2009 Canada Gairdner Awards

 
The 2009 Canada Gairdner Award recipients were announced last week. Each awardee gets $100,000 (CDN). The winners are ...

Richard Losick: "for the discovery of mechanisms that define cell polarity and asymmetric cell division, processes key in cell differentiation and in the generation of cell diversity"

Kazutoshi Mori: "for the dissection and elucidation of a key pathway in the unfolded protein response which regulates protein folding in the cell"

Nubia Muñoz: "for her epidemiological studies that defined the essential role of the human papilloma virus in the etiology of cervical cancer on a global level which led to the development of successful prophylactic vaccines"

David Sackett: "for his leadership in the fields of clinical epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, which have had major impacts internationally in applied clinical research and in the practice of medicine"

Lucy Shapiro: "for the discovery of mechanisms that define cell polarity and asymmetric cell division, processes key in cell differentiation and in the generation of cell diversity"

Peter Walter: "for the dissection and elucidation of a key pathway in the unfolded protein response which regulates protein folding in the cell"

Shinya Yamanaka: "for his demonstration that the key transcription factors which specify pluripotency may become reprogrammed somatic cells to pluripotent stem cells"

The awards will be presented next October at the University of Toronto. Since this is the 50th anniversary of the Gairdner Awards there will be quite a gathering. You should plan on being here.

This year The Gairdner Foundation is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in spectacular fashion.

Between March and November we will hold 7 major international symposia across the country, in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto (York), Sherbrooke, Montreal and Halifax (see under Events). The finale will occur in Toronto, where we will host 50 past Gairdner recipients, including 22 Nobel Laureates, from Oct 28-30. This will be by far the largest gathering of the world's top scientists ever held in Canada. We will also introduce the 2009 Canada Gairdner Award recipients.

Canada Gairdner Laureates will participate in lectures, panel discussions, public forums, interviews and informal talks with academics, researchers, biotech and pharma companies, government leaders, graduate and postgraduate students, high school students, the media and interested members of the general public. With the exception of the social events, all the programs will be free and open to anyone who wants to share in the excitement of leading edge biomedical science.

The 50th Anniversary will be a spectacular culmination of everything The Gairdner Foundation has achieved in becoming Canada's premier international prize, and one of the top three biomedical prizes in the world. It will be a vehicle to raise awareness of the fascinating world of biomedical science and its importance to lives.

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