Awards and Accolades - October 2018

Celebrating the achievements of faculty, staff and students

Kirsten Bauer - 17 October 2018

October brings a wealth of achievements to celebrate. Congratulations to all winners on the impressive honours you have earned.


University of Alberta Awards for Faculty Excellence

Chris Le, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, was awarded the University of Alberta's 2019 University Cup. The University Cup is the highest honour the U of A can bestow on a member of its academic staff and is granted only to those individuals who have achieved outstanding distinction in each of the areas of scholarly research, teaching, service to the university and the community at large.


Sandra Davidge, Executive Director, Women and Children's Health Research Institute and professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology, was named 2018 Distinguished University Professor by the University of Alberta. This is considered among the highest honours awarded by the U of A to exceptional faculty members who are globally recognized leaders and whose exemplary teaching, research and citizenship have made them leading experts in their disciplines internationally.


International Recognition

Jean Vance, Department of Medicine, was awarded the Wilhelm Bernhard Prize for outstanding contribution to the field of membrane contact sites at the international EMBO Workshop on Membrane Contact Sites in Health and Disease in Arosa, Switzerland.


Michael Houghton, Department of Medicine, received the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the American Liver Foundation.


Anne Halpin, '92 BScMLS, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, was awarded the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Outstanding Technologist Award.


National and Local Awards

Samina Ali, Department of Pediatrics, received the Award for Individual Leadership from the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Sciences.

Gopi Sutendra, Department of Medicine, received a McDonald Scholarship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation in the 2018/2019 Alberta New Investigators Competition.


John Lewis, Department of Oncology, received the Bio Alberta Award for Scientific Achievement.


Charls Els, Department of Psychiatry, and Sebastian Straube, Department of Medicine, won the poster prize of the Occupational and Environmental Medical Association of Canada (OEMAC) on September 24, 2018.


Rashid Alobaidi, Department of Pediatrics, received the 2018 Baxter Young Investigator Award.


James Shapiro, '01 PhD, Department of Surgery and Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI), received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Diabetes Canada. Read more.


Patrick MacDonald, Department of Pharmacology and Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI), received the Diabetes Canada Young Scientist Award.


Recent graduate Brooklyn Mazure, '18 BScRT, was awarded the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Allied Health Professional Mentorship award at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Toronto, for her project Should Stereotactic Radiosurgery be Considered for Salvage of Intracranial recurrence in Small Cell Lung Cancer?


Congratulations to the School of Dentistry on being ranked second in University Magazine's top dental schools in Canada!


Department of Family Medicine

Congratulations to the following winners of the Department of Family Medicine Teaching and Excellence Awards:

  • Brad Rowe, Lynnwood Family Physicians

  • Elisabeth Thompson, Westgrove Clinic

  • Michelle Morros, Misericordia Family Medicine Centre

  • Ron Shute, Grey Nuns Family Medicine Centre

  • Neil Bell, Misericordia Family Medicine Centre


Marjan Abassi and Sheny Khera, co-creators of the Seniors Community Hub, received the 2018 Frailty Innovation of the Year by the Canadian Frailty Network (CFN).

(Photo credit: Canadian Frailty Network).


Students, Residents and Trainees

Congratulations to MD/PhD student Michele DuVal, 2018 ASTech Award Finalist! The winners will be announced at the ASTech Award ceremony October 26 in Edmonton.

Kirk Reid, MD class of 2020, was awarded the Dr. Michael Tarrant Scholarship in rural medicine from the Alberta Medical Association.

Aaron Vander Leek, MSc student (supervisor Anita Kozyrskyj), received a Department of Pediatrics Scholarship.

MSc student Kelsea Drall (supervisor Anita Kozyrskyj), was awarded a $10,000 Food and Health Innovation Initiative grant from the Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Science (ALES). Her project will investigate whether infant vitamin D drops are associated with altered gut microbiota metabolism.

(Above: Anita Kozyrskyj with graduate students Aaron Van Der Leek and Kelsea Drall)

At the Royal College Simulation Summit in Halifax, Jake Hayward, resident, Department of Emergency Medicine, received the Emerging Investigator Award.

Joshua DeSerres, resident, Department of Surgery, has received the Resident of the Month Award for October 2018 from the Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta (PARA).


Know an outstanding U of A grad?


Do Great Things is both the promise and the challenge of our Alumni Association. The University of Alberta Alumni Awards recognize the professional achievements, community service and innovation of graduates around the globe.


Help us recognize these outstanding University of Alberta grads by nominating them for an Alumni Award.


Nomination deadline: December 15, 2018


Contact: alumni.awards@ualberta.ca, 780-492-4523