Alumni Award of Excellence

Alumni Award of Excellence

Anne-Marie Mes-Masson
BSc in Biology - 1979

Dr. Mes-Masson obtained her BSc from the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa in 1979 and subsequently trained as a molecular oncologist and obtained her PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in 1984. From 1984 to 1986, she completed postdoctoral studies at the Molecular Biology Institute, University of California Los Angeles, where she was the first to clone the full-length BCR-ABL transcript implicated in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. After a short period as a research associate at the Biotechnology Research Institute, Dr. Mes-Masson joined the Institut du cancer de Montréal and the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal in 1989. A full professor since 2001, Dr. Mes-Masson was the Scientific Director of the Institut du cancer de Montréal and Director of cancer research at the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) from 2003 to 2018 and in 2017, accepted the position of Associate Director, Basic and Translational Research, at the CRCHUM. In 2003, Dr. Mes-Masson was named the Director of the Réseau de recherche sur le cancer du Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS), a provincial cancer network of over 200 scientists focused on translational and clinical cancer research. Dr. Mes-Masson is a founding member of the Canadian Tissue Repository Network that focuses on enhancing capacity and quality of biobanking to support research.

Dr. Mes-Masson has authored over 250 publications in cancer research. While maintaining an active basic research program that focuses on the molecular events that contribute to cancer initiation and progression, her laboratory has pioneered the development of novel cell line-based models for ovarian cancer that have been widely shared with the larger scientific community. More recently, Dr. Mes-Masson pursues research largely focused on delivering personalized medicine and her research focuses on the prediction of therapeutic responses and the development of new therapeutic agents for ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. She also leads a multidisciplinary team in the development of empirical testing using microfluidic-based ex vivo tumor explants as a cutting-edge alternative for the delivery of personalized medicine. Dr. Mes-Masson has been recognized by numerous awards and is both a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Maryam Haghighi
MSc in Mathematic - 2007, PhD in Mathematics - 2011

Maryam Haghighi is a visionary leader in data, technology and transformation in the public and private sectors. She has held a wide range of positions in areas of policy development, research, innovation and community engagement. She is the first Director of Data Science at the Bank of Canada, responsible for the vision and development of strategies in data, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and emerging technologies. She has built globally recognized groups integrating scientific discoveries, cutting-edge research and innovation into policy making.

Previously, she was Canada’s delegate to international advisory panels under the United Nations. As a member of the international Mathematicians Working Group, she helped develop the current global standards for air navigation safety. Her experience is at the confluence of science and policy and crafting compelling narratives for innovation within the context of complex ecosystems, such as within central banking and transnational organizations.

Maryam formulated the largest budget analytics memorandum to cabinet for the enhancement of our nation-wide aviation security program. This led to the employment of thousands of diversely talented people across Canada. She led the team that pioneered the first ever space-based analytics system in a low-earth orbit satellite constellation. She has a reputation of building consensus and has a thorough understanding of labour relations and collective bargaining, skills honed during her years at the University of Ottawa. 

Maryam obtained her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. Sylvia Boyd. She further completed her postdoctoral fellowship in computational genomics under the supervision of Dr. David Sankoff at the University of Ottawa.

Maryam is a board member at philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations and has been a consultant for start-ups. She is a strong advocate of equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM. She is active in community outreach and has served on grants advisory panels and as a judge for scientific competitions. Maryam is frequently invited as a speaker to share her experience at national and international academic and industry events.

Alumni Award of Excellence

David P. Wilkinson
PhD in Chemistry - 1987

David P. Wilkinson is a pioneer and visionary inventor in the application of electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering to the fields of clean energy and water. In particular, his contributions to hydrogen science, fuel cells, electrolyzers and batteries have been widely recognized internationally. After a brief period of working as a Chemical Engineer, David began his studies with the preeminent electrochemist Dr. Brian Conway at the University of Ottawa. From there, he spent 20 years in industrial leadership roles including being the Director and Vice President of Research and Development at Ballard Power Systems, and then a brief period with the National Research Council as a Principal Research Officer and Group Leader.

In 2004, he joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair. David also held the Methanex Professorship for several years as the Executive Director of the UBC Clean Energy Research Center. He has more than 82 issued patents and 250 research publications, and a number of books and book chapters. David is co-founder and technical advisor for Mangrove Technologies (Mangrove Water Technologies, Mangrove Lithium), a company spun out from his research program with his graduate students. He has received a number of awards, and was recently appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to electrochemical science and engineering, particularly his work on the development of fuel cell technology.

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Véronique Lecault
BSc in Biochemistry/BASc Chemical Engineering - 2006 

Véronique Lecault is Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board of Directors at AbCellera. Combining microfluidics, hyper-scale data science, machine learning, bioinformatics, and genomics, AbCellera searches, decodes, and analyzes natural immune systems to find antibodies that its partners can develop into drugs to prevent and treat disease. 

Véronique holds an Honours BSc in Biochemistry/BASc in Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology) dual degree from the University of Ottawa and received her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia, where she co-invented the high-throughput microfluidic platform that is now part of AbCellera’s core technology. 

A strong advocate of entrepreneurship, science and technology, Véronique was recently recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and is a recipient of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Mentorship Award.

Alumni Award of Excellence

Emlyn Koster
PhD Geology - 1977

Emlyn Koster emigrated from the UK after a meeting there with Prof. Brian Rust, his uOttawa PhD supervisor. Joining him to better understand how glacial meltwater transports boulder-sized sediment, fieldwork in Yukon’s St. Elias Mountains was followed by laboratory simulation work at the Geological Survey of Canada.

His postdoctoral career evolved as several phases. The first decade was in faculty positions at Concordia University and the University of Saskatchewan, and then in leading Prairie coal exploration for the Alberta Research Council. It was research at a UNESCO World Heritage Site that turned his attention to engaging the public in science. In 1997, at the Ottawa Congress Centre, his presidential address to the 50^th Annual meeting of the Geological Association of Canada was titled ‘The human journey and the evolving museum’. During the next three decades, as concerns mounted about human disruption of the Earth System, science and nature museums became his focus. With CEO appointments, he launched operations at Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, renewed and expanded the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto and Liberty Science Center next to lower Manhattan, and advanced the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences with White House recognition and to international prominence. During this phase, his advisory roles included the Getty Leadership Institute, his board roles included the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, and his awards included a Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Conference of Diversity.

Today, with UK, Canadian and US citizenships and as a geologist, a museologist and a humanist, his transdisciplinary approach views nature and culture as interdependent. His publications and presentations, including the ones to the United Nations, infuse the largest challenges that confront the Earth and all of its life. He advocates that the Anthropocene – the geological and anthropological term for this time in Earth history to emphasize human disruption of natural systems and provide an evolutionary context for the human journey – should drive our collective conscience. He reflects on his uOttawa and National Capital experiences as catalysts to his eclectic interests and global outlook.

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Patrick Nadeau
BSc Biology - 2004

Patrick Nadeau holds a BSc in Biology (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Ottawa as a Loran Scholar and a MSc in Forest Science from the University of British Columbia.

After his university studies, his curiosity led him to explore diverse roles abroad: from the United Nations Environment Program in Kenya to the marine conservation work in the Philippines.

Since then, he has worked for more than a decade in the non-governmental organization sector to advance conservation and environmental policy issues, most recently as the Executive Director of Ottawa Riverkeeper.

Alumni Award of Excellence

David Morris Johnston-Monje
BSc in Biology - 2001

David was born as a Canadian in Bogota, Colombia, and grew up in Peru and Jamaica before moving to Ottawa, Canada at the age of ten. Perhaps wanting to be better than good ol' dad the meat scientist, he figured out by age 15 that he would study plant biology. He began his profession at the University of Ottawa focused on the chemical ecology of medicinal plants with John Arnason, moved on to a MSc in wood genetics at the University of British Columbia with the late Carl Douglas and finished a PhD with Manish Raizada from the University of Guelph in microbial ecology of maize. He further enriched his plant biology experience as a visiting researcher at Biodiversity International in Italy (education policy), at the International Potato Research Institute in Peru (nutrient genetics of potatoes), at EMBRAPA Agrobiology in Brazil (microbial ecology of maize) and most recently at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia (dynamics of plant microbiomes). He conducted post-doctoral research with George Lazarovits at A&L Biologicals where he focused on discovering what causes an emerging disease called tomato vine decline.

Having discovered the most abundant parts of the maize microbiome are transmitted through seed (a surprise to the entire field of plant microbial ecology), he then went on to help start the endophyte focused company Indigo Agriculture where he was bioprospecting for beneficial microbes, studying plant microbiomes, testing formulations for seed inoculants, and assaying plant-microbe interactions in field trials, all with the goal of developing yield enhancing probiotics for plants. Indigo Agriculture has since gone on to be the most well funded agricultural startup company on Earth. He has since moved to Cali, Colombia to study the plant microbial ecology of one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, working as Principle Investigator and Max Planck Tandem Group Leader at Universidad del Valle in cooperation with Paul Schulze-Lefert at the MP Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany. 

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Valérie Langlois
BSc in Environmental Science - 2005
PhD in Biology - 2010

Valerie Langlois has been an Associate Professor for over eight years where she works at one of the Quebec universities, namely the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) located in beautiful Quebec City. Dr. Langlois holds a Canada Research Chair in Ecotoxicogenomics and Endocrine Disruption. She is an ecotoxicologist and animal physiologist specialized in the characterization of the effects and the mechanisms of action of environmental contaminants in non-mammalian species, with a focus in amphibians. Dr. Langlois mostly uses an “Omics” approach to address her research questions and she has long worked with contaminants known to be endocrine disruptors. Her research lab currently encompassed three post-doctoral fellows, six PhD, two MSc, one BSc and a laboratory manager. She graduated with a BSc in Environmental Science from uOttawa in 2005.

Alumni Award of Excellence

David Bergvinson
PhD in Biology - 1993

Dr. David Bergvinson, director general, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

David is a Canadian national who has worked in international agriculture research for development for over 25 years. He joined ICRISAT in January 2015, to lead its strategic development and combine science, demand-driven innovation and strategic partnerships to create prosperity for rural families in the dryland tropics of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to joining ICRISAT, David worked on the agriculture development team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led its digital agriculture initiative. As director general of ICRISAT, David continues to build partnerships that leverage the power of digital technology to accelerate development and delivery of farmer-preferred products and services. To this end, ICRISAT works closely with national partners along the value chains of ICRISAT’s mandate crops (sorghum, pearl and finger millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut) to ensure science improves farmers’ lives and consumers’ nutrition. ICRISAT refers to its mandate crops as “smart food” — good for consumers nutritionally, good for the planet in terms of farm diversification and good for smallholder farmers in terms of increasing the latter’s resilience and offering diverse market opportunities.

David is currently the Director General of the International Centre for Research in Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, where he has continued to innovate and develop strategies to develop sustainable agriculture solutions to combat climate change and poverty in developing countries. Among his recent innovations is the complete genome sequencing of over 1000 varieties of dry land crops.

David and his team are confronting some of the most challenging problems of our time which have contributed to migration, food insecurity and conflict in Africa and Asia. David’s scientific work has had an exceptional positive impact on millions of people worldwide.

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Siba Haykal Hunter
BSc in Biochemistry - 2004
MD - 2007

In 2003, Dr. Siba Haykal (MD PhD) graduated from the Faculty of Science with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. Since then, she has become a leader in the field of reconstructive surgery, both as a fundamental researcher and as a clinician. Although she is currently an assistant professor in plastic reconstructive surgery at the Albany Medical Center, Siba Haykal started her academic career in the summer of 2000 by enrolling in the Faculty of Science at uOttawa as an undergraduate research scholarship winner. She was admitted to the uOttawa MD program in 2003, and four years later, she graduated as the 2007 silver medalist and class valedictorian, also winning the Faculty of Medicine’s Aesculapian Award for contributions to student life.

She then undertook a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Toronto, during which time she earned a PhD through the Surgeon Scientist program, where she held a prestigious CIHR Vanier Scholarship. Dr. Haykal has been recognized for her outstanding research, winning the Hoyle Campbell Award for best science research paper within UToronto’s Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery several years in a row. In 2014, she won the Division’s Dr. Hugh G. Thomson Humanitarian Award and her humanitarian work has been featured on The National in a CBC documentary, Reconstructing a Revolution, which highlighted the efforts of Operation Rainbow Canada in the Ukraine.

Alumni Award of Excellence

Jean-Paul Bédard
BSc 1986 - Biology

An alumni deeply committed to the University of Ottawa, Jean-Paul Bédard has been vice-president of public affairs at Canadian Blood Services since 2009. He has over 20 years of experience in government relations and public affairs in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Throughout his career, he has served as vice-president and head of Bayer HealthCare’s biological products division and vice-president of corporate affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada.

Bédard regularly takes part in Faculty activities, including the From Backpack to Briefcase networking events and the Faculty of Science Dean’s Luncheon, which is held during Alumni Week.

He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa and of the Alumni Association board of directors.

Young Alumni Award of Excellence

Louis-Charles Campeau
BSc 2003 - Biopharmaceutical Science; PhD 2008 - Chemistry

Recipient of the 2008 Pierre Laberge prize for the best doctoral thesis in the sciences, Louis-Charles Campeau is currently executive director of Process Research & Development at pharmaceutical giant Merck.

Campeau began his biopharmaceutical science degree in 1999 and was one of the first PhD students of the late Professor Keith Fagnou. Professor Fagnou had a profound influence on this young researcher, both professionally and personally.

During his career, Campeau has had a chance to be involved in developing new drugs that will soon be available to improve the health of people living with HIV.

Katherine Gibbs
PhD 2012 - Biology

Katherine Gibbs is a researcher, organizer and advocate for science and evidence-based policies. While completing her PhD on endangered species at the University of Ottawa, she was a lead organizer for the Death of Evidence rally, one of the largest science demonstrations ever to be held in Canada.

Gibbs cofounded Evidence for Democracy and is now the organization’s executive director. She has a diverse background in organizing and managing social and political campaigns at the local and national levels and is frequently approached by media outlets to comment on science policy issues.

Marie-Claude Robert
BSc 2004 - Biochemistry; MD, 2008

Ophthalmologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), Dr. Robert is a very active in corneal research and refractive surgery.

After finishing her biochemistry and medical degrees at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Robert completed her residency in ophthalmology at the Université de Montréal. She was then accepted into Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, considered a world leader in retinal surgery.

The recipient of many distinctions and awards recognizing her academic excellence and contributions to the Canadian francophonie, Dr. Robert is about to complete a master’s in biomedical sciences, which has allowed her to gain greater knowledge in the area of clinical research.

Denise Amyot
BSc 1976 – Biology, BEd 1977, MEd 1991

Robert J. Gorman
BSc 1975 – Biology

Debbie Pinard
BSc 1979 – Physics and Mathematics

Ashok K. Vijh, OC, FRSC, OQ
PhD 1966 – Chemistry

Ruey J. Yu, OMD
PhD 1966  – Chemistry