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AWARDS/HONOURS/
ACHIEVEMENTS

Paulo Koeberle (Anatomy) and Katalin Szaszi (Keenan Research Centre) are recipients of NSERC 2012 Discovery Grant Awards

Keith L. Moore (Professor Emeritus of Surgery and former Chair of Anatomy) was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Ohio State University in recognition of his lifetime of achievements in the field of anatomy and on the advancement of medicine. Celebrated for his over 60 years of teaching, Dr. Moore has lectured across the world to faculties and students on topics including anatomy, embryology and genetics.

Cindi Morshead (Anatomy) received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for her study "Promoting self repair by endogenous stimulation and rehabilitation following stroke".

Christopher Caldarone (CardSurg) received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his study "A Randomized Controlled Trial of Hybrid and Norwood Surgical Strategies for Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease".

George Christakis (CardSurg) is the recipient of the 2011-2012 Peters-Boyd Academy Teaching Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Member of the Faculty.

Robert J. Cusimano (CardSurg) received a 2011-12 Wightman-Berris Academy Individual Teaching Award in the Undergraduate category.

Ren-Ke Li (CardSurg) received the Lister Prize, awarded to an investigator who has shown outstanding and continuing productivity of international stature as evidenced by research publications, grants held, students trained and other evidence of stature of the work produced.

Ren-Ke also received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his study "Ultrasound-targeted gene delivery to enhance cell engraftment in the aged heart after ischemic injury"

Vivek Rao (CardSurg) received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his study "Prognostic role of endothelial progenitor cells in patients with heart failure".

Subodh Verma (CardSurg), in a collaboration between St. Michael’s Hospital and King Saud University received a joint U.S. patent entitled: "Method for Preventing and Treating Cardiovascular Diseases with BRCA1".

Subodh has also been awarded a three-year (2012-2015) research grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation for his work entitled "Elucidating the Role of MicroRNA-145 in Atherosclerosis."

Subodh Verma was Co-Chair and speaker at the ACS Summit meeting, where he talked on "Bleeding and Thrombosis Update" (Toronto, February 11, 2012), and at the State of the Heart Meeting where he presented "HDL Raising, Endothelial Function and Plaque Inflammation", Toronto, June 2, 2012.

Subodh also received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his study "Elucidating Role of MicroRNA-145 in Atherosclerosis".

Bobby Yanagawa (CardSurg), under the mentorship of Subodh Verma received a Resident Research Award from the Physicians’ Services Incorporated Foundation for his project entitled "Elucidating the Role of Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) in Adverse Cardiac Remodeling."

Georges Azzie (GenSurg) was awarded the Tovee Undergraduate Prize, which is offered to an academic staff member of the Department of Surgery who has made the greatest contribution to the educational activities of the Department, as exemplified by Dr. E. Bruce Tovee during his outstanding career.

Tulin Cil (GenSurg) received the 2011-12 Wightman- Berris Academy Individual Teaching Award in the Postgraduate category.

Natalie Coburn (GenSurg) received a 3 year CIHR grant in the amount of $400,000 for her study entitled "A population based outcome and economic evaluation of interventions for gastric cancer".

Anand Ghanekar (GenSurg) received a 1 year renewal for his CIHR Phase 1 Clinician-Scientist Award

Darlene Fenech (GenSurg) is the recipient of the 2011-2012 Peters-Boyd Academy Teaching Award for Teaching in Clerkship.

Teodor Grantcharov (GenSurg) was awarded the George-Armstrong Peters Prize, presented to a young investigator who has shown outstanding productivity during his initial period as an independent investigator as evidenced by research publications in peer reviewed journals, grants held, and students trained.

Ahmed Kayssi (GenSurg) received the Leo Mahoney Resident Teaching Award, which recognizes a resident who exhibits excellence as a teacher, commitment to the undergraduate student experience in surgery and compassion for patients.

Jacob C. Langer (GenSurg) has recently become the president of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Surgeons

Helen MacRae (GenSurg) received the Surgical Skills Centre Distinguished Educator Award for outstanding contributions and commitment to surgical skills education. This award recognizes those individuals who have made exemplary, innovative contributions to teaching and learning in the Surgical Skills Centre over the past year.

John Marshall (GenSurg) received the Jameel Ali Award in Continuing Educating in Surgery, for his sustained contributions to continuing education through participation, development and dissemination of knowledge in programs locally, nationally and internationally at the St. Michael’s Hospital Education Achievement Day.

John also received a grant from the Physicians’ Services Inc. Foundation for his study "Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Prolonged Neutrophil-Mediated Inflammation in Trauma and Sepsis: The Role of PBEF/ Nampt/Visfatin."

Carol-Anne Moulton (GenSurg) received the 2011-12 Wightman-Berris Academy Individual Teaching Award in the Undergraduate category.

Robert Mustard (GenSurg) received the Dean A. L. Chute Award (The Silver Shovel) - Excellence in Postgraduate Medical Education Award - Teaching Performance / Mentorship / Advocacy category. This award recognizes outstanding contributions of faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching and serve as mentors and advocates to postgraduate medical trainees.

Lakhbir Sandhu (GenSurg) and Francis Zih (GenSurg) shared the 2nd place of the 2012 Gallie Bateman Prize.

Homer Tien (GenSurg) received the Canadian Forces Major Sir Frederick Banting Term Chair in Military Trauma Research. This degree of recognition is a testament to the great work he does both locally and abroad and was presented to Homer by Mr. Chris Alexander, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defense in a ceremony held at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Jonathan Yeung (Gen Surg) received the 1st place of 2012 Gallie Bateman Prize, awarded to a member of the Surgeon Scientist Program.

PGY4 resident Ryan Alkins (NeurSurg) received a New Investigator Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in recognition of the best basic science paper presented at the Institute’s Annual Convention held on Apr. 6-9 in New York. His winning entry entitled "Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption with Focused Ultrasound Allows Brain Tumor Therapy with Targeted Immune Cells" was co-authored with Alison Burgess, Milan Ganguly, Winfried Wels and Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, Ryan’s masters thesis supervisor at Sunnybrook Hospital.

David Cadotte (NeurSurg) was awarded a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation for his project "Functional MRI evaluation of the human spinal cord".

David also won the Synthes Award for Resident Research on Brain and Craniofacial Injury for his paper entitled, "Visualizing Plasticity and Altered Neuronal Signaling in the Injured Human Spinal Cord with fMRI". The Award will be presented at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in Chicago in October 2012.

Clement Hamani (NeurSurg), a Division - affiliated neuroscientist at Toronto Western Hospital and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, has been awarded a two-year grant from the Sao Paolo Research Foundation (FAPESP) - University of Toronto- Western University Researcher Exchange Program. Funding from this highly competitive round will help support Clement’s research on the neurosurgical treatment of movement disorders, epilepsy, pain and psychiatric disorders conducted in the laboratories he operates in Toronto and in Sao Paolo.

Michael Cusimano (NeurSurg) received the Donald J. Currie Undergraduate Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in education, spending time with students, stimulating their curiosity in the field and serving as a role model.

Karen Davis (NeurSurg) is co-investigator on a 4 year grant (total funding $451,668) funded by CIHR. The grant is entitled Development of a perfusion MRI technique to investigate longitudinal effects of chronic pain on brain function (PI: Keith St. Lawrence, Univ. of Western Ontario).

Karen was elected to a Council position of the International Association for the Study of Pain for a 6 year term; and appointed to the Scientific Advisory Council of Brain Canada for a 2 year term

PGY5 Michael Ellis (NeurSurg) received the Alan Hudson Resident Teaching Award for his contributions to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

Michael Fehlings (NeurSurg) was named the 2012 Mayfield Lecturer and the Mayfield Medalist. He gave the keynote address and received the Medal at the Mayfield Clinic in June 2012.

Michael Fehlings, along with two others, jointly received the Golden Axon Leadership Award of the Brain Mapping Foundation.
He was awarded a Spine Fellowship Grant from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a 2-year grant from the Ontario Brain Institute for the Integrated Discovery System (IDS) for his project entitled "CP Integrated Neuroscience Discovery Network (IDS-11-03)".

Fred Gentili (NeurSurg)’s distinguished career has been recognized with honorary membership in the Italian Neurological Society and more recently with the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons Award of Excellence. Fred has taught and been an outstanding mentor to a generation of neurosurgery residents and fellows and his work has touched the lives of many.

Gregory Hawryluk (NeurSurg) successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled, "Defining the Mechanisms by which Transplanted Neural Precursor Cells Mediate Functional Recovery Following Spinal Cord Injury" on February 13 under the supervision of Michael Fehlings.

Mojgan Hodaie (NeurSurg) received the 2012 Bernard Langer Surgeon-Scientist Award at the 38th Gallie Day on May 4. This award is presented to an outstanding graduate of the Surgeon Scientist Program in the Department of Surgery who shows the greatest promise for a career in academic surgery.

Spyridon Karadimas (NeurSurg), a fellow with Michael Fehlings, was awarded the Best Paper Award at the AOSpine North America Fellows Forum for his project "The sodium channel/glutamate blocker riluzole is complementary to surgical decompression in a preclinical experimental model of cervical spondylotic myelopathy: Implications for translational clinical application".

Boris Krischek (NeurSurg) and Benedict Rogers (OrthoSurg) were the co-recipients of the Zane Cohen Clinical Fellowship Achievement Award from the Department of Surgery at this year’s Gallie Day Dinner.

Residency Program Director Abhaya Kulkarni (NeurSurg) has been elected to membership in the Society for Neurological Surgeons at the Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia on May 19-21. Abhaya joins Mark Bernstein, Michael Fehlings, Andres Lozano, Loch Macdonald, James Rutka and Michael Schwartz as our Division’s newest member of this prestigious society.

Andres Lozano (NeurSurg) has been selected to receive a 2012 Pioneer in Medicine Award from the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics, given in recognition of individuals who have significantly contributed to the scientific advancement in the fields of medicine and image guided therapy through a multidisciplinary approach. Andres is one of the foremost authorities in the field of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), and is being recognized for breaking new ground in the treatment of depression, obesity and Alzheimer’s disease using DBS.

Andres has also been awarded a 3-year $520,439 grant as lead investigator from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)/Ontario Brain Institute for his project entitled "Deep Brain Stimulation for Alzheimer’s Disease".

Andres received a 1-year $150,000 grant as lead investigator from the Klarman Family Foundation for his project entitled "Deep Brain Stimulation for the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa: Pilot Trial".

Andres has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Herbert Olivecrona Award from the Karolinska Institute. The Award and Medal, named in honor of the father of modern neurosurgery in Sweden, is presented each year to a neurosurgeon for contributions to brain or spinal cord surgery and/or research.

Loch Macdonald (NeurSurg) was awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Planning Grant - International Research Collaborations for the project entitled "Subarachnoid Hemorrhage International Trialists (SAHIT) Repository."

Todd Mainprize (NeurSurg) received the Alan Hudson Faculty Teaching Award in recognition of his contributions to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

Tom Schweizer (NeurSurg) received a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his study: "White matter injury and cognitive outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage"

PGY6 resident Demitre Serletis (NeurSurg) has been named to the prestigious Forty Under 40 Class of 2012 by the Greek America Foundation in recognition of recipients’ contributions to their communities and to the world around them.

Charles Tator and Michael Fehlings (NeurSurg) received a 2012 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation to continue and commence new trials with the North American Clinical Trials Network for the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury.
Charles is the 2012 Royal College Gallie Lecturer.
He also received the USA Hockey Excellence in Safety Award for his work in preventing brain and spinal cord injuries in hockey.
Charles Tator is the recipient of an Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) Safety Leadership Award. This award is given out to "an individual that has made a remarkable and extensive contribution towards enhancing safety awareness in their community in Ontario."

Michael Tymianski (NeurSurg) received the Golden Axon Award from the Brian Mapping Foundation. This award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated world-class leadership in neuroscience and have reached out to their local communities.

Taufik Valiante (NeurSurg) is Co-PI in a 5 year grant entitled "Transitional states of seizures: mechanisms and modulation" from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Taufik is also PI of a Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS)-Accelerate Cluster grant entitled "Signal processing of EEG for detection and classification of clinical brain states" and Co-PI on a grant entitled "Lacosamide Anticonvulsant Actions on Epileptic Tissue" from UCB Pharma.

PGY4 resident Jeff Wilson (NeurSurg) won the Scarlett Award from the Canadian Spine Society for his paper entitled "A Clinical Prediction Model for Long Term Functional Outcome after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Based on Acute Clinical and Imaging Factors". These awards speak to the excellence of Jeff ’s work and the training opportunity provided by Michael Fehlings.

Jeff has also won the 2012 K.G. McKenzie Prize (1st Place) for Clinical Neuroscience Research from the Canadian Neurological Society for his work entitled "A Clinical Prediction Model for Long-Term Functional Outcome after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury". The McKenzie Prizes are the most prestigious neurosurgery resident awards in Canada.

Jeff also received the Synthes Spinal Cord Injury Resident Award at the AANS Meeting in Miami, FL for his project "A prediction model for functional outcome after traumatic spinal cord injury" and a Clinical Trial Fellowship Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves for a clinical trial proposal in acute spinal cord injury.

Gelareh Zadeh (NeurSurg) is the recipient of the 2012 Lois H Ross Resident Advocate award from PAIRO, given to an individual who consistently advocates on behalf of residents and resident issues, within their role as administrator, teacher or clinician. This is a wellearned validation of her excellent teaching and commitment to our residents.

Gelareh was also appointed as the Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee for Acoustic Neuroma Association of Canada.

Gelareh was appointed as an Associate Member to the Institute of Medical Science Graduate Studies.

Gelareh was appointed as full time faculty at STTARR (Spatio-Temporal Targeting and Amplification of Radiation Response) Facility at University Health Network.

Gelareh was awarded a 3-year operating grant as Lead PI from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the project entitled "Role of Bone Marrow Derived Progenitor Cells in Brain Tumor Neovascularization."

Gelareh Zadeh was awarded a 5-year operating grant as Co-PI from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the project entitled "Targeting Thrombospondin-1 in medulloblastoma."

Gelareh Zadeh (Co-PI) and colleagues are the recipients of an Allied Health Research Award for the project entitled "Neuropsychological outcomes after anterior skull base surgery a comparison study of a balance cohort operated with an endonasal or transcranial approach."

Peter Ferguson (OrthoSurg) was awarded the Tovee Postgraduate Prize, which is offered to an academic staff member of the Department of Surgery who has made the greatest contribution to the educational activities of the Department, as exemplified by Dr. E. Bruce Tovee during his outstanding career

Marilyn Heng (OrthoSurg) was awarded the D.R. Wilson Award, which is offered annually to the surgical resident who is rated by undergraduate students as being an outstanding teacher.

Jeremie Larouche (OrthoSurg) received the Paul McGoey Teaching Award at the St. Michael’s Hospital Education Achievement Day held June 8, 2012. Jeremy was recognized for displaying the highest level of clinical care to his patients during the rotation at St. Michael’s Hospital. The award was donated by Dr. Peter James to honour the memory of Dr. Paul McGoey.

Emil Schemitsch (OrthoSurg) is the recipient of funding from the Education Development Fund in the Faculty of Medicine in the amount of $9425 for his project titled "Abuse screening education in Orthopaedic Surgery: building knowledge and capacity for change".

PGY5 David Wasserstein (OrthoSurg) has been selected to receive the Herodicus award for his paper "Predictors of Dislocations and Revision After Shoulder Stabilization Surgery in Ontario from 2003-2008". This award was identified by a committee of the Herodicus Society as the best paper presented by a resident in training at this year’s upcoming AOSSM annual meeting.

Albert Yee (OrthoSurg) and Cari Whyne (OrthoSurg) were the receivers of the Charles Tator Award, which recognizes individuals supervising participants in the SSP who emulate Professor Tator’s qualities, namely excellence in research, commitment to SSP mentoring and dedication to promotion of Surgeon-Scientists.

Oleh Antonyshyn (PlasSurg) was the winner of the William K. Lindsay Faculty Research Mentor Award.

PGY-3 Heather Baltzer (PlasSurg) received the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Award: "A cost-utility analysis of needle aponeurotomy, partial fasciectomy and collagenase injection for treatment of single-digit Dupuytren’s contracture" (Supervisor Paul Binhammer) at the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and GAM Canada meeting.

Heather also received the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Award for "A cost-utility analysis of needle aponeurotomy, partial fasciectomy and collagenase injection for treatment of single-digit Dupuytren’s contracture" (Supervisor Paul Binhammer).

Greg Borschel (PlasSurg) was one of 28 winners in the GTA for the Ontario Early Researcher Awards (ERA). He received the ERA funding in support of his project "Enhancing Recovery Following Nerve Injury" using growth factors and electrical stimulation".

PGY-5 Kristen Davidge (PlasSurg) received the 2012 Ross Tilley Scholarship. The Tilley Foundation scholarship stands for the persistent need for excellence in the field - for surgeons who can lead this country to groundbreaking heights, and for a world without borders when it comes to changing the lives of patients.

Kristen Davidge was awarded the Mentor Canada, Johnson and Johnson Medical Companies Prize for Best Clinical Paper Award, 2012, presented at the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery’s Annual Resident Research Day for her paper : "Processes of Care in Autogenous Breast Reconstruction with Pedicled TRAM Flaps: Expediting Postoperative Discharge in an Ambulatory Setting". (Authors: Davidge K, Morgan P, Brown M, and Semple J. and Supervisors: Drs John Semple and Mitchell Brown)

Cory Goldberg (PlasSurg) was the winner of the Arnis Freiberg Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Cory Goldberg and Oleh Antonyshyn (PlasSurg) were winners of the Arnis Freiberg Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and William K. Lindsay Faculty Research Mentor Award respectively, selected by the final year graduating class.

Teodor Grantcharov (PlastSurg) is the recipient of funding from the Education Development Fund in the Faculty of Medicine for his project titled "Development of a Tool for Identification and Assessment of Technical Errors in Laparoscopic Surgery".

PhD Candidate Siba Haykal (PlasSurg) was awarded the Best Basic Science Paper: "Determining the in vitro and in vivo immune response towards decellularized porcine tracheal allografts for airway transplantation" (Supervisors Drs. Hofer and Waddell) at the meeting of the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and GAM Canada.

Stefan Hofer (PlasSurg) and his co-investigators (Drs. Metcalfe, McCready, McGillion and Zhong) obtained a 2 year CIHR funding for their project "Development of a decision support tool in post-mastectomy reconstruction surgery".

Marc Jeschke (PlasSurg) was successful in the latest CIHR Operating Grant competition. Marc and his co-investigators (Drs. Boehning and Rubenfeld) were awarded a 5 year grant for their project "Catecholamines as primary mediators of post-burn hypermetabolism: A clinical prospective trial".

Jennica Platt (PlasSurg) has been awarded the inaugural GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Ontario Region Physician Fellowship by the Ontario Region Post-Doctoral and Physician Fellowship Review Panel.

Jennica has also been awarded a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship from CIHR for her Master’s work "Geographic access to breast reconstruction in Ontario and influence of physician availability" (supervisors Toni Zhong and Nancy Baxter). Jennica placed 2nd out of 123 candidates in this competition.

Fellow Alison Snyder-Warwick (PlasSurg) was awarded for her work "Functional outcomes in facial reanimation: Comparison of innervation sources" (Supervisors Drs. Zuker and Borschel) at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and GAM Canada.

Ron Somogyi (PlasSurg) received the Best Clinical Paper Award, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Toronto 2012 for "Complications and Reoperations in Primary Breast Augmentation and Augmentation Mastopexy: A Single Surgeon’s Review of 1700 Cases" (Authors: Somogyi R and Brown M; Supervisor: Mitchell Brown)

Fellow Karen Wong (PlasSurg) received the 2012 Plastic Surgery Outcomes Grant: "Developing a patient-reported outcome measure for cleft lip and/or palate (CLEFT-Q)" at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and GAM Canada meeting.

Toni Zhong (PlasSurg) and co-investigators Nancy Baxter (GenSurg), Stefan Hofer (PlasSurg), Mitch Brown (PlasSurg), Brett Beber (PlasSurg) and John Semple (PlasSurg) were successful in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region Research Project Grant Program Fall 2011 competition. They were awarded $368,449 over 3 years for their study entitled "The use of human acellular dermal matrix in one-stage implant breast reconstruction: A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial".

Toni Zhong (PlasSurg) is this year’s recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) prestigious Career Development Award.

Toni Zhong and Nancy Baxter received the American Society of Clinical Oncology Career Development Award for their work "The Use of Human Acellular Dermal Matrix in One-Stage Implant Breast Reconstruction: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial" from Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) .

Wolfgang M. Kuebler (Surg) received a CIHR grant for his study "Role of CFTR and sphingolipids in hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction".

Shaf Keshavjee (ThorSurg) received the CIHR Institute of Circulatory & Respirology Health (ICRH) & Canadian Thoracic Surgery (CTS) Distinguished Lecturer in Respiratory Science Award , 2012.

Shaf also received the 2012 Transplantation Society (TTS) - Roche Award for Excellence in Translational Science.

Darius Bagli (UrolSurg) has been selected as the 2012 American Urological Association (AUA) Foundation Distinguished Mentor.

Robert Nam (UrolSurg) has been appointed to the Ajmera Family Chair in Urologic Oncology for a term of 5 years effective April 1, 2012. The primary vision of the Ajmera Family Chair in Urologic Oncology is to pursue and achieve clinical and research excellence in the field of prostate cancer.

Nathan Perlis (UrolSurg) received the 3rd place of 2012 Gallie Bateman Prize, awarded to a member of the Surgeon Scientist Program.

Vern Campbell (VascSurg) received the William Horsey Post-Graduate Teaching Award at the St. Michael’s Hospital Education Achievement Day for his excellence to postgraduate education, spending time with residents and fellows, using unique educational approaches, stimulating curiosity in the field and serving as a role model