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Alumni Awards
The IMS is proud to have so many remarkable alumni who enrich our community and inspire students and recent graduates to reach their full potential.
Our annual alumni awards, launched by the Student, Staff, Alumni and Faculty Engagement (SAFE) Committee in 2024, recognize graduates who have had a significant impact on the IMS and who are advancing health throughout Toronto, across Canada, and around the world.
You can find details about the awards, including eligibility and the nomination process below. The awards are presented at IMS Scientific Day. For any questions, please email Sarah Topa.
Emerging Leader Award
Award Criteria: This award recognizes alumni in the early stages of their career who demonstrate outstanding community service and/or scientific achievements that have a direct and significant impact on improving health.
Award Categories
- Community Service
- Scientific Achievement
Eligibility
- MSc or PhD alum who graduated from IMS within the last 10 years (between 2014-2024).
- Both external alumni (those who no longer have a formal affiliation with IMS) and alumni who are IMS faculty members are eligible.
- The nomination can be for a specific achievement or for a body of work that has occurred locally, nationally and/or internationally.
- Achievements and/or community service must have occurred post-graduation.
- Leadership roles and activities can be interpreted broadly to include involvement with community partners, non-governmental organizations, designing and/or managing research studies, acting as an advisor for others/committee, advocacy work, patient engagement, etc.
- Self-nominations will be accepted.
- Group nominations will not be accepted.
Nomination
Each nomination package must include the following:
- A letter of nomination highlighting the nominee’s achievements and/or community service activities and explaining why they should receive the award. Please ensure the letter states the award category, provides a thorough justification for the nomination that aligns with the award criteria, and lists the nominee’s contact information. Maximum 500 words.
- Two letters of support from individuals familiar with the nominee's work. They do not need to be affiliated with the IMS. Maximum one-page each.
- Resume or abridged CV (maximum 10 pages).
- Optional: Supplementary material that demonstrates the significance of the nominee’s work, such as media coverage, abstracts, etc. Maximum two items, no more than two-pages each.
- The nomination package should be compiled as a single PDF document and emailed to Sarah Topa, SAFE Committee Co-Chair, at int.medscience@utoronto.ca.
- Nomination deadline: February 4, 2025 at 11:59 PM
- Please note, nominations will be kept on file for two years for future consideration.
Previous Award Winners
- 2024: Dr. Aadil Ali
Community Engagement Award
Award Criteria: This award recognizes alumni who demonstrate exceptional engagement with IMS and who have had a significant, positive impact on students and/or the wider IMS community. Recipients of this award contribute to IMS’ vision to inspire and prepare future leaders in translational medical science.
Award Categories
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Alumni who are IMS faculty members (1 award). Nominations must demonstrate how they have gone above and beyond the expectations of their graduate faculty appointment.
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External alumni (1 award). Those who no longer have any formal affiliation with IMS.
Eligibility
- MSc or PhD alum who graduated prior to 2023.
- Minimum two years of engagement with IMS as an alum.
- Examples of eligible activities include (but are not limited to): IMS committee member, Career Mentorship Program mentor, advisor to IMS Students’ Association and/or other IMS student groups, volunteer for IMS Scientific Day, panelist or speaker at IMS events.
- Self-nominations are not accepted.
- Group nominations are not accepted.
Nomination
The nomination package must include the following:
- A letter of nomination highlighting the nominee's contributions to and positive impact on the IMS. Please ensure the letter states the award category, provides a thorough justification for the nomination that aligns with the award criteria, and lists the nominee’s contact information. Maximum 500 words.
- Two letters of support from IMS community members. This includes students, faculty, alumni and staff. Maximum one-page each.
- The nomination package should be compiled as a single PDF document and emailed to Sarah Topa, SAFE Committee Co-Chair, at int.medscience@utoronto.ca.
- Nomination deadline: February 4, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Previous Award Winners
- Dr. Pascal Tyrrell
2025 Award Recipients

Emerging Leader Award
Dr. Dan Felsky received his PhD at IMS in 2016 and completed Postdoctoral Fellowships at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, and Columbia University. He is now a Koerner New Scientist and Head of Whole Person and Population Modelling in the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics at CAMH. He is also an Assistant Professor in UofT’s Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, and Anthropology, a Full Member of IMS, and Adjunct Faculty at Baycrest Hospital and the University of Waterloo. "If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" (T.S. Eliot)

Community Engagement Award
Dr. Karen Gordon is a Professor in the Dept. of Otolaryngology and a Full Member at IMS. She is a Senior Scientist in the SickKids Research Institute and an Audiologist in the Department of Communication Disorders. Karen’s collaborative research focuses on auditory development in children who are deaf and use auditory prostheses including cochlear implants. Karen is also the Chair of Graduate Faculty Members at IMS and a key member of the IMS’ Leadership Group and Executive Committee.