Three faculty earn top university recognition.
With specialties as divergent as medieval literature and modern medicine, three faculty members have been found to have at least one thing in common – their outstanding scholarly careers are as good as it gets at Western.
Honoured this year with the Distinguished University Professorship Award — the university’s top award for academics – are Davy Cheng, Gerald Kidder and Robert Poole.
The award acknowledges sustained excellence in scholarship over a substantial career at Western, taking into consideration the full breadth of academics. The award includes a citation, the right to use the title, an opportunity to present a public lecture and a $10,000 prize to be used for scholarly activity at any time.
The following profiles were compiled from the nomination materials submitted on behalf of the winners.
Davy Cheng
As professor and chair of the Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine, Davy Cheng’s vision, leadership, teaching and research have advanced academic anesthesia not only at Western, but also nationally and internationally.
Recognized as a world expert in cardiac anesthesia and post-operative care, perioperative blood management and evidence-based clinical practice, Cheng’s research activities have focused on resource utilization in fast track cardiac surgery, off-pump beating heart surgery and robotic cardiac surgery.
“Dr. Cheng has had significant impact in a variety of areas of clinical practice and health science – from the front lines of anesthesia and perioperative medicine to administrative decision-making in the board rooms of hospitals across Canada and around the world,” says Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry Dean Carol Herbert.
“Dr. Cheng is an exemplary leader, researcher and educator.”
Cheng is a member of the advisory committee on international initiatives of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 2007, he was elected as the Canadian member on the board of trustees of the International Anesthesia Research Society and is currently co-chair of its scientific program committee.
“Dr. Cheng is unique in that he is esteemed not only among his peers in anesthesia, but also among physicians practicing both cardiac surgery and critical care,” says Douglas Boyd, professor of Clinical Surgery and director of Robotics and Biosurgery at the University of California, Davis.
Having published more than 125 peer-reviewed scientific papers and over 43 chapters and online educational modules, Cheng has also found time to supervise and mentor 37 students and fellows. He has also offered his expertise to be a partner in research and education in cardiac anesthesia and perioperative care in countries including China and India.
“Few people I know can remotely match what Dr. Cheng has accomplished in the past 20 years,” says Vincent Chan, president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine and professor of Anesthesia at the University of Toronto. “His achievements are simply extraordinary and his research in anesthesia is indisputable.”
Cheng’s contribution to anesthesiology has led to coining the phrase ‘fast-track’ cardiac anesthesia – which decreases the length of intensive care unit and hospital stay, and helps avoid post-surgery complications. The approach is now used throughout the field of cardiac surgery and anesthesia.
“The name Davy Cheng is ubiquitous in our field and his reputation for exemplary science is unparalleled,” adds Hilary Grocott, professor of Anesthesia and Surgery at the University of Manitoba. “Without question, Dr. Cheng is a world renowned anesthesiologist.”
Public Lecture – Cardiac Anesthesia & Surgery – Past, Present and Future, April 8, 4 p.m., Medical Sciences Building (Room 146).
Gerald Kidder
Internationally recognized in the fields of Developmental Biology and Gap Junction Biology, Gerald Kidder has made enduring contributions to the understanding of developmental processes related to ion channels and pumps in embryogenesis.
His research has attracted considerable competitive grant support from federal agencies and he currently holds funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
“Dr. Kidder is known as an outstanding undergraduate teacher,” says Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry Dean Carol Herbert. “He excels in the supervision of graduate students and post-doctoral research trainees, and is sought as a mentor by other faculty members, particularly by junior colleagues.”
A faculty member since 1972, and currently a professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Kidder has served as the Associate Vice-President (Research) for the last three years. He is chair of the Developmental Biology Program at the Children’s Health Research Institute and a scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute.
As an example of leadership, Kidder assembled a group of local investigators with interests in gap junction research. This group has now grown to include five core members and about a dozen affiliate members, with an additional three dozen graduate and postdoctoral trainees working with group members.
“Because of this, Western is regarded as being a leader in gap junction research and training in Canada,” says Herbert. “He has a long and consistent history of innovative contributions to research, to leadership and service to the university and the scientific community and the education of the next generation of researchers.”
Kidder was awarded a Schulich Award of Excellence in 2008 for contributions to graduate student education by developing innovative and popular courses in Physiology and Pharmacology.
“Jerry mentored me at key points, from my years as an undergraduate through to getting my first job. His advice was thoughtful and to the point,” says Ron Conlon, associate professor of genetics in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. “It strikes me every time I run into him at a meeting that his zest for science has the same intensity it had when I was an undergraduate many years ago.”
Former student Michael Golding, now an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology at Texas A&M University, says Kidder has been “a source of unyielding support, guidance and inspiration.”
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He is a passionate member of the faculty and is eager to help researchers in whatever way he can … the embodiment of a university professor.”
Public Lecture – Explorations in Developmental Biology: From Aquarium to Cage to Clinic, April 8, 4 p.m., Medical Sciences Building (Room 146).
Russell Poole
English professor and former department chair Douglas Kneale says he knew when Russell Poole joined Western as a professor in medieval literature that the university had acquired an internationally recognized authority in his field, a great teacher and an effective mentor in graduate supervision.
Poole’s contributions to scholarship have their primary focus in medieval studies, including Old and Middle English, Old Icelandic, medieval Latin, and Old Irish Language and Literature; Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian history; and the evolution of medieval scholarship.
His research has resulted in numerous original contributions, especially relating to skaldic poetry,” says Kneale, adding Poole brought skaldic studies into contact with sociolinguistic and poststructuralist theory, resulting in the University of Iceland asking him to publish in the literary journal Skirnir.
This book-length publication of the “running commentary” model was acclaimed by reviewers internationally, is widely used in university courses and has earned the status of a classic in the field.
Poole has been an outstanding administrator, serving as chair of graduate studies and later acting chair, succeeding Kneale after his term.
Poole’s work was recognized with his election as a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities in 2008 (converted to a fellowship in the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2009) and with election to a Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada in 2009.
Poole plays an active role in developing and teaching courses at all levels. His teaching evaluations have been consistently in the superior range with student comments ranging from “incredibly knowledgeable” and “great at facilitating an interactive learning environment” to “a gracious instructor” and “extraordinarily approachable and generous in his teaching.”
“His record in teaching is impressive in its evidence of scholarly reach, effectiveness, compassion and student success,” says Kneale. “Professor Poole is indeed a distinguished teacher.”
Andy Orchard, professor of English and Medieval Studies and Provost and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Toronto, says Poole is a superb medieval scholar with an enviable international reputation.
“I have always been hugely impressed by the sheer weight and breadth of professor Poole’s lightly worn learning, and also by his great intellectual generosity, particularly with younger scholars,” says Orchard.
Yale University English professor Robert Frank says Poole is his vision of “an ideal colleague for he is kind, articulate and interested in – and knowledgeable about – everything and everybody.”
“He is a born leader, both in his chosen scholarly fields and in his current university setting,” says Frank. “He is a consummate professional – principled, fair-minded, energetic and generous with his time. He is a builder, innovator and a genuine star in the academic firmament. As a Canadian, I consider professor Poole a national treasure.”
Public Lecture – To be held in the fall.
Faculty Scholars
Faculty Scholars are nominated by deans and selected by the faculty selection committee, which is chaired by the Provost. Recipients have an international presence in their discipline and are considered all-round scholars.
Winners hold the title of Faculty Scholar for two years, and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities.
The university has designated 16 Faculty Scholars this year for significant achievements in teaching or research.
The list includes:
Engineering
Paul Charpentier
Xueliang (Andy) Sun
Richard Ivey School of Business
June Cotte
Gerard Seijts
Information & Media Studies
Nick Witheford
Social Science
Victoria Esses
Stephen Lomber
Todd Stinebrickner
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Stephen Ferguson
Amit Garg
Joaquin Madrenas
Science
Robert Hudson
Heinz-Bernard Kraatz
David Riley
Eugene Wong
Health Sciences
Debbie Laliberte Rudman