Awards and Recognitions
Killam Research Excellence Award 2019-2020
Every year, the university presents the $5,000 Killam Research Excellence Award to a researcher who has made outstanding contributions over a decade or more. Yong, member of the Hotchkiss Brain and Arnie Charbonneau Research Institutes, has published 310 articles that have been cited more than 20,000 times. He’s a fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Dr. Wee Yong, PhD, an internationally recognized neuroimmunologist who has advanced the understanding of and treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS), has been awarded the 2019-2020 Killam Research Excellence Award.
Working with clinicians, particularly Dr. Luanne Metz, MD, and Dr. Marcus Koch, MD, PhD, at the MS Clinic, Yong’s lab has introduced medications to patients. Clinical trials on a repurposed generic medication for patients with brain tumours will begin soon with Dr. Paula de Robles, MD, and Dr. Gloria Roldan Urgoiti, MD.
Wee Yong receives 2019-2020 Killam Research Excellence Award
Yong studies the interactions between the brain and the immune system in MS and glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumour. MS is caused when too many immune cells migrate to the brain and cause inflammation and injury. But immune cells also have a critical role in repair and recovery after a brain injury. With glioblastoma, the tumour itself compromises the immune system’s ability to attack the cancer. Yong and his colleagues are trying to “remobilize” the compromised immune system to help fight the brain tumour.
Retrieved from: https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/award-recognizes-lifetime-work-studying-immune-cells-brain
In a sense, I'm playing with fire, I'm trying to use the immune system to help with repair responses but not run into its injurious potential. I'm also trying to stop the immune system from producing the injury in the first place.
Dr. V. Wee Yong
Erin Stephenson: Chancellor’s Graduate Medal Recipient - 2019
Erin Stephenson received the Chancellor's Graduate Medal at the doctoral level in 2019. The Chancellor’s Graduate Medal was established to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of the chancellors of the University of Calgary. These awards celebrate academic excellence at the University of Calgary. The Chancellor’s Graduate Medal is awarded to two students in the Faculty of Graduate Studies who have shown outstanding scholastic achievement, one in a program leading to a doctoral degree and one in a program leading to a master’s degree.
The chancellor of the university is a volunteer, elected by the senate from the community. The chancellor represents the public interest in the university, presides at convocation, and confers the degrees of the university. As its ceremonial head, the chancellor is often called upon to represent the university at major events.
Retrieved from: https://iac01.ucalgary.ca/FGSA/Public/SpecificAward.aspx?AwardID=5831
https://www.ucalgary.ca/live-uc-ucalgary-site/sites/default/files/teams/1/2019-Fall-Convocation-Program.pdf
Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine Winner - 2017
Robarts has been awarding the Taylor Prize to leading scientists since 1985 and recognizes the contributions of outstanding internationally recognized researchers.
The J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine is named after the founding Chair of the Board at Robarts, and includes a cash prize of $25,000 and a medal bearing the likeness of J. Allyn Taylor. The award is generously supported by the Stiller Foundation and the family of the late J. Allyn Taylor.
Western University’s Robarts Research Institute is pleased to announce that V. Wee Yong, PhD, is the recipient of the 2017 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine.
Western University’s Robarts Research Institute
“Dr. Yong has made transformative advances in the MS field that cover the spectrum from fundamental research to the development of ground-breaking therapeutic strategies for MS treatment. He is a leader in MS research both nationally and internationally, and plays a key leadership role in the MS community in Canada. We look forward to welcoming Dr. Yong to London,” said Marlys Koschinsky, PhD, Scientific and Executive Director at Robarts.
Retrieved from: https://mediarelations.uwo.ca/2017/07/17/renowned-ms-researcher-awarded-j-allyn-taylor-international-prize-medicine/
Steven Kerfoot from Kerfoot Lab:
"Dr. Yong has been an important leader in developing the MS research community in Canada and internationally. He has also made very important contributions to the field through his research. His interest in re-purposing approved drugs as novel (and affordable) MS treatments stands out in particular. I remember some of the early experiments from his group testing minocycline as a therapy in animal models of MS from my time as a graduate student at the University of Calgary, and it is very exciting to see these come to fruition in human trials many years later."
Retrieved from: https://kerfootlab.com/blog/2017/11/21/2017-j-allyn-taylor-international-prize-in-medicine-recognizes-multiple-sclerosis-research
I am thrilled, delighted, humbled and very honoured to be in good company along with the list of very accomplished individuals who have received this award in the past, it certainly is a big honour.
Dr. V. Wee Yong
Khalil Rawji: PhD Researcher of the Year! 2016, 2018
Khalil Rawji (neuroscientist, Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, UK) was recently awarded the PhD Researcher of the Year Award for the second time at the University of Calgary. Khalil completed his PhD in Neuroscience with them last year and was given this award in 2018. He is the only student to have won this award twice. The first time he received this award was in 2016. This award is given to the top PhD student in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Department of Neuroscience at the University of Calgary and is based on the quality and quantity of international peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Khalil Rawji has received a 3-year competitive postdoctoral fellowship in the form of $41,000 a year from the Multiple Sclerosis Society to continue his research at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Here he will be researching strategies to promote repair of the damaged brain and spinal cord in multiple sclerosis.
Retrieved from: https://ismailimail.blog/2019/06/19/khalil-rawji-phd-researcher-of-the-year/
Khalil is an outstanding PhD trainee who has been making important discoveries that impact the regeneration of the nervous system following injury.
Dr. V. Wee Yong