Roncari Prize

Roncari

Established in 1995 to honour the memory of Dr. Daniel Roncari, who served as the Director of the Institute of Medical Science from 1980 to 1983, this award is presented annually at IMS Scientific Day to an IMS student(s) who has made significant contributions to the academic experience of graduate students. 

The recipient(s) is chosen by the IMS Associate Director and the Co-Chairs of the SAFE Committee.

2025 Award Recipients 

Crizza Ching

Crizza Ching

Crizza is a PhD candidate supervised by Drs. Jason Fish and Dinesh Thavendiranathan at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. Crizza’s research aims to uncover the role of the vasculature in the pathogenesis of chemotherapy-related cardiac dysfunction. Crizza has been heavily involved in the IMS Students' Association, the EDIIA high school outreach subcommittee, and has co-led the Ori Rostein Lecture and the IMS Scientific Day planning for two consecutive years.  

Hamzah Khan

Hamzah Khan

Hamzah is a PhD candidate at St. Michael’s Hospital in vascular surgery under Dr. Mohammad Qadura. His research uses plasma biomarkers and machine learning to predict surgical outcomes. He is a two-time IMS Students' Association (IMSSA) president and also serves on the IMS Admissions Committee, is a Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program mentor, and a member of UofT Talks. He is developing a course with Dr. Pamela Plant to teach lab and statistical skills and is working with Dr. Pascal Tyrrell on an app to enhance the sense of community in IMS. He also leads the IMSSA x Pueblo Science collaboration, which includes the Indigenous STEM Enrichment program. 

Kowsar Teymouri

Kowsar Teymouri

Kowsar is a PhD candidate, supervised by Dr. James Kennedy. Her research focuses on the genetics of schizophrenia, particularly the role of immune genes in its subtypes. She has been the student co-lead for IMS Scientific Day for three years and spearheaded IMS Research Rounds, a bimonthly seminar series where students present their research to their peers. She previously served as VP of Operations for the IMS Students' Association and now serves as a senior advisor. Kowsar is also a mentor in the IMS Peer-to-Peer Mentorship program and actively contributes to the IMS EDIIA and Awards & Recognition committees.

Previous Winners

Year Award Winner(s)

1995

Shona Torrance

1996

Graham Slaughter

1997

Jodi Dickstein

1998

Jodi Dickstein

1999

Graham Slaughter

2000

Tony Lee

2001

Brenda Gamble

2002

Joyce Ching
Cristoforo Silvestri

2003

Gabriela Farcas

2004

Valerie Caraiscos

2005

Samir Patel
Prameet Sheth

2006

Fiona Lovegrove

2007

Narveen Jandu

2008

David Kideckel
Lucy Shin

2009

Jennifer Charlesworth
Duncan Chege

2010

Diana Choi

2011

Zeynep Yilmaz

2012

Ilyse Darwish

2013

Richard Foty

2014

Rageen Rajendram
Natalie Venier

2015

Susith Kulasekara

2016

 Annette Ye

2017

Petri Takkala

2018

Fadl Nabbouh 

Craig Madho

2019

Jonathon Chio

2020

Laura Best
Michelle Dubinsky

2021

Sarah Watling
Alaa Youssef
Stephanie Tran
Rachel Dadouch

2022

Kayvan Aflaki
Serena Peck

2023

Ergi Duli 

2024

Alex Boshart
Nairy Khodabakhshian
Sajeevan Sujanthan