Student Awards and Honours

Award Announcements
Nancy Carnide - CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
Darren Brenner - CIHR Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship
Cesar Hincapie - CIHR Fellowship Award in the area of Knowledge Translation
Kathryn McIsaac - CIHR Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship
Diego Silva - CIHR Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship
Sarah Taleski - CIHR Doctoral Research Award

Honours
Fiona Kouyoumdjian
Laura Anderson
2008-2009 Resident Academic Project Day

Nancy Carnide was one of 56 recipients of a Vanier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGS) awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).  The Vanier CGS program was launched last year, with the primary aim to attract and retain world-class Canadian and international doctoral students. Nominees are evaluated through peer-review and selected by a board of world-renowned Canadian and international experts.

Nancy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto.  Following the completion of her master's degree, she began work at the Institute for Work & Health in the broad area of work disability prevention. Her research interests focus on mental health, co-morbidities, and medication use, and their impact on work absenteeism and presenteeism. She is currently in her first year of the Ph.D. program in the Division of Epidemiology where she is co-supervised by Drs. Sheilah Hogg-Johnson and Pierre Côté. Her doctoral research will focus on examining patterns of analgesic utilization in the early stages of a work-related musculoskeletal disorder, their determinants, and their association with subsequent work disability among workers' compensation claimants.
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Darren Brenner has been awarded a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship from CIHR.  His PhD dissertation research involves a genome-wide analysis of inflammation and lung cancer. Using data from 15 studies on multiple continents and over 20,000 lung cancer cases, he will examine the role of previous lung diseases (e.g., chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, asthma) in the development of lung cancer. Genomic data will also be examined from multiple study sites using hierarchical modeling to comprehensively evaluate the role of inflammatory genetic pathways in lung cancer.

Darren completed an Honours BSc in Health Sciences and an MSc in Applied Health Science at Brock University, where he examined the predictors of long-term survival in node-negative breast cancer patients. Currently in the first year of a PhD program in the Division of Epidemiology, Darren is supervised by Drs. John McLaughlin and Rayjean Hung, and is located at the Prosserman Centre for Health Research, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.
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Dr. Cesar Hincapié has received a Fellowship Award in the Area of Knowledge Translation from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).  The general aim of his PhD dissertation is to increase the scientific understanding of the risk for acute lumbar spine disc herniation from chiropractic care.

Cesar trained as a chiropractor at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, and has been in private practice since graduating in 2003.
He holds an Honours Bachelor degree in Physical Health and Education and a Master's degree in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto,
where he studied patterns of pain after traffic collisions, investigated work-related low back injury as a risk factor for the onset of troublesome
low back pain, and synthesized the literature on health problems of dancers.

Cesar is in his second year of the doctoral program in the Division of Epidemiology, supervised by Dr. David Cassidy.
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Kathryn McIsaac has recently received a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship
for her PhD dissertation research project titled:

"A multi-level comparison of breastfeeding practices in Inuit communities: Evaluating the influence of traditional culture on breastfeeding initiation and duration".

Katie completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Health Studies at the University of Waterloo (2002) and a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology at Queen's University (2007). She is in her second year of the Ph.D. program in the Division of Epidemiology and is working on her doctoral dissertation with Drs. Kue Young, Wendy Lou, and Dan Sellen.
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Diego Silva, a PhD candidate in the Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, has received a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship for his research project titled:

"Lest We Forget: Incorporating the Needs of the Mentally Ill and the Homeless in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plans" 

Diego completed his Master of Arts in the department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, in 2006 and is currently in his second year of a PhD program under the supervision of Dr. Ross Upshur.

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Sarah Taleski, a PhD Candidate in the Division of Epidemiology, recently received a 3-year Doctoral Research Award in the Area of Health Services/Population Heath HIV/AIDS Research from CIHR in partnership with
CIHR-HIV/AIDS.

The primary objective of Sarah Jane's doctoral research,

"A study of the dynamics of multi-relational networks among university students in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Social interactions, sexual behaviour and HIV"

is to model the multi-relational networks (social, sexual and HIV transmission) that exist among university students in SSA. Investigation of these multi-relational networks will focus on understanding: 1) Structural characteristics and determinants of social, sexual and transmission networks among university students in SSA; and, 2) Inter- and intra-network mixing between different social and risk groups.

Sarah Jane has Bachelor's degrees in Science and Physical and Health Education from Queen's University and a Master of Health Sciences degree in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto.  During her MHSc Sarah Jane completed placements with the Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Health and Social Services and with the UK-Medical Research Council-The Gambia. Currently, Sarah Jane is a student in the Collaborative Program in Global Health, an associate of the Centre for International Health at the University of Toronto, and involved in projects with ASANTE-Reproductive Health and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences.
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Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian, a Community Medicine Resident and PhD student in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, was selected this year as one of two residents in Canada to win the Resident Leadership Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This award is given annually to a resident who has demonstrated leadership in Canadian specialty education and who encourages the development of future leaders in medicine.

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Laura Anderson has been selected to participate in the Student Dissertation Workshop of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, preceding its June 2009 meeting in Anaheim, California. Students are chosen, by the Workshop Faculty, based on the quality of their applications and the importance of the methodological issues raised by their research. For discussion at the workshop, Laura had proposed issues related to exposure measurement in nutritional epidemiology (e.g., measurement of vitamin D from sun exposure). As a participant in the workshop, Laura will receive travel funding and complimentary registration at the SER meeting.

Laura completed her MSc in population epidemiology in 2006 at the University of Western Ontario, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Epidemiology. Her dissertation,

"Vitamin D, from both Dietary Intake and Sunlight Exposure, Calcium Intake and Breast Cancer Risk: A Population-based Case-control Study"

aims to evaluate the hypothesis that vitamin D from all sources is inversely associated with breast cancer risk; and to develop a proxy measure of vitamin D from sunlight. Data for this study were collected as part of the Ontario Women’s Diet and Health Study (P.I.: Cotterchio) a population-based case-control study.
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2008-2009 Resident Academic Project Day winners in both Research and Non-Research categories:

Research Project Winner:
Dr. Sarah Wilson (SHSC)
The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Diabetes Screening in Ontario: A Population Based Cohort Study

Honourable Mention:
Drs. Noah Ivers and Michael Schwandt (WCH)
Characterizing Private Colonoscopy Screening Services in Toronto

Dr. Stefan Baral (SMH)
HIV Prevalence, Risks for HIV Infection, and Human Rights among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Malawi, Namibia and Botswana

Drs. Sam Tirkos and Andrea Cheung (TEGH)
The Accuracy of Emergency Physician Performed Bedside Ultrasonography in the Detection of Intrauterine Pregnancy

Non Research Project Winner:
Drs. Celina Lubczynski, Girma Mekonnen and Manijeh Bakhshi (TSH)
Family Medicine Ontario: An Online Medical Information Portal for Physicians in Ontario

Thank you to all residents, judges, moderators and divisional program directors and program assistants for their participation.
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