CPS awards recognize outstanding contributions to child and youth health

OTTAWA—The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) has announced its 2016 award winners, honouring those who care for children and youth in Canada through excellence in paediatric research, advocacy, health promotion and education.

Dr. Brent Scott (Calgary, Alta.) receives the Alan Ross Award, recognizing lifelong excellence in paediatric research, education, health care and advocacy. Dr. Scott is a paediatric gastroenterologist whose work has garnered a host of grateful patients and the respect of colleagues across the country. For many years, he was a nationally prominent clinician scientist in intestinal physiology, authoring scores of peer-reviewed publications and supervising many master’s and doctoral students, and paediatric gastroenterology fellows. After years of research work, Dr. Scott became professor and department head at the University of Calgary. This was shortly after regionalization of the health care system in Alberta, a time of significant fiscal restraint as the government aimed to eliminate provincial debt. [Read more]

Dr. Mona Jabbour (Ottawa, Ont.) receives the Michel Weber Education Award for extraordinary leadership in teaching at every level, her focus on learning systems, and pioneering work in developing the CanMeds framework of competencies. She completed a Master’s of Higher Education with specialization in health professions education at the University of Toronto, then brought her singular ability to perfect learning experiences to the University of Ottawa. As chief medical resident and later, as paediatrics program director, she advocated for the teaching fellow role. Dr. Jabbour’s unique combination of questioning, humour, prompting and feedback has drawn students and residents to her emergency room shifts over the years. [Read more]

Dr. Claude Cyr (Sherbrooke, Que.) receives the Victor Marchessault Advocacy Award, honoring his outstanding contribution to Canada’s children and youth at local, provincial and national levels. A member of the CPS Injury Prevention Committee and the author of many publications, Dr. Cyr is well known nationally. His involvement in preventing seat belt syndrome dates back to 2002. He was a decisive voice on this issue, initiating a study through the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program that helped strengthen CPS policies on vehicular restraints, and working to amend Quebec legislation on car seat anchoring and the use of booster seats. [Read more]

Dr. Grant A. Mitchell (Montréal, Que.) receives a Career Research Award for groundbreaking research into medical genetics and for mentoring the next generation of clinicians and researchers in the area of inborn errors of metabolism. Dr. Mitchell trained as a paediatrician and geneticist at SickKids Hospital, Hôpital Sainte-Justine and Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris. While a research fellow at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, he successfully characterized the molecular basis for a retinal disorder causing blindness. This award-winning breakthrough was one of the first molecular characterizations of an inborn error of metabolism, an area of gene research he has pursued ever since as part of a unique research program he developed at Université de Montréal/Hôpital Sainte-Justine. [Read more]

Dr. Vincent Grant (Calgary, Alta.) receives the Anna Jarvis Paediatric Emergency Medicine Teaching Award for outstanding work in simulation-based education, experiential learning and academic mentorship, and for helping to expand simulation-based learning in Canada and abroad. A paediatric emergency medicine physician at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Calgary, Dr. Grant was recruited in 2005 to lead a new simulation initiative. He is medical director for the KidSIM Pediatric Simulation program at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the largest and busiest paediatric simulation training facility in North America. [Read more]

This year’s Distinguished Community Paediatrician is Dr. Rosemary Moodie (Toronto, Ont.), who practices in the Toronto Rexdale community. For over 20 years, her community paediatric practice has served priority urban neighbourhoods. She is past Corporate Chief of Paediatrics and Medical Director of the Maternal Child Program Rouge Valley Health Systems, and Maternal, Child, Youth and Gynaecology Lead for the Central East LIHN. She is a surveyor for Accreditation Canada and consults in regional health care services planning and health human resources. [Read more]

Dr. Paige Terrien Church (Toronto, Ont.) receives the Emerging Leader in Neonatology Award for extraordinary contributions to neonatal follow-up, exemplary teaching and powerful advocacy on behalf of preterm babies and their families. Her clinical work with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, one of the busiest sites in Canada for neonatal follow-up, explores new models of care and ways of assessing infants born preterm or with serious conditions. Dr. Church combined training in developmental-behavioural paediatrics with neonatology early on, and today is one of only two paediatricians to have been awarded dual certification in neonatal-perinatal medicine and developmental-behavioural paediatrics by the American Board of Paediatrics. [Read more]

The Noni MacDonald Award recognizes an article in Paediatrics & Child Health that has positively affected paediatric medicine. This year’s award goes to Treating and Reducing Anxiety and Pain in the Paediatric Emergency Department: The TRAPPED survey. The authors examined the availability of pain and anxiety management strategies currently used in Canadian paediatric emergency departments, and found a wide variation. They identified several pain-reduction procedures to address the gaps. Lead author, Dr. Evelyne D. Trottier (Montréal, Que.) is a paediatric emergency physician at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal, and a clinical assistant professor at Université de Montréal.  Her co-authors are Drs. Samina Ali, Sylvie Le May and Jocelyn Gravel. [Read more]

Dr. Ann Jefferies (Toronto, Ont.) is awarded CPS Life Membership, for being a transformative leader and champion in Canadian neonatology. An outstanding educator, researcher and administrator – and a brilliant clinician – Dr. Jefferies has already made an indelible imprint in a rapidly changing field. Her distinguished career includes chairing the CPS Fetus and Newborn Committee and the Royal College Specialty Committee in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, and directing the neonatal-perinatal fellowship program at the University of Toronto and the nurseries program at Mount Sinai. [Read more]

Dr. Heather Onyett (Kingston, Ont.) is awarded CPS Life Membership, for her tireless work, in several capacities, over many years. Dr. Onyett’s meticulous contributions to review, writing and policy development in CPS committees and on the Board, have often competed with delivering exemplary care in underserved or understaffed places in Canada and abroad. Meeting the needs of marginal communities started early, with 6 years as the sole paediatrician in St. Anthony, Newfoundland. Later, and for 25 years, Dr. Onyett was the only paediatric infectious diseases physician in Kingston, where for the first three years she saw adult as well as paediatric patients. [Read more]

The Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain (Toronto, Ont.) receives Honorary CPS Membership for her dedication and contributions to improving child and youth health in Canada. Mrs. McCain was the first woman to be appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, an office she held from 1994 to 1997. She advocated in that role for the need to invest and cooperate across sectors to deliver quality early learning and child care. [Read more]

Dr. Mark Awuku (Windsor, Ont.) receives the Danielle Grenier Member Recognition Award, for his outstanding contributions to the CPS as chair of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee. In this role, Dr. Awuku has overseen the provision, coordination, promotion and evaluation of continuing medical education for the past 6 years, all the while supporting CPS strategic directions. He has also helped to guide continuing professional development for paediatricians, family physicians and other child and youth professionals in innovative and timely ways, and based on identified needs. [Read more]

All CPS awards will be presented at the 93^rd CPS Annual Conference—June 22-25 in Charlottetown.

For conference information visit: www.annualconference.cps.ca. Media assistance will be available on-site.

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About the Canadian Paediatric Society

The Canadian Paediatric Society is a national advocacy association that promotes the health needs of children and youth. Founded in 1922, the CPS represents more than 3,300 paediatricians, paediatric subspecialists and other child health professionals across Canada.