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Compiled By: Shawn Lawrence
The 2010 Canada Gairdner Awards, considered among the most prestigious in biomedical science, took place in October culminating with the Gairdner Foundation Annual Awards Dinner at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on October 28th.
The gala was an opportunity to recognize this years award winners for their achievements and celebrate science in Canada. Delivering the keynote address at the dinner was His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.
Gairdner International Awards valued at CAN$100 000 each went to William Catterall of the University of Washington, WS, U.S., Pierre Chambon of the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire near Strasbourg, France; William Kaelin of the Harvard Cancer Center; Peter Ratcliffe of Oxford University, UK; and Gregg Semenza at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering in Baltimore, MD, U.S.. Other winners were Nicholas White of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, who won the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.
Highlighted among the recipients was Ontario’s own Dr. Calvin Stiller, winner of the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award for leadership in medicine in Canada. Dr. Stiller was recognized in the opinion of the Foundation, for “his pioneering work in transplantation and diabetes, and as a remarkable entrepreneur and builder of private and public institutions that have greatly enriched the research landscape of Canada.”
Among his impressive list of accomplishments, Dr. Stiller is a founder of MaRS, chair of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Past Chair of Genome Canada. He has played an enormous role in building the Canadian life sciences industry, including raising four venture funds to invest in biotechnology and technology. This award for the Ontario native comes on the heels of his induction to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame last year.
The Gairdners began in 1959, shortly after creator James Arthur Gairdner established the foundation in 1957 to recognize and reward achievements in medical research, and soon became one of Canada’s foremost international awards. They are considered one of the world’s most prestigious medical research awards.
The Gairdners are chosen using a two-part selection process involving a medical review panel, composed of leading mid-career scientists from across Canada, which reviews all nominations. Their recommendations are passed to a medical advisory board, composed of 20 senior scientists from across Canada and around the world. All adjudication is done on a voluntary basis. The awardees are chosen by secret ballot of the medical advisory board.
The gala culminated a month long national celebration of Gairdner events across the country. Additionally, each October, as part of the Gairdners’ mandate to communicate the work of medical researchers to others, the most recent Canada Gairdner awardees, along with awardees from years past, visit universities across Canada to provide academic lectures on their area of expertise. This included the Gairdner lecture series that kicked off in Ontario on October 27 with an afternoon of lectures focusing on the eradication of malaria. Also on October 27th, high school students were treated to a special presentation at York University’s Keele campus as part of the Gairdner Foundations Student Outreach lecture.
On October 28, the main event – the annual Minds that Matter symposium with lectures by the 2010 Gairdner Awards recipients took place. This was followed by a final day of the lectures on October 29, where the Gairdner Symposium was held, highlighting research in epigenetics and genome function.
Moreover, in September, MaRS Discovery District also hosted a symposium for biomedical scientists and innovators from across North America to discuss promoting innovation in life sciences and health care.
The focus of this event was genetics, but delved into other areas including science policy and how to translate basic science into innovation for public good. The keynote address was delivered by the honourable Kevin Lynch, vice-chair, BMO Financial.
Other speakers included Calvin Stiller (2010 Gairdner Wightman Award winner), Dr. Tom Hudson, Dr. Stephen Friend, Dr. Michael Hayden, Dr Leroy Hood and Robert Klein.
In all, this year’s lectures covered topics from molecular biology to epidemiology, highlighting the importance of medical research in all fields of biology and health care.
