Announcement: Four new CRCs announced

Congratulations to Shehzad Ali, PhD, Grace Parraga, PhD, Corey Baron, PhD, and Marco Prado, PhD, who have been named among Western’s nine new Canada Research Chairs (CRCs).

The Canada Research Chairs Program aims to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. With this announcement, there are now 1,836 Canada research chairs at universities across Canada.

"The Canada Research Chair Awards represent important investments in areas of research that represent strategic priorities for our School and our partners within the London research community," said David Litchfield, PhD, Vice Dean, Research & Innovation at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry.

Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced 346 positions at 52 institutions across Canada.

“Our government recognizes that when our institutions better reflect the diversity of Canada, science and research are stronger and their impacts on the lives of Canadians are more profound,” Duncan said. “I am encouraged to see improved equity, diversity and inclusion among our CRCs and look forward to seeing how their unique perspectives will help shape a better future for us all. I would like to thank our universities for embracing research excellence and inclusion.”

Patrick O’Donoghue, PhD, was also renewed in this round.

The nine newly named Western CRCs were:

  • Epidemiology and Biostatistics professor Shehzad Ali, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Tier 2, Public Health Economics
  • Medical Biophysics professor Corey Baron, CIHR, Tier 2, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Biology professor Natasha Mhatre, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Tier 2, Invertebrate neurobiology
  • Western Law professor Alan Miller, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Tier 2, Law and Economics
  • Medical Biophysics professor Grace Parraga, CIHR, Tier 1, Lung Imaging to Transform Outcomes
  • Biomedical Engineering professor Arghya Paul, NSERC, Tier 2, Advanced Cell-instructive Materials and Biotherapeutics
  • Anatomy and Cell Biology professor Marco Prado, CIHR, Tier 1, Neurochemistry of Dementia;
  • Statistics and Actuarial Sciences professor Cristian D. Bravo Roman, NSERC, Tier 2, Banking and Insurance Analytics
  • Information and Media Studies professor Nadine Wathen, SSHRC, Tier 1, Mobilizing Knowledge on Gender-Based Violence

The renewed Western CRCs were:

  • Earth Sciences professor Fred J. Longstaffe, NSERC, Tier 1, Stable Isotope Science
  • Physics and Astronomy professor Stanimir Metchev, NSERC, Tier 2, Extrasolar Planets
  • Biochemistry professor Patrick O’Donoghue, CIHR, Tier 2, Chemical Biology