Awards & Accolades - November 2017

Celebrating the achievements of faculty, staff and students.

Kirsten Bauer - 22 November 2017

November was jam-packed with recognition for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's outstanding community members. Congratulations to all of our worthy honorees.


Kathryn Dong, Emergency Medicine, has scored a hat trick this month. She was named one of the 150 Leading Canadians For Mental Health by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Lieutenant Governor's Circle on Addiction and Mental Health True Compassion Award, and Global Edmonton's Woman of Vision.


Donald Chan, Family Medicine, was named Alberta's Family Physician of the Year by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Read more.


The Alberta College of Family Physicians presented the Sylvan Family Health Centre and teaching clinic Moose & Squirrel Medical Clinic with Outstanding Family Practice awards on Oct. 31, 2017. Congratulations to Fred Janke, Jordan LaRue, Vesta Michelle Warren and all of the Family Medicine clinical teachers who were recognized.


Vincent Agyapong, Psychiatry, has been recognized by the Mental Health Innovation Network, an international community of mental health innovators with headquarters at the World Health Organization (WHO), for the innovative Text4mood Etool. Read more.


The MD Class of 1963, Wild Pink Yonder, and Ronald and Betty Mullen, were recipients of 2017 National Philanthropy Day Awards, for supporting the next generation of health science professionals.


Memento Mori, which was filmed at the University of Alberta hospital in 2015 and featured James Shapiro, Surgery, has been selected as the "most innovative and ground-breaking" documentary to come out of Canada in the last year. The film will be presented at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in San Francisco at the end of November.


Top 40 under 40

Shauna Burkholder, '04 MD, and Marie-Claire Arrieta,'11 MD, were named Calgary's Top 40 under 40 for improvements to patient care.


Lauren Albrecht, PhD candidate, Pediatrics, and Carla Prado, Alberta Diabetes Institute, are among Edmonton's Top 40 under 40 for her commitment to education and learning.


TEC Edmonton Innovation Awards

Patent Awards

  • David Evans, Medical Microbiology & Immunology - Oncolytic viruses and methods for treating neoplastic disorders

  • Gino Fallone, Oncology - Magnetic assembly and method for defining a magnetic field for an imaging volume

  • Michael Houghton, Lorne Tyrrell and Abdolamir Landi, Medical Microbiology & Immunology - Methods and compositions for diagnosis of inflammatory liver disease


Spin-off Company Award

Based on research by Raj Padwal, Peter Wood and Jennifer Ringrose, General Internal Medicine, mmHG Inc. developed a cuff-based, portable blood pressure monitoring system that transmits data directly to a server. Read more.


ASTech Awards

Congratulations to the recipients of 2017 ASTech Awards

  • Lori West, Pediatrics, Alberta Transplant Institute, Alberta Diabetes Institute - Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science

  • Metabolomic Technologies Inc. (MTI), U of A spin-off - Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology


Celebration of Teaching and Learning

Jill Konkinand the Rural ICC team, Division of Community Engagement / Family Medicine, are the 2017 recipients of the David Cook Award for curricular innovation.


Arnold P. Gold Foundation - Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards recognized the following residents, nominated for commitment to teaching, being a positive role model and skilled communicators:


  • Cassandra Hirt Walsh

  • Kate Greef

  • Hayley Turnbull

  • Valentin Mocanu

  • Eric Chan Tai Kong

  • Shaina Archer


Best Faculty Poster: "A Dental Hygiene - Radiation Therapy Interprofessional Student Shadowing Session." Authors: Alexandra Shepard, Janelle Duquette, Susan Cauti, Minn Yoon, Susan Fawcett.


Best Student Poster: "The Use of Active Learning in Dentistry: A Systematic Review." Authors: Tanushi Ambekar, Jacqueline Green, Seema Ganatra, Kari Rasmussen.


Graduate Students

Mohamed Omar, PhD candidate in the Periodontology Program, has been selected as the University of Alberta's School of Dentistry representative at the Hinman Student Research Symposium in Memphis Tennessee on November 3 - 5, 2017.


Katarina Ondrusova, PhD candidate in Pharmacology, received the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSEM) 2017 Dr. Charles Hollenberg Award for poster presentation entitled "Blue Light (470 nm) Induces Phenotypic Changes in Adipocytes via a Melanopsin-TRPC Channel Signaling Pathway"


50th Annual Summer Students' Research Day

Poster Presentation Award Recipients

Natalie Czuczman, Medical Microbiology & Immunology
Title: Examining the suppressive mechanism of CD71+ erythroid cells

Daniel Dabbs, Emergency Medicine
Title: Access to Take Home Naloxone in the Royal Alexandra Hospital's Emergency Department for Patients at Risk of an Opioid Overdose


Daniel Durham
, Medicine
Title: Frequency and Costs of Non-invasive Cardiac Tests Following Acute Coronary Syndromes

Min Ku Kang, Medical Genetics
Title: Solving a genetic mystery: characterization of a novel immune disorder in the NF-κB pathway

Nils Koch, Physiology
Title: Inhibition of Respiratory Function During Sleep using a chemogenetic approach

Fangshi Lu, Surgery
Title: Haptic Feedback and Effects on Precision Cutting


Richard Mah
, Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
Title: The Effects of Prenatal Iron Deficiency on Oxidative Stress in Rat Kidney and Liver

John Monyror, Pharmacology
Title: Investigating the effect of GM1 on the complement proteins C1q and C3 in Huntington's disease

Martin Ondrus, Surgery
Title: Functional decline of the ex vivo perfused heart is not due to cell death

Andrew Panteluk, Medical Microbiology & Immunology
Title: Decreased Immune Activity Leads to feeding mediated weight gain, triglyceride loss in drosophila

Brad Rutherford, Surgery
Title: TBovine Serum Albumin and Dextran based Perfusates in Normothermic Ex-Vivo Kidney Perfusion


Nikola Srnic
, Surgery
Title: Characterizing the role of transcription factors Foxc1/Foxc2 during endochondral ossification


Howie Wu
, Medicine
Title: Developing POSCA As an efficient method of studying prion disease

Tayyaba Zehra, Medicine
Title: Suppression of Angiotensin II Abolishes the Increase in Renal Vascular Resistance Induced By Increased Renal Venous Pressure

People's Choice Award - Megan McCreary


Know an outstanding U of A grad? Nominate them for a 2018 Alumni Award


University of Alberta alumni around the globe uphold our promise to use their education "for the public good" through their professional achievements, community service and innovation. The Alumni Awards recognize these contributions and tells the stories of our exceptional alumni, inspiring us all to Do Great Things.


Help us recognize these outstanding alumni!


Nomination deadline: December 15, 2017


Questions: alumni.awards@ualberta.ca or 780-492-4523 Toll free: 1-800-661-2593