IBBME Alumni and Awards Banquet
By Sandra Walker
The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) held its 1st Annual Alumni and Awards Banquet on October 15, 2009. The event was a great success with more than 225 students, faculty and special guests in attendance. This marks IBBME’s first formal outreach to its alumni and the Institute was particularly delighted to welcome over 25 of its former students back to the IBBME community.
One of the highlights of the evening was the keynote address by Tom Closson, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, entitled “The Role of Technology in Health System Improvement." Mr. Closson’s speech offered insights into the changes taking place in the delivery of health care today, with emphasis on how engineering applications can provide solutions to an array of problems within this industry.
The evening was capped with the presentation of several IBBME student awards. Award winners included Elizabeth Munro (MASc) and David Lee (PhD candidate), co-recipients of the Anna Jamieson Award conferred in recognition of contribution to community spirit; Negar Memarian received the Poul B. Madsen Award for academic excellence; Edmond Young received the Norman F. Moody Award for academic achievement; Diana Choi (PhD candidate, IMS) was named the 2008 recipient of the Sally and Paul Wang Distinguished Scholarship; Clinical Engineering student Varuna Prakash was awarded the Institute for Technology in Healthcare (ITHC) Graduate Fellowship; and Nathaniel Hamming received the ITHC Thesis Award.
IBBME instituted a new award this year for best published student paper. There are four such awards, one for each the four thematic groups encompassed within the activities of the Institute: Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine; Nanotechnology, Molecular Imaging, and Systems Biology; Neural, Sensory Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering; and Clinical Engineering. The inaugural winners were Rahul Sarugaser (Bio), Steven Perrault (Nano) Albert Vette (Neural), and Brian Leung (Clinical).
Student awards presented earlier in the year were also acknowledged. This included Hamideh Emrani (PhD candidate – Dentistry) who received the IBBME Scientific Day 2009 award for Best Presentation and Yi Guo (PhD candidate) who received the award for Best Poster; Lindsay Corstorphine (PhD candidate) who received the Banting and Best Canada Graudate Scholarship; 14 students who received a Barbara and Frank Milligan Graduate Fellowship; and undergraduate students Steven Mayers (CHE), Joyce Lam (Biochemistry), and Miaad Aliroteh (EngSci) who were the winners of the IBBME Undergraduate Summer Research Program (USRA) 2009 Poster Competition.
IBBME students who received external scholarships were also honoured. This included 22 NSERC recipients, 18 OGS recipients, five OGSST recipients, and numerous other prestigious student achievements. Dr. Irena Barbulovic-Nad was also recognized for her achievement in receiving an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellowship.
The substantial achievements of the IBBME faculty were also celebrated. This included Dr. Tom Chau (IBBME/Bloorview) for securing a highly competitive NSERC CREATE grant to launch a training program specifically for PhD students; Wayne Johnston (Surgery) for receiving a Society of Vascular Surgery Lifetime Achievement Award; Shana Kelly (Pharmacy) for receiving a Top 40 Under 40 award; Milica Radisic (ChemE) for receiving the Women in Science and Engineering’s 2009 Breaking the Glass Ceiling award; and Dean Cristina Amon (MIE) for receiving the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Heat Transfer Memorial Award.
Musical accompaniment for the evening was provided by the University of Toronto’s Engineering Skule™ String Quartet, featuring Alessandro Ariza (CivE) and Jonathan Wang (EngSci-Biomed) on violins, David Lee (IBBME) on the viola, and Eden Yeung (MIE 1T1) on the cello.
The Institute extends its congratulations to all 2009 student award recipients and celebrates and acknowledges the excellence and achievements of all members of the IBBME community.
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