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David Jenkins, Daniel Drucker named to Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

lanthierj — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:20:41 +0000

David Jenkins, Daniel Drucker named to Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Wed, 10/06/2021 - 13:20

Faculty

St. George

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Temerty Medical Association

Department of Medicine

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(Photos by Mark Bennett and Johnny Guatto)

Daniel Drucker and David Jenkins of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine will be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2022.

The prestigious honour recognizes individuals who are role models in the field of health sciences and whose leadership and contributions have led to improvements in human health in Canada or abroad.

Drucker, a physician who is also senior investigator at Sinai Health's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, is recognized for his work revealing the potential for gut hormones to achieve dramatic clinical outcomes in the treatment of life-limiting and life-threatening metabolic and intestinal disorders.

Earlier this year, he received the 2021 Canada Gairdner International Award for research that has helped revolutionize treatments for type 2 diabetes, obesity and intestinal disorders.

University Professor Jenkins is director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre and scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital and a 2021 Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is honoured for inventing the glycemic index to classify carbohydrates and their effects on blood glucose levels, associated with the incidence of diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease mortality.

“I am beyond thrilled to see Dr. Drucker and Dr. Jenkins inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame,” said Gillian Hawker, Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor and Chair of Medicine. “This honour reflects a tremendous lifetime achievement. The Department of Medicine congratulates them for this important recognition of their outstanding contributions to health in Canada and around the world.”

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Sagi Abelson, Kim Tsoi and Alanna Weisman win 2020 Banting Discovery Awards

lanthierj — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 20:05:45 +0000

Sagi Abelson, Kim Tsoi and Alanna Weisman win 2020 Banting Discovery Awards

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Fri, 07/09/2021 - 16:05

Faculty

St. George

Banting Research Foundation Discovery Awards

Department of Molecular Genetics

Insulin 100

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Women in STEM

landscape

Three University of Toronto professors are among the winners of the 96^th annual Banting Research Foundation Discovery Awards.

The prizes, announced by Mitacs and the Banting Research Foundation, support investigators at universities and research institutes in Canada with seed funding within the first three years of their first academic appointment.

The winners are:

Sagi Abelson, assistant professor of molecular genetics and principal investigator, computational biology, at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, for his project using large, publicly available single-cell datasets to build a comprehensive single-cell classifier, to detect cancer and measure changes associated with chemotherapy.
Kim Tsoi, assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, orthopaedic surgeon in the Sinai Health System and research clinician-investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, for her work developing a treatment for soft tissue sarcomas, a rare, aggressive type of cancer.
Alanna Weisman, assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, clinical scientist in the Sinai Health System and University Health Network and scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and ICES, for her study using anonymized provincial health-care data to determine whether factors such as sex, income, and socioeconomic factors are barriers to insulin pump use for people with type 1 diabetes and the impact that has on people living with the disease.

“The University of Toronto congratulates Alanna Weisman, Kim Tsoi and Sagi Abelson on this important recognition from Mitacs and the Banting Research Foundation,” said Professor Leah Cowen, associate vice-president, research.

“They are building on the legacy of discovery, innovation and collaboration at U of T sparked a century ago with the discovery of insulin – and their bold ideas will make a real difference in the health of Canadians and people around the world.”

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Kelly Metcalfe receives Wendy Lack Women of Action Scientific Award

lanthierj — Fri, 14 May 2021 18:17:19 +0000

Kelly Metcalfe receives Wendy Lack Women of Action Scientific Award

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Fri, 05/14/2021 - 14:17

Faculty

St. George

Insulin 100

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Wendy Lack Women of Action Scientific Award

Women in STEM

landscape

For her world-leading research in hereditary breast cancer and the clinical and psychosocial implications of genetic testing for BRCA mutations, Professor Kelly Metcalfe has been recognized with the Wendy Lack Women of Action Scientific Award.

Presented by the Israel Cancer Research Fund, this is the first time the award has been given to a nurse and illustrates the important impact of Metcalfe’s work on genetic testing and breast cancer research.

“Women’s health and research has always been my passion of mine and being a nurse scientist allows me to bring a unique perspective to an area of research that can help countless more women and their families who receive a breast cancer diagnosis,” says Metcalfe, who is also associate dean of research at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, and senior scientist at Women’s College Research Institute.

Metcalfe has “devoted her scientific career to exploring better treatment paths for women diagnosed with breast cancer and helping them navigate the overwhelming and difficult decisions that must be made about their treatment,” says Bryna Goldberg, ICRF International Chair.

Steven Narod, a physician, professor at U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and director of the Cancer Research Institute at Women’s College Hospital, says the award is testament to Metcalfe's “outstanding research abilities and courage to push forward with this integral work over the past two decades.”

Read the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing story

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Marina Musa named 2021 Charles H. Best Fellow

lanthierj — Wed, 05 May 2021 15:23:02 +0000

Marina Musa named 2021 Charles H. Best Fellow

Research & Innovation

Academic Achievement

lanthierj Wed, 05/05/2021 - 11:23

Students

St. George

Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research

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Women in STEM

landscape

(Photo courtesy of Marina Musa)

Postdoctoral researcher Marina Musa has been awarded the Charles H. Best fellowship for 2021.

The prestigious annual award recognizes an outstanding postdoctoral candidate in the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research whose research has the potential to benefit society. Established in 2001, the fellowship is awarded by The Charles H. Best Foundation in the memory of one of the discoverers of insulin at U of T.

Musa joined the lab of Andy Fraser, a professor of molecular genetics in the Donnelly Centre, to study the metabolism of parasitic round worms which infect the guts of around one billion people worldwide, mostly in poor countries where they have long-lasting effects on development and health. Meanwhile, a growing resistance among the parasites to the existing medications means that new drugs are urgently needed.

Musa is investigating how bacteria in the worm gut, or microbiome, contribute to infection. Her goal is to identify the chemicals produced by the bacteria that are essential for the parasites’ survival inside the host gut.

“What we are studying is essentially a biological puzzle with the host, the parasite and the microbiome all affecting each other, and there is a lot of variability and uncertainty, and this fellowship is a great encouragement to continue with research,” says Musa.

“I am very excited to see where this project takes us in the future.”

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Donnelly Centre

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Daniel Drucker receives Canada Gairdner International Award

lanthierj — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 13:54:32 +0000

Daniel Drucker receives Canada Gairdner International Award

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Wed, 04/07/2021 - 09:54

Faculty

St. George

Gairdner International Award

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Department off Medicine

Insulin 100

landscape

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

The University of Toronto’s Daniel Drucker has been jointly awarded a 2021 Canada Gairdner International Award for research that has helped revolutionize treatments for type 2 diabetes, obesity and intestinal disorders.

Drucker, a professor in the department of medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a senior scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, received the honour with Joel Habener of Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jens Juul Holst of the University of Copenhagen.

Working both independently and collaboratively over more than four decades, Holst, Habener and Drucker discovered the peptides known as GLP-1 and GLP-2, detailed their molecular and physiological effects in cells and animals and translated those findings in human studies that have led to several new classes of drugs.

The award comes as U of T celebrates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, a finding that paved the way for a century of ground-breaking research at the university and its partner hospitals.

“I am extremely excited and honoured that the Gairdner Foundation has recognized our collective work on the glucagon-like peptides, and its translational importance for the treatment of metabolic disorders," said Drucker. “I am also very grateful for the dozens of contributions made by so many talented trainees that I have been privileged to work with at the University of Toronto.”

The Gairdner Foundation was established in 1957 to recognize fundamental research that impacts human health, bestowing 395 awards to scientists from 35 countries.

Read the U of T News story

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