Message from the committee chair

Colleagues,

We have a faculty that we can be very proud of, and are fortunate to have a leadership team that is committed to recognizing the excellence of our fellow teachers and researchers.

In 2008, Dr. Tom Feasby, MD, former dean and professor emeritus, established the Cumming School of Medicine’s Awards and Recognition Committee to provide a systematic and regular process to identify and nominate our faculty members for external awards. Since its inception, the committee has submitted more than 700 nominations, which is approximately 50 to 70 nominations per year.

Supporting this volume of nominations takes an incredible team. We are lucky to have the excellent help of Tanna Giroux who coordinates the majority of the nominations, and our fellow committee members who volunteer many hours working with each file. 

We have celebrated many successes with our colleagues including 21 inductees to Fellowship at the Royal Society of Canada and 32 Fellows at the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. We are also extremely gratified to have 11 faculty named as members to the Order of Canada and nine faculty elected to the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. We have also celebrated many budding stars amongst you, including 60 Avenue Calgary Top 40 Under 40 since 2008. Service to the community and teaching accolades are prized as equally as our research awards, and we are thrilled this year to have Dr. Heather Jamniczky, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, receive the 3M National Teaching Fellowship award.

We have learned much along the way and are excited to participate in the Research Awards Initiative as other faculties establish similar award committees. This year, we also reaffirmed our commitment to a balanced portfolio of award nominations. We purposefully aim for broad representation across gender, race, seniority, and basic or clinical science within the awards that we support.

The Awards and Recognition Committee will continue to nominate appropriate applicants for external awards, and we urge you to nominate your colleagues as well. For those who are successful, please inform us of your result so that your accomplishment can be celebrated at our annual Celebration of Excellence recognition event, held each February.

Collectively, we will continue to raise the profile and pride of our faculty and university.

Sincerely,
Dr. Fiona Clement, PhD, 
PH: 403-210-9373 | fclement@ucalgary.ca
Chair, Awards and Recognition Committee