Robert McMurtry Former Western Dean of Medicine (1992-99)
Robert McMurtry received the James H. Graham award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. McMurtry, a professor emeritus, is an active contributor to the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Hand and Upper Limb Centre, with specialties including upper extremity, wrist and hand surgery and determinants of health.
During his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery, he spent two years in Africa, first in a mission hospital in South Africa and then with the Canadian International Development Agency in Uganda. McMurtry started his practice at the former Sunnybrook Hospital (now Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre) in 1975, where he founded and directed Canada’s First Trauma Unit and the multi-disciplinary hand unit.
Doug Ferguson
Western Law’s Community Legal Services (CLS) Director, Doug Ferguson (LLB ’81) has been awarded the Alumni Award of Distinction.
In accepting his award, Ferguson said he has the best law job in Canada.
“Every day I get to teach eager, bright young people and most of all, we have the opportunity to serve people in need,” he said. “Our students help them, and in doing so become not just better lawyers, but better persons. They learn what it means to give back to the community.”
Ferguson adds his goal has been to turn CLS into the best student legal clinic in Canada, and with thanks to the outstanding work of Jason Voss, Margaret Capes, Sue Latta and support staff, that “we have reached our goal.”
Steve Dain
Steve Dain, associate professor in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, has received a member appreciation award from the Canadian Standards Association for 16 years of leadership excellence.
Dain, chair of the Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee on Anaesthetic Equipment, Respiratory Technology & Critical Care Equipment, was recognized for his participation in the development of the Canadian National and International standards for medical equipment and clinical engineering.
Dain is one of the primary Canadian experts active in promoting the country’s interests from a practitioner’s perspective while elevating the quality of Canadian standards in the international arena.
Heather Laschinger
Professor Heather Laschinger, Associate Director, Nursing Research in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, has been selected for International Fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing (AAN).
This is an important acknowledgment of her contributions and achievements in nursing. The AAN serves the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy. Members are nursing’s most accomplished leaders in education, management, practice and research, having been recognized for their extraordinary nursing careers and are among the nation’s most highly-educated citizens. More than 80 per cent hold doctoral degrees, and the rest have completed masters programs.
The induction ceremony for new fellows will be held during the annual meeting Nov. 5-7 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Morgan Kleiber
Graduate student Morgan Kleiber has been awarded the Robert and Ruth Lumsden Graduate Fellowship for 2008-2009. The prize is awarded annually to graduate students in any PhD program within the Faculty of Science.
Kleiber works in Shiva Singh’s lab investigating fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which can cause severe physical and neurobehavioural abnormalities. Her project seeks to find out how this syndrome manifests itself within the developing brain. She is hoping to find that FASD abnormalities are caused by the direct effect of alcohol on differentiating brain cells that are highly sensitive to events causing cellular stress.
Matthew McCann/Rachel White
Fourth-year science students Matthew McCann and Rachel White won top honours recently at the Ontario Biology Day at the University of Windsor.
McCann’s poster, titled “Role of Microsomal Prostaglandin E2 Synthase-1 (mPGES-1) on bleomycin-induced Fibrosis” showed that knocking out the expression of certain genes in mice led to a better understanding of scar tissue formation. McCann is working with Dr. Andrew Leask in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology and is co-supervised by Shiva Singh in Biology.
White won the Canadian Botanical Association Prize for best student presentation in Botany. Her project was titled “Assessing the germination and microhabitat requirements for Skinner’s Agalinis on Walpole Island First Nation.”
Skinner’s Agalinis is an endangered flowering plant species that lives in remnant tallgrass prairies. White’s work includes exploring the nature of these associations and identification of potential hosts. She is working with Jane Bowles in the Biology Department.
Nearly 300 students from seven universities presented talks or posters in 13 categories at the Ontario Biology Day in Windsor.
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