Three Western graduates are among the recipients of this year’s Governor General’s Academic Medals. Since 1873, the awards have recognized outstanding students across Canada.
Western graduates Elmond Bandauko, PhD’24, Rochelle Furtado, PhD’24 and Marie Lan, MSc’24, have received the gold medal, awarded for academic excellence at the graduate level. The medal is awarded to students with the highest academic standing. Universities with more than 5,000 full-time graduate students award three medals.
Meet Western’s three 2024 winners:
Elmond Bandauko, Faculty of Social Science
(Anson Teague Wigner/Cornell University)
Bandauko completed his PhD in geography and environment this summer. During his graduate studies, Bandauko published 33 articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals in the fields of urban geography and planning.
Bandauko’s thesis investigated urban governance and the spatial politics of street traders in Harare, Zimbabwe. By using a series of qualitative research strategies, including focus groups, in-depth interviews, participatory photography and critical discourse analysis, Bandauko revealed new insights about the relationship between street traders and urban authorities. His research will help advance scholarly debate and policy development.
Bandauko’s work, supervised by professor Godwin Arku, was supported by the SSHRC Vanier Scholarship, International Development Research Center, Ontario Graduate Scholarship and was recognized by the U.K.-based International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Foundation through a PhD studentship in 2022.
Bandauko is currently a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University’s Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities.
Rochelle Furtado, Faculty of Health Sciences
(Submitted)
Furtado received her PhD in physical therapy this summer. By collaborating with patients, surgeons and rehabilitation professionals at Roth | McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre, she created and tested a novel education and exercise program for patients undergoing shoulder replacement surgery.
Furtado’s research used an innovative co-creation process where patient needs and preferences were integrated into the design process. Building the Preoperative Rehabilitation and Education Program (PREPS) program included a national survey completed by 400 patients and clinicians. Evaluation in a pilot randomized control trial showed high levels of usefulness, better preparation for surgery and less distress for patients. The scientific impact of her work was published in 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 17 conference presentations and contributions to international working groups that aim to improve pre-operative education.
Furtado was funded by the Ontario Graduate Scholarships program and the Tri-Agency Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Research Award while completing her combined physical therapy clinical training and PhD training. She was supervised by Joy MacDermid, Distinguished University Professor in Physical Therapy. Furtado is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the KITE institute within the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at University Health Network.
Marie Lan, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
(Submitted)
Lan completed her master of science in epidemiology and biostatistics this summer. Her thesis assessed the economic impact of managing hypertension to reduce dementia, a condition projected to grow significantly over the next 30 years.
Lan’s work provided the first comprehensive review of economic evidence on hypertension management for preventing dementia and she developed the first economic model tailored to the Canadian context. Though the role of lifestyle and clinical interventions in mitigating dementia risk is clear, there is a lack of economic evaluation on the effectiveness of those changes.
Her work, supervised by professors Shehzad Ali and Ava John-Baptiste, was supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program.
Lan is now pursuing her PhD at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, where she is researching the economic impact of emerging respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunization programs in Ontario.
