Celebrating your recent achievements

Congratulations to all faculty, staff and trainees on your recent accomplishments and successes.

Katherina Baranova, Medicine Class of 2020, and Paul Plantinga, Anatomical Pathology Resident, won poster awards at the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Association of Pathologists in Niagara Falls.

Saumik Biswas, PhD Candidate with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, conducted an independent research project at the University of Hong Kong this summer as a recipient of the Mitacs Globalink Research Award.

Peter Chidiac, PhD, and Peter Stathopulos, PhD, were honoured by the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics for their exceptional contributions to research in the field of pharmacology.

Christina Chung, Aren Marshall and Renee Tamming from the Department of Biochemistry successfully defended their PhD theses.

Gregory Dekaban, PhD, was appointed Acting Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He is a Scientist at Robarts Research Institute and has received a number of awards for his research and academic leadership.

Dr. John Denstedt was honoured with the Karl Storz Lifetime Achievement Award from the Endourological Society. This international award recognizes a senior endourologist whose lifetime contributions have had a major impact in the field.

Dr. Jeffrey Dixon was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Service Award by the International Association for Dental Research.

Gregory Gloor, PhD, was appointed Chair, Department of Biochemistry. His research currently explores protein evolution, C. difficile infection, microbial ecosystems and CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

Dr. Matthew Hebb received one of 74 operating grants from the Cancer Research Society for his project entitled, “Defining the potential of low-intensity intratumoral modulation therapy-based platforms to treat high fatality brain cancers.”

Matthew Hintermayer and Maedeh Naghibosadat completed their MSc degrees in Pathology. Naghibosadat was supervised by Savita Dhanvantari, PhD, and Lisa Hoffman, PhD. Hintermayer was supervised by Dr. Michael Strong.

Dr. Danielle MacNeil was named a 2019 Cochrane Scholar by the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.

Amanda Oakie from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine successfully defended her PhD thesis, “The role of c-Kit and insulin receptor tyrosine kinases in beta cell function and insulin secretion.” She was supervised by Rennian Wang, PhD.

Dr. Lena Palaniyappan was appointed the Endowed Tanna Schulich Chair of Neurosciences & Mental Health. His research focuses on investigating the brain-based mechanisms of psychosis and depression.

Cheryle Séguin, PhD, won the Founder’s Medal at the International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies annual meeting for her paper, “Mice Lacking the Nucleoside Transporter ENT1 – A Model of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) in Humans.

Dr. David Spence was appointed to the Order of Canada, recognizing his pioneering work in atherosclerosis and stroke prevention.   

Filip Todorovic from the Department of Biochemistry successfully defended his MSc thesis.

Brad Urquhart, PhD, was appointed Associate Dean, Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education. He maintains an active research program in pharmacology and previously served as Chair of Physiology and Pharmacology’s undergraduate program.