Student Academic Awards

Whiteside

Whiteside Award

This award was established in 2003 to honour the contributions of Dr. Catharine Whiteside, a former IMS Graduate Coordinator and former Dean of Medicine at the University of Toronto. It is presented annually at IMS Scientific Day to a recently graduated Master of Science student who has made outstanding scholarly contributions. 

The recipient is nominated by their supervisor and defense committee and is selected by the IMS Graduate Coordinators.

Muzammil Syed

2022 Whiteside Award Winner:

Muzammil Syed obtained his Bachelor of Sciences from McMaster University, and then completed a MSc under the co-supervision of Drs. Mohammed Al-Omran and Charles de Mestral. His thesis focused on ascertaining the hospital-level burden of diabetic foot ulcers across Canada using nation-wide administrative health databases. Muzammil’s graduate research work was jointly supported by a CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master's (CGS M) award and a Banting & Best Diabetes Centre-Novo Nordisk Studentship, and also received several accolades and awards at major national conferences. Outside of research and medicine, Muzammil is an avid athlete and a fervent reader with a diverse range of interests that spans tech, philosophy, and business, among others.

Siminovitch and Salter

Siminovitch-Salter Award 

This award was established in 1995 to honour the contributions of Dr. Lou Siminovitch and Dr. Robert Salter, eminent researchers, founders, and mentors to the Institute of Medical Science. It is presented annually at IMS Scientific Day to a recently graduated PhD student who has made outstanding scholarly contributions during their program. 

The endowment represents contributions by Mount Sinai Hospital, the University of Toronto Department of Surgery and the Institute of Medical Science. The recipient is nominated by their supervisor and selected by the IMS Graduate Coordinators.

Jennifer Kwan

2022 Siminovitch-Salter Award Winner:

Dr. Jennifer Kwan studied in the Undergraduate Pathobiology Specialist Program at the University of Toronto (2008-11), graduated from Queen’s University School of Medicine (2011-15), joined the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at the University of Toronto in 2015, and completed her PhD (2017-21) during her residency through the Institute of Medical Science and Clinician Investigator Program at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include investigating novel biomarkers and regenerative medicine solutions for tissue repair in fibrosis and lymphedema. During her PhD, she received the CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (1 of 57 nationally) and the European Radiation Research Society Young Investigator Award (1 of 15 internationally). Furthermore, she has recently been a Plenary Abstract Speaker at 2021 CARO, recipient of the 2021 ASTRO Resident Recognition Award (1 of 3 internationally), and recipient of the 2022 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Young Investigator Award (1 of 5 internationally).

Sara Al-Bader

Sara Al-Bader Memorial Award 

This award was established by IMS in 2012 to honour the memory of Dr. Sara Al-Bader, a vibrant scholar and IMS PhD candidate who posthumously received her degree after colleagues completed her thesis on health innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. It is presented annually at IMS Scientific Day to an international doctoral stream student who shows exceptional academic promise. The recipient is chosen by the IMS Associate Director.

Neda Rashidi-Ranjbar

Sara Al-Bader Memorial Award Winner 2022

Neda Rashidi-Ranjbar is a medical doctor (MD) by training from Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS) and is currently a PhD candidate in the Institute of Medical Science (IMS) at the University of Toronto. She received her master's (MSc) in Cognitive Neuroscience from Trento University, Italy, and the Donders Institute, the Netherlands.

In 2017, Neda joined a highly collaborative team under the supervision of Dr. Aristotle Voineskos at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She has conducted her PhD project as part of Canada's largest-ever funded study for Alzheimer's prevention, where she investigated structural and functional MRI scans in the population at-risk of Alzheimer's dementia. Neda received the Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP) Doctoral Award for her studies. The results from her studies are now published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals. 

Neda has also served the IMS community as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the IMS-International Community, a community for current and prospective international students, alumni, post-docs or post-doctoral fellows, and faculty in the IMS at the University of Toronto. Neda’s rich international experience has helped her identify the need for creating a global community for IMS graduate students.

Past Award Winners

Whiteside Award

 

Year Award Winner

2003

Joyce Ching

2004

Joan Krepinsky

2005

Gwyneth Zai

2006

Rachel Mitchell

2007

Kinh-Tung Thi Nguyen

2008

Barbara Bachtiary

2009

Aoife Waters

2010

Udi Blankstein

2011

Karen Lim

2012

David MacLean

2013

Emily Lam

2014

Brittany Rosenbloom

2015

Ronnie Har

2016

Romnan Reznikov

2017

Karen Gomez Hernandez

2018

Laura Stefanik

2019

Benjamin Markowitz

2020

 Victoria Mintsopoulos

2021

Alexandria King

Siminovitch-Salter Award 

 

Year Award Winner

1995

Lea Fialkow

1996

Tom Waddell

1997

Shitij Kapur

1998

Vivek Rao

1999

You Ming Lu

2000

David Alter
Ian McGilvray

2001

Robert Gryfe

2002

Lena Serghides

2003

Jane Batt
Chaim Bell

2004

Michael Salman

2005

Karen Badour

2006

Gavin Oudit

2007

Theo Moraes

2008

Tony Yeung

2009

Narveen Jandu

2010

Viviane Labrie

2011

Aristotle Voineskos

2012

Dominique McMahon

2013

Taryn Grieder

2014

Vinod Chandran

2015

Nathan Kolla

2016

 Ashleigh Tuite

2017

Sean Nestor

2018

Kevin Grace

2019

Stephen Wright

2020

Ayesh Seneviratne

2021

Ian Drennan

Sara Al-Bader Memorial Award

 

Year Award Winner

2012

Phan Sok

2013

Fabio Salamanca-Buentello

2014

Cornelia McCormick

2015

S. Fatima Lakha

2016

Pratiek Matkar

2017

Antigona Ulndreaj

2018

Beatrice Ballarin

2019

Tahani Baakdhah

2020

Jonas Osmann

2021

Mina Mirjalili