexual Health Council (CMSHC) for his project “Premature Hypogonadism and Cancer Survivorship – Exploring the Mechanism”.

Andrew Matthew (UrolSurg) received a grant from Prostate Cancer Canada for his work “A multicenter, pilot randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of prehabilitation on functional outcomes after radical prostatectomy”.