IVERSON, Sara - Department of Biology, Dalhousie University Sara Iverson’s interdisciplinary and ground-breaking research has advanced the understanding of marine animal physiological ecology; roles of fat in mammalian reproduction, survival and life history strategies; and marine animal movement and foraging ecology. She leads the global Ocean Tracking Network, the world’s foremost aquatic animal tracking network and now a Canadian National Research Facility, which is revolutionizing the way aquatic life is viewed, understood and governed under increasing environmental change.

JOSSELYN, Sheena - Neurosciences & Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, University of Toronto Professor Sheena Josselyn is a world leader in investigating how the brain encodes, stores and uses information. Her studies break new ground and have changed the way the field of neuroscience views memory. The fundamental insights gained by Prof. Josselyn’s research into basic memory processes in rodents may translate into superior ways of treating - or even preventing - devastating human brain disorders.

MEINERTZHAGEN, Ian - Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University Ian Meinertzhagen is a pioneer in connectomics, the comprehensive mapping of brain networks. Internationally acclaimed for research on simple nervous systems his work reveals circuit models for all brains. In Drosophila he has identified neurons for motion vision. Meinertzhagen’s studies of photoreceptor axon growth were critical for the then nascent field of developmental neuroscience. He showed that circuits are influenced by experience, refuting a prevailing orthodoxy that insect brains are hard-wired.

MEINERTZHAGEN, Ian - Département de psychologie et neuroscience, Université Dalhousie Ian Meinertzhagen est un pionnier de la connectomique, la cartographie complète des réseaux cérébraux. Acclamé internationalement pour ses recherches sur les systèmes nerveux simples, son travail révèle des modèles de circuits pour tous les cerveaux. Chez la drosophile, il a identifié des neurones pour la vision du mouvement. Les études de Meinertzhagen sur la croissance des axones des photorécepteurs étaient essentielles pour le domaine alors naissant des neurosciences du développement. Il a montré que les circuits sont influencés par l'expérience, réfutant une orthodoxie dominante selon laquelle les cerveaux d'insectes sont câblés.

O'CAMPO, Patricia - Centre for Urban Health Solutions, University of Toronto Dr. Patricia O’Campo is an internationally renowned Social Epidemiologist whose research focuses on the health impacts of complex urban social problems experienced by low-income populations. Through her scholarship over the past 25 years, dedicated partnerships with affected communities, and leadership at a large multi-disciplinary health research centre for over a decade, she has advanced methodologies and generated strong evidence for effective solutions to reduce urban health disparities.

OVERALL, Christopher - Department of Oral Biological & Medical Sciences, The University of British Columbia Professor Christopher Overall was appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Protease Proteomics and Systems Biology (2001-2022) and a Senior Fellow of the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg, Germany (2010–2013), where he is now an Honorary Professor (2014–). He was inducted as a fellow into the Royal Society of Canada, Academy of Science in 2018. He is best known for his development of proteomic methodology for the discovery of protease substrates in vivo, thereby establishing the field of degradomics. He has used these techniques to reveal new biological roles for proteases in immunity and disease, most recently in the COVID-19 pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 proteases, as well as two new molecular correctors to cure MALT1 protease deficiency in a primary immunodeficiency. By generating clinically relevant insights into how proteases dampen disease-fighting defense systems involved in inflammation and immunodeficiency, degradomics has revealed an unexplored layer of complexity in the hierarchy of cell and immune regulation, greatly adding to our understanding of protease function and drug targeting. Dr. Overall completed his B.D.S., Honours Science and Master’s degrees at the University of Adelaide, South Australia; his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto, Canada; and was an MRC Centennial Fellow in his postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate, Biotechnology Laboratory, UBC. He launched his lab at UBC in 1993, where he is happily entrenched. On sabbatical in 1997 – 1998, he was a Senior Scientist at British Biotech Pharmaceuticals, Oxford, UK, and in 2004 and 2008, a Senior Scientist at the Expert Protease Platform, Centre for Proteomic Drug Discovery, Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland and is now a Creative Destruction Lab Scientist, UBC Sauder School of Business, and a consultant for Genentech, Novartis and several Biotechnology companies. He is a highly cited scientist (305 Career total, with an h-index = 104 and >38,200 citations—including 67 >100 – 199, 27 >200 – 499, 12 >500 – 999, 3 >1,000 – 1,500, and 1>1,650, including 30 high-impact Nature (1), Science (2), Cell and daughter journal (27) papers, most as senior PI. He has disseminated his lab’s findings by > 266 keynote, plenary and invited talks at international and national conferences, and 236 invited seminars at universities, research institutes and companies. He has trained 40 postdoctoral fellows and graduated 14 Ph.D. and 6 M.Sc. students, with 20 now holding academic appointments: 9 are Full Professors (including 2 Department Chairs), 4 are Associate Professors, and 7 are Assist. Professors. He was elected by his peers to organize and Chair the 2003 Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) and 2010 Protease Gordon Research Conferences, and in 2017 he was Co-Chair of the International Proteolysis Society Biannual Meeting, the premier conferences of his fields. He holds influential roles on the executive of > 10 international committees, the most prominent of which was being elected to the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Executive Council and to Chair the HUPO Chromosome-centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP). In 2022 he was invited to attend the “G7 Research Summit on One Health” as UBC’s representative. He is the recipient of numerous awards, e.g., 2006 Killam Faculty Research Prize, Senior Science UBC; 2002 CIHR Researcher of the Year Award; Helmholtz Award (2008); International Proteolysis Society Lifetime Achievement Award (2011); Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand Barry Preston Award (2012); and the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award (2013). His advances in proteomics have been recognized by the Canadian National Proteomics Network Tony Pawson Award (2014); the Proteomass Scientific Society Award (2017); the highly prestigious 2018 international HUPO Discovery Award in Proteomics Sciences; the 2022 Helmut Holzer Award; and the UBC 2022 John McNeill Excellence in Health Research Mentorship Award. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Proteome Research and the Editor of the Annual Human Proteome Project Special Issue of this Journal.

SUISSA, Samy - Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University Professor Suissa is an internationally renowned pharmacoepidemiologist who studies the real-world safety of medications. His landmark studies, showing that inhaled corticosteroids prevent asthma deaths, profoundly altered asthma management and lowered asthma mortality worldwide. His work on oral contraceptives and hormone therapy in women, and on Parkinson’s disease, led to safer clinical practice. He heads the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES), involving over 60 Canadian scientists.

Professeur Suissa est un pharmaco-épidémiologiste reconnu mondialement. Ces études qui ont démontré que les corticostéroïdes inhalés préviennent la mortalité dans l'asthme, ont profondément transformé son traitement, réduisant cette mortalité mondialement. Ses recherches en santé des femmes, contraceptifs oraux et l'hormonothérapie postménopausique, et sur la maladie de Parkinson, ont façonné une pratique clinique sécuritaire. Il dirige le Réseau canadien pour l'étude observationnelle des médicaments (RCEOM), impliquant plus de 60 chercheurs.

ASCHER, Uri - Department of Computer Science, The University of British Columbia Uri Ascher has made fundamental contributions to scientific computing and its application in computer graphics, geophysics, image processing, robotics, semiconductors, fluid dynamics and finance. His achievements enhance our understanding of simulating constrained differential equations, Hamiltonian systems, inverse problems, PDE-constrained optimization, and multiscale methods. Ascher's mark on the practice of scientific computing is embodied in many highly cited publications, including three monographs and widely used software packages.

KONERMANN, Lars - Department of Chemistry, Western University Lars Konermann is an international leader in the area of mass spectrometry, with a research focus on the role of proteins in health and disease. His work has helped catalyze the transformation of mass spectrometry from a simple “mass” measurement tool to a comprehensive suite of techniques for interrogating protein structure, function, folding, dynamics, binding, and aggregation. Konermann’s advances have been recognized through a number of prestigious national research awards.

PICKERING, Ingrid - Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan Ingrid Pickering is one of Canada’s most innovative environmental chemists. A Canada Research Chair in Molecular Environmental Science, her work has had an international impact on understanding the effects of heavy metals on the environment and human health. Her pioneering of synchrotron technologies has led to numerous highly cited studies on topics such as mercury in fish, the connection between selenium deficiency and arsenic poisoning, and plant uptake of metals.

Ingrid Pickering est une chercheuse mondialement reconnue dont les recherches fondées sur la technologie synchrotron qui ont grandement aidé à comprendre la toxicologie des métaux lourds sur la santé humaine. Chaire de Recherche du Canada en Science Environnementale Moléculaire, elle est l’auteur d’études pionnières très citées sur le mercure présent dans les poissons, le rapport entre la carence en sélénium et l’intoxication à l’arsenic, la spéciation du sélénium dans le sol et l’absorption du cadmium par les plantes.

VINCTER, Manuella - Department of Physics, Carleton University Professor Manuella Vincter has made precision measurements of the electroweak force, the structure of the neutron and proton, and most recently the properties of the W and Z bosons, the carriers of the electroweak force. She played a leading role in the scientific development of the 3,000 member ATLAS collaboration, which in 2012 discovered the Higgs boson.

XU, Yunjie - Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta Yunjie Xu, Canada Research Chair in Chirality and Chirality Recognition, brings a rigorous physical sciences approach to decoding chiral phenomena. She advances the field by identifying important questions and finding answers by pushing methodical frontiers with the design and development of novel spectroscopic tools. Her profound contributions to uncovering stereospecific interactions underlying chirality recognition events, central to the biochemistry of life, have made her a world leader in chirality research.