Royal Society of Canada

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Banting & Best

Diabetes

Entrepreneneurship

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Health Innovation Hub

Insulin

Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research

Startups

Ted Sargent

ThisIsThePlace

For nearly four decades, Patricia Brubaker has been investigating the biological activities of anti-diabetic gut hormones secreted by the intestine.

Her work is focused on the fundamental biology of the hormones and has contributed to development of drugs for the treatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes. The drugs work by stimulating the secretion of insulin, helping to lower blood sugar levels and reducing appetite, among other effects.

Brubaker understands all too well the impact such research has had on people’s lives – she is a Type 1 diabetes patient herself.

“The progress over the last 40 years has been simply phenomenal in terms of how people with diabetes are treated clinically, the extension of their life spans and the prevention of complications,” says Brubaker, a professor in the departments of physiology and medicine in the ��Ƶ’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a member of the faculty’s Banting & Best Diabetes Centre.

Brubaker, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada who recently won a lifetime achievement award from Diabetes Canada, says huge strides are being made in the treatment of the disease, which affects as many as one out of three Canadians when the condition known as prediabetes is taken into account.

But she stresses that research on prevention is equally crucial.

“What we need to do is figure out how we can prevent diabetes in the first place,” she says.

“Diabetes prevention science is going to be all about how we can predict the onset of diabetes, which is great. But if we know someone’s going to develop diabetes, how do we prevent it? That’s still an area of intense investigation.”

These and other pressing questions on the future of diabetes treatment and prevention science will be addressed by Brubaker and other experts at a Nov. 26 panel discussion that’s part of a virtual symposium examining the impact of the discovery of insulin by U of T’s Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who worked with J.J.R Macleod and James Collip. “The Legacy of Insulin Discovery: Origins, Access, and Translation” will examine insulin and diabetes from a range of perspectives, including laboratory research, clinical practice, pharmacy, commercialization, entrepreneurship, digital technology and socio-economic factors.

It’s the first in a series of events organized by U of T to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, and one of the highlights of the 2020 Celebration of Excellence and Engagement, a week-long exploration of scholarly, scientific and artistic topics presented by U of T and the Royal Society of Canada.

Learn more about the Nov. 26 insulin symposium

“The discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting and Charles Best, and their team, is a testament to what we can achieve when we empower scientific research and find ways to share it with the world,” says University Professor Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“That extraordinary work done in the early 1920s not only saved millions of lives, it laid the foundation for the ��Ƶ’s world-class student training programs and robust partnerships with hospitals and industry – collaborations that continue to revolutionize health care today.”

Brubaker says collaborations have been crucial in her research career. Recently, she’s partnered with researchers who study gut bacteria, which appears to play a role in the production of the gut hormones that she studies: GLP-1 and GLP-2.

Three U of T faculty, PhD student honoured with Royal Society of Canada awards of excellence

perry.king — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Three U of T faculty, PhD student honoured with Royal Society of Canada awards of excellence

perry.king Tue, 09/17/2019 - 00:00

Cutline

Clockwise from top left: U of T's University Professor Lynne Viola, PhD student Fahima Dossa, Professor Dwight Seferos and Professor Anita Anand

Perry King

Topic

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Chemistry

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

Rotman School of Management

Startups

UTEST

Three ��Ƶ faculty members and a PhD student have been honoured with prestigious awards from the Royal Society of Canada, the nation’s academy of scholars, scientists and artists.

As part of its mandate to promote academic excellence, the Royal Society administers more than 20 awards – many named after great Canadian scholars – for outstanding achievement in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts.

The Yvan Allaire Medal has been awarded to Professor Anita Anand, the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance at U of T's Faculty of Law. The medal is bestowed annually for an outstanding contribution in governance of private and public organizations. Anand is the second winner of this new award, named after the leader of the Institute for Governance of Public and Private Organizations.
Fahima Dossa, a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health who is also in U of T's surgeon scientist training program, is one of three women being honoured this year with the Alice Wilson Medal, named after the first woman elected to the Royal Society fellowship in 1938. Recipients of the annual award for women with outstanding academic qualifications are all entering a career in scholarship or research at the post-doctoral level.
Dwight Seferos, a professor in the department of chemistry, is receiving the Rutherford Memorial Medal in chemistry. Two medals – in chemistry and physics – are awarded annually for outstanding research. The award is named after Lord Rutherford of Nelson, a leader in nuclear research.
Lynne Viola, a University Professor in U of T's department of history, has been awarded the Pierre Chauveau Medal, named after the first premier of Quebec and the second president of the Royal Society of Canada. The medal is awarded every two years for a distinguished contribution to knowledge in the humanities, in a subject other than Canadian literature and Canadian history.

“We are proud that the Royal Society of Canada is recognizing Anita Anand, Dwight Seferos and Lynne Viola, all leaders in their disciplines, and Fahima Dossa, an up-and-coming scholar,” says Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“Their impressive work is a reflection of the ��Ƶ’s excellence in research across a broad range of disciplines. We congratulate them for the prestigious honours bestowed upon them.”

Lynne Viola

(photo by Perry King)

Lynne Viola, a celebrated historian who is one of the world's leading scholars on the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, has published four books and edited 14 volumes of archival documents about the history of violence in the Soviet Union during the 1930s.

Viola’s works focus on the supporters of Stalin’s regime, state government resisters, Stalin’s victims and, in her most recent work – 2017’s Stalinist Perpetrators on Trial – the people who implemented Stalin’s Great Terror, a campaign of political repression from 1936 to 1938. Her book is the first English work to shed light on Soviet perpetrators of violence.

For her research, Viola was given access to Russian and Ukrainian archives that had long been kept secret, including the KGB's.

She says she undertook her work to correct the historical record and place formerly classified documents in the public domain forever.

“History is so important – the cliché is that we learn it so we don’t repeat the past. But we also learn it so we know what happened in times of extreme violence, of economic failures, of social upheaval,” says Viola, who won the Killam Prize earlier this year.

“I have no illusions. Most of my students, when I lecture on Russian history, won’t remember much about Russian history,” she adds. “But if I have managed to succeed in their being able to read newspapers critically, to me that’s a success. Particularly in this day and age of so-called fake news and lying presidents and so on.”

Viola says she is grateful for the Pierre Chauveau Medal, saying the work of researchers in the humanities isn't always recognized.

“It’s unsettling to me, really. I’m used to being ignored. This is what historians do – we sit in archives and libraries,” she says.

Dwight Seferos

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Dwight Seferos is a synthetic chemist devoted to using modified natural compounds to make high-tech items like batteries for transportation and eco-friendly clothing.

The McLean Award-winning scientist and his lab have been busy this year, developing synthetic compounds that replicate “high value” plastics but are greener.

“We’re not making things that are structural components – they’re usually some kind of electronic or optical material, a high-tech version of plastic,” says Seferos, whose lab is also developing applications such as lighting displays and thermoelectric generators. “We’re still trying to think about recycling down the line, recovering them, because that’s a real problem.”

His focus is also on his startup, Pliant Power Devices, an endeavour he continues to develop with his former student Tyler Schon. With the help of U of T incubator hubs UTEST and the Entrepreneurship Hatchery over the last two years, the startup has started to draw international interest. The goal is to reach a level of profitability while still applying the fundamental science.

Seferos, who was given an NSERC E.W.R Steacie Memorial Fellowship this past spring, says “it’s been a great year in terms of awards, but I don’t think getting them changes too much about your daily life. You still go to work, work with students, publish your results and write grant [proposals].

“It’s nice to get an award like this and the Royal Society is prestigious. To be recognized is really amazing.”

Anita Anand

(photo by Mark Blinch)

Anita Anand’s research revolves around good governance. The scholar looks closely at better governance for entities like boards of directors and advisory boards – in both the public and private sectors. She researches the best or most appropriate governance mechanisms for those organizations.

The work that she undertakes involves “one of the fundamental issues of our time,” she says. Boards have significant influence on organizations, businesses or non-profits – and they, in turn, have a lot of influence on the public.

“[Corporate governance involves] many different types of issues. There are issues of fairness, access, efficiency and representation – and democracy,” says Anand, who is currently researching, among other things, the state of whistleblower laws in Ontario. “These are all key principles that are wound up in the concept of governance.”

Fahima Dossa

(photo by Perry King)

In her PhD work at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Dossa's thesis evaluates how inconclusive results from tests for genetic forms of breast and ovarian cancer affect women's health-care decisions.

Dossa, who is a surgical resident, has put that on hold to pursue graduate training while participating in U of T's surgeon scientist training program.

“[The PhD work has] been a transformative experience for me as far as understanding the science behind what we do, but also changing the way I think about diseases and processes and even my approach to patients,” says Dossa, who also has research interests in colorectal disease and emergency surgery.

Dossa has a side project focused on issues of equity in surgery – the pay gap between male and female surgeons. She looks at patterns of gender bias in how surgeons are being renumerated.

Dossa says she is honoured to receive the Alice Wilson Medal. “I was pleased to see that the Royal Society of Canada has been making an active effort to recognize the contributions of women to research in Canada,” she says. “When you look at the list of previous Alice Wilson Medal winners, it’s a stark reminder of the incredibly talented women who are doing groundbreaking work across the country.

“To be recognized among that group of women is very motivating and a real honour.”

'It's a great honour': Eleven U of T faculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

perry.king — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 13:53:13 +0000

'It's a great honour': Eleven U of T faculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

perry.king Tue, 09/10/2019 - 09:53

Cutline

From left to right: Pamela Klassen, Kathleen Gallagher and Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz are three of 11 U of T researchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada (all photos by Perry King)

Perry King

Topic

Physical and Environmental Sciences

Awards

Drama

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Hospital for Sick Children

Faculty of Medicine

History

Humanities

Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Physics

Psychiatry

Religion

University Health Network

St. Michael's Hospital

surgery

Theatre

U of T Scarborough

Pamela Klassen studies religion’s impact on the world at large. Kathleen Gallagher sees theatre as a way to understand students and their education. Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz is designing tools to detect biomolecules that cause cancer and other diseases.

They are just three of 11 ��Ƶ researchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada – considered a major achievement for scholars in this country.

The other new fellows from U of T are: Cheryl Grady, Eric Jennings, Sidney Kennedy, Zheng-Hong Lu, Locke Rowe, Kimberly Strong, Yu Sun and Michael Taylor. (See the full list below.)

“The ��Ƶ congratulates its newest Royal Society of Canada fellows on their achievement and looks forward to the outstanding work they will continue to produce as members of the national academy,” says Vivek Goel, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“These 11 researchers, representing a wide array of disciplines, are contributing to new knowledge, insights and innovations that impact the lives of Canadians and people around the world.”

Founded in the 1880s, the Royal Society of Canada recognizes scholars and their work in order to help them build a better future in Canada and around the world.

Fellows have made remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities and sciences and will be mobilized to contribute knowledge, understanding, and insight through engagement with the Canadian public.

They are nominated and elected by their Royal Society of Canada peers.

U of T’s 11 new fellows will join over 370 Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T, and more than 2,000 active fellows overall.

Pamela Klassen

A professor in the department for the study of religion, Klassen seeks to understand how religion shapes our world – in the past, present and imagined future.

Since joining U of T in 1997, she has researched religion, gender and secularism in North America, the intersection of gender and medicine and the role of Christianity in Canadian colonialism.

“Religion is at the heart of some of the most challenging issues in the contemporary world,” says Klassen, adding that it plays an integral role in personal decision-making, social structure and politics.

The subject has led Klassen down several seemingly disparate roads of inquiry. They include: research into Mennonite women refugees during the Second World War; the role of religion in the home birth movement; and the history of medicine, including the role of medical missionaries.

She describes her work as “people focused.”

“I want to take care to reflect on what people have told me in interviews or from diaries and letters I’ve found in archives in a way that is respectful of their stories – but set those stories in a wider context so we can learn from them in a broader political, social way,” says Klassen, who previously won an American Academy of Religion award of excellence.

Such personal engagement laid the groundwork for Klassen’s 2018 book The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land. The book, which combined meticulous historical research and many conversations with Indigenous historians and knowledge holders, examines the life of Frederick du Vernet, an early 20^th-century Anglican archbishop who journeyed through Ojibwe, Ts’msyen and Nisga’a territory and came to condemn the devastating effects of residential schools run by his church.

Klassen’s work on the book also led to the Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations project, an interactive website that Klassen and her students continue to work on in consultation with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of the Rainy River First Nations. It focuses on a diary Du Vernet wrote on an 1898 visit to Rainy River, and includes many stories of Ojibwe women and men expressing strong resistance to the missionary presence.

“My work has always been animated by – this is more grandiose than I want to make it sound – questions of injustice that I see around me and how religion plays into various kinds of inequality, or how religion shapes the political world in which we live,” Klassen says.

She thanks her peers for nominating and appointing her as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

“It’s a great honour to be nominated and accepted,” she says. “It’s a community of such a wide array of scholars – people from so many different fields – so to have the recognition of colleagues from across the humanities really means a lot to me.”

Kathleen Gallagher

A professor in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Gallagher uses theatre to understand young people’s views on life in and out of the classroom.

Gallagher, who is interested in questions of pedagogy, artistic practice and the social contexts of schooling, sees theatre as a “mode of inquiry” that’s yielded important insights into young people’s views on democracy, civic engagement and inequality.

In order to conduct her global, ethnographic research, Gallagher has relied on collaborations with graduate students, who she calls her “most important intellectual community,” as well as the active participation of youth. Such collaborations are a “lifeblood,” she says.

“I can’t imagine operating as a researcher in any other way, frankly,” says Gallagher, who is cross-appointed at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies and won a U of T President’s Impact Award last year. “The richness and the contributions of young people in my research projects make it possible for me to do the work I do.”

Gallagher has also worked with playwright Andrew Kushnir on Towards Youth – a play Kushnir wrote that brings to life the concept of hope among youth in drama classrooms around the world that Gallagher’s research has explored. She describes the collaboration with Kushnir as “next level” because working with a professional playwright gave her an opportunity to communicate some of her research findings to a broad audience. It was also an opportunity to work with a professional playwright.

“To be able to be in a long-term, close dialogue with someone who brings a whole other set of professional skills, understandings and experience to that research, is a gift with untold value,” she says.

Gallagher hopes her Royal Society of Canada fellowship opens up more avenues for cross-disciplinary work.

“The idea that I’m going to walk into new intellectual terrain with researchers beyond my U of T network is enormously exciting to me,” she says. “It feels like a new beginning.”

Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz

A professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, Kraatz wants to prevent diseases by creating tools that can help spot their underlying causes.

Kraatz is focused on creating new sensor materials that allow him to detect biomolecules, such as DNA and proteins – and even biological processes – that play a role in everything from cell division to cancer and viral infections.

He’s also conducting research that looks at the underlying molecular causes for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

“We’re looking at identification of organisms at the genetic level, but we’re also looking at detection of pathogens in the environment,” says Kraatz, who is also U of T Scarborough’s vice-principal of research.

Finding ways to translate such research into real-world solutions can take decades – which is why Kraatz is grateful for his lab colleagues and students who have helped push ideas forward.

“You can have this crazy idea and a non-optimal model system to work it out,” he says. “But taking that next step to go to a model system that actually does allow you to answer that question in a definitive way – it’s really important.”

He hopes his passion for science rubs off on his students.

“I love discussing science with my students, first of all. This is fun, this is a dialogue. Students have ideas – I have ideas and we sort of bounce them off each other,” he says. “Students come up with brilliant ideas and offer some brilliant solutions to problems.”

In his role as vice-principal of research, Kraatz works to promote outstanding research and scholarship in all disciplines at U of T Scarborough while also advancing collaborations and enhancing the research environment for students.

He considers himself a role model at the university – a responsibility he takes seriously.

“Ultimately, [the fellowship] enhances visibility and you have an obligation to contribute to the Royal Society, but also to university life by mentoring young faculty and students,” says Kraatz.

“Making sure they’re on a productive path going forward is critical.”

Here is the full list of new Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T:

Kathleen Gallagher, department of curriculum, teaching and learning
Cheryl Grady, department of psychiatry, and Baycrest Health Sciences
Eric Jennings, department of history
Sidney Kennedy, department of psychiatry, University Health Network, St. Michael’s Hospital
Pamela Klassen, department for the study of religion
Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, department of physical and environmental sciences, U of T Scarborough
Zheng-Hong Lu, department of materials science and engineering
Locke Rowe, department of ecology and evolutionary biology
Kimberly Strong, department of physics
Yu Sun, department of mechanical and industrial engineering
Michael Taylor, departments of surgery and laboratory medicine and pathobiology, and the Hospital for Sick Children

U of T researcher recognized with Royal Society’s McLaughlin Medal

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 18:30:14 +0000

U of T researcher recognized with Royal Society’s McLaughlin Medal noreen.rasbach Tue, 09/18/2018 - 14:30

Cutline

Jeffrey Wrana is a professor in the department of molecular genetics at U of T and a senior investigator at Sinai Health System’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (photo by Annie Tong/Sinai Health System)

Topic

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

A ��Ƶ researcher who studies how cells communicate with each other and how that interaction goes awry in cancer and other diseases has been honoured with a prestigious award from the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr. Jeffrey Wrana, a professor in the department of molecular genetics at U of T and a senior investigator at Sinai Health System’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, today was named recipient of the McLaughlin Medal – which recognizes sustained excellence in medical science and is one of just 12 research awards the society granted this year.

“It’s a pleasant surprise and quite an honour to receive this award, because the competition is so fierce,” says Wrana, who has been at U of T and Sinai for almost two decades. “There are many more good scientists than awards.”

Wrana’s work has led to several breakthroughs in cell signalling and the molecular understanding of cancer. He was the first to discover the molecular pathway for a type of protein that influences how cells respond to their microenvironment, called transforming growth factor beta, or TGFB. His work also showed how this pathway interacts with other pathways to form higher-order networks, which in turn produce a remarkable diversity of tissues and biological functions.

As well, Wrana created a “next-generation” robotics facility called SMART Lab, based at Sinai but accessible to researchers across Toronto, which enables the analysis of thousands of genes and their functions simultaneously. That lab is now a key part of the Network Biology Collaborative Centre, a national platform for functional genomics and proteomics.

“Everything that Jeff has touched at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute has resulted in moving us forward – from his signal transduction research to his establishment of our high throughput screening facility to building the field of network biology,” says Jim Woodgett, director of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute who is also a professor of medical biophysics at U of T. “This has kept both his lab and his many colleagues here ahead of the research curve. If you want to know what’s next, ask Jeff.”

One thing that’s next for Wrana is moving his basic research into the clinical realm. In 2017 he became one of three founding scientific directors for Fibrocor Therapeutics, a Toronto-based company that will search for and develop drugs to treat fibrosis, or scarring, in the kidney and other organs. Fibrocor is a collaboration among MaRS Innovation, St. Michael’s Hospital and Evotec, a global drug-discovery company.

“We look forward to seeing the results of this new industry partnership over the next few years, which will build on leading-edge technology developed in Toronto to address a pressing global need,” says Trevor Young, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at U of T. “At the same time, we anticipate further advances in our understanding of cell signalling networks, thanks to Jeff’s visionary approach to cancer and systems biology.”

The Royal Society of Canada has been promoting the achievements of Canadian scientists, artists and scholars since 1883. Members of the society also mentor young talent and provide advice to governments and non-governmental organizations.

Eleven U of T scholars named fellows of prestigious national academy

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:59:37 +0000

Eleven U of T scholars named fellows of prestigious national academy

noreen.rasbach Tue, 09/11/2018 - 13:59

Cutline

Mark Kingwell’s newest research investigates the “politics of boredom,” how people get trapped into cycles of addictive engagement through technology-enabled platforms like Twitter and Facebook (photo by Colin McConnell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Mary Gooderham

Topic

City & Culture

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Two scholars whose groundbreaking research is shaping public discourse on issues from the decline of democracy in the technological age to the dynamics of mass violence are among 11 ��Ƶ researchers who have been named as fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

They join more than 370 fellows at U of T recognized by the prestigious Royal Society for their outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement. The honour is considered one of Canada’s major accomplishments for scholars.

Mark Kingwell, a professor in the department of philosophy as well as a critic and public intellectual who has written and spoken widely on political theory, contemporary politics, public art and architecture, says that he feels “privileged and grateful for this recognition” from the society.

“This is an engaged body of dedicated scientists, artists, writers and scholars, and I’m happy to be among them,” he says. “We live in an age where intellectual work is disparaged and science is questioned. Every one of us who works in this scholarly life wants to think we’re making some small contribution.”

Doris Bergen, a professor in the department of history and Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies who is an internationally recognized historian of the Holocaust, is equally grateful to be joining the society.

“I’m really moved by this honour,” says Bergen, the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies. “It feels exciting to receive this recognition. I’m proud of what we've accomplished as scholars working on the Holocaust.”

The Royal Society was founded in the 1880s to promote learning and research in the arts, humanities and the natural and social sciences. The 11 U of T scholars join more than 2,000 active fellows, distinguished scholars, artists and scientists in Canada.

“The ��Ƶ is proud of these 11 scholars named as fellows by the Royal Society of Canada," says Vivek Goel, vice-president of research and innovation. “Our top scholars are helping us to create new knowledge with their exemplary work and far-reaching impact, and are behind this university's place as one of the top research universities in the world.”

Kingwell’s newest research investigates the “politics of boredom,” how people get trapped into cycles of what he calls addictive engagement through “hollowed out” technology-enabled platforms like Twitter, Facebook and blog postings. The work, which is to be published next year in a book titled Wish I Were Here, notes “there is a risk of detachment and isolation under current conditions,” Kingwell says. “People have lost faith in democratic institutions – and elected officials might be hastening that darkness.”

He says that he feels lucky to be able to do a wide range of writing in his field, alternating scholarly work with an array of columns and essays in more popular media. He is a contributing editor of Harper’s magazine in New York and a regular op-ed writer for the Globe and Mail. He has authored or co-authored 18 books of political, cultural and aesthetic theory, among them the national bestsellers Better Living, The World We Want, Concrete Reveries and Glenn Gould. His work has been translated into 10 languages.

Bergen’s research focuses on issues of religion, gender and ethnicity in the Holocaust and other cases of extreme violence. Her key work includes the role of Christian churches in Nazi Germany, with a recent project focused on German military chaplains in the Second World War.

Her book Twisted Cross showed how the Protestant church embodied a significant feature of Nazi society, while her book War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, was based on extensive original research, including accounts by victims, survivors, witnesses and perpetrators, as well as photographs and a wide range of Jewish sources from the time. It addressed persistent questions about the Holocaust, such as who knew what, how and when did they know it, as well as how the targets and victims of assault tried to find meaning and maintain some form of community.

As the only endowed chair in Holocaust studies in Canada, with funding donated by the late Rose Wolfe, former chancellor of U of T, “it’s a really important public role that I play,” Bergen says, both in Canada and internationally.

For example, she was a member of the core design team for the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, which opened in September 2017. She was a content adviser for the monument, which was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and features tall concrete walls laid out like a distorted Star of David. It honours the millions of Jews and others murdered under the Nazi regime, acknowledges the survivors who fled to Canada and settled here, and has become an important “site of thinking about genocide,” she says.

Bergen has helped shape the field of Holocaust studies and hopes to continue to raise the profile of “talking openly and honestly about cases of extreme violence,” noting that “every society and every time period has its own demons and challenges.”

She’s especially pleased at being named to the Royal Society of Canada having worked for many years in the United States and then returning to this country in 2007.

“We’ve built a strong field of Holocaust studies here, and I think I’ve played an important role in that,” she says. “I’m deeply proud to be part of the ��Ƶ and my colleagues in the history department and Jewish studies.”

��Ƶ scholars elected as fellows this year to the Royal Society of Canada are:

Raisa Deber, professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Stuart Foster, professor in the department of medical biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine and senior scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Paul Frankland, associate professor in the department of physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children
Prabhat Jha, professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael's Hospital
Sheena Josselyn, associate professor in the department of physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children
Patricia O'Campo, professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and interim executive director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital
Beverley Orser, professor in the department of anesthesia in the Faculty of Medicine
Jay Pratt, professor in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Christopher Thompson, professor at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science

Renowned anti-racism education expert among 10 U of T scholars elected fellows of prestigious national academy

rasbachn — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 13:57:02 +0000

Renowned anti-racism education expert among 10 U of T scholars elected fellows of prestigious national academy

rasbachn Thu, 09/07/2017 - 09:57

Cutline

Professor George Dei on his Royal Society of Canada honour: “It’s a top notch award and it’s wonderful to have my work recognized by such a respected Canadian body" (photo courtesy of OISE)

Jennifer Robinson

Author legacy

Jennifer Robinson

Topic

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Faculty of Medicine

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

��Ƶ Scarborough

Scholars shaking up the education system in Canada and how we understand what leads some women to a life behind bars are among 10 ��Ƶ researchers elected as fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

“This is huge for me. It’s something I always wanted,” said Professor George Dei, an expert in anti-racism and Indigenous philosophies, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

“It’s a top notch award and it’s wonderful to have my work recognized by such a respected Canadian body,” he said. “It makes me feel like I’m really making a contribution.

"I also know such contributions are the product of joint efforts working with my students, community workers and other academic colleagues.”

Dei, who is currently in Ghana collecting Indigenous stories for a new book, has spent his academic life working on ways to rethink conventional, Eurocentric education policies to improve the experiences of young people and the communities they call home.

A way of instilling more equity and social justice in the education system, he argues, is to place community sages, fables and Indigenous philosophy, with their own sophisticated worldviews on society, culture and nature, at the heart of schooling to transform not only what is taught but how it is taught.

These fables have been passed down through the generations but were pushed aside in colonial classrooms in favour of a western approach with its own values. Returning to this local knowledge will teach young people how to care for the environment, build their community and respect their culture and peers through reciprocity and sharing.

“Education is too focused on the marketplace – what do I need to know to get a job?” Dei explained. “Education is about more than a job. It’s about learning how to build communities and sustain ourselves in spiritual, emotional, cultural, physical and material ways.”

Like Dei, sociology Professor Candace Kruttschnitt (pictured left) is also thrilled to be joining the 133-year-old society, which is made up of the senior collegium of distinguished scholars, artists and scientists in the country.

“It’s totally an honour and unexpected – completely,” she said with a laugh. “To be recognized for your work any time is wonderful.”

Since the 1990s, Kruttschnitt has studied the incarceration of women by speaking with hundreds of inmates in the United States, England and the Netherlands, with surprising results.

Contrary to common perceptions, the risk factors for a pathway to prison are comparable for men and women. For example, male and female inmates identified as multi-problem property offenders commonly had mental health issues, substance abuse problems, substantial debts and were unemployed.

Both sexes in the multi-problem violent offenders category also shared a history having parents with “parental deviance,” with drug and alcohol abuse and their own brushes with the law. The parents started committing crimes before the age of 18, had debt and also were substance abusers.

“This is a controversial subject because many scholars and policy-makers believe we need a gendered approach to programming in prisons,” Kruttschnitt said, adding that if she was facing imprisonment anywhere in the world the Netherlands “would be the place for me. They’re just wonderful. It’s the most advanced place I’ve ever seen” in their treatment of inmates.

“The ��Ƶ is proud of our 10 new fellows elected to the Royal Society of Canada,” said Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation.

“They are joining dozens of U of T fellows, who represent the largest contingent from any university in Canada,” he said. “They are all top scholars in their fields who help to promote learning and research in the arts, the humanities and the natural and social sciences.”

Joining Dei and Kruttschnitt as fellows of the Royal Society of Canada are:

Professor Benjamin Blencowe, Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Medicine
Professor Peter Dirks, department of surgery, Faculty of Medicine and The Hospital for Sick Children

Professor Reza Iravani, department of electrical & computer engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Professor Robert Jerrard, department of mathematics, Faculty of Arts & Science
Professor Lynn McDonald, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Professor Helen McNeill, department of molecular genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System

Professor Milica Radisic, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Professor Frank Wania, department of physical & environmental sciences, ��Ƶ Scarborough

Top emerging U of T scholars joining Royal Society of Canada’s new college

lavende4 — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 16:08:54 +0000

Top emerging U of T scholars joining Royal Society of Canada’s new college

lavende4 Tue, 09/13/2016 - 12:08

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Barbara Gibson: “I’m really excited about it. It’s a great honour.”

Jennifer Robinson

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Jennifer Robinson

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Awards

A physical therapist involved in treating children with disabilities and an anthropologist studying animal activism may not seem to have much in common.

But at the heart of their research is a desire to change perceptions, to deepen discourse and disrupt or expand outmoded ways of thinking.

Today, physical therapist and bioethicist Barbara Gibson and anthropologist Naisargi Dave were among six U of T scholars named by the Royal Society of Canada as members of its College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. See the full list of recipients below.

In 2014, the society decided it needed to create a special college to recognize and foster scholarly leadership and interdisciplinary collaboration among Canada’s “new” generation of scholars, artists and scientists who’ve received their PhD within the last 15 years.

“It means a lot to be a part of it,” said Dave, who is hoping to finish writing her second book this academic year. “I was especially honoured that my senior colleagues sought fit to nominate me for this award.”

“I’m really excited about it. It’s a great honour,” added Gibson.

“The Royal Society of Canada is to be commended for their decision to recognize and support the work of Canada’s emerging scholars,” said Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation. “We’re extremely proud of U of T’s newest members of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists and look forward to seeing new collaborations and more exciting work from them as a result.”

Since publishing a book on queer activism in India, Dave (left, photo by Wan Park) has turned her attentions to animal-human relationships in the second most populous country in the world. Her research is challenging the commonly held notion that only upper class Westerners are concerned with animal welfare.

She’s also exploring how clashes between what are seen as normative actions (which value consistency and placing issues in context as “good”) and non-normative actions (contradictions) play out in the animal rights activism sphere.

An example, she said, is how a vegetarian or vegan is often questioned about the contradictions in their conduct, e.g. not eating animals but wearing leather shoes. But “normative values rarely need to account for or explain themselves.”

In Gibson’s case, she’s pushing rehabilitation to expand its thinking beyond the confines of biomedicine to include newer areas of research that see disability less as a medical problem to solve and more of a social problem to tackle, e.g., I am disabled by my society, not by my body.

“What I’m interested in is how do we think, talk and add this to the discussion in everyday practice in rehabilitation?” said Gibson, a U of T associate professor and senior scientist at Bloorview Research Institute at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital where she directs the Critical Disability and Rehabilitation Studies unit.

As part of her research, Gibson has interviewed young people with cerebral palsy, aged eight to 19, to hear first-hand how they view their experiences in rehabilitation.

Gibson says that professionals can now predict fairly accurately the likelihood of an individual child with cerebral palsy will be able to walk in adulthood. Nevertheless children continue to receive hours of therapy over several years. While she agrees it’s important for children with cerebral palsy to work at strengthening their muscles and keeping fit, she cautions that focusing too much on walking detracts from other pursuits.

“Therapy consumes a tremendous amount of energy, resources, time,” she says. “It leaves less time to just be a kid.”

In the research children were conflicted and ambivalent about the value of walking. When choosing whether to walk, crawl or wheel, they considered the amount of energy needed, the activity, the environment and their preferences. They didn’t necessarily see disability as a problem and expressed pride in the speed, colour or features of their wheelchairs.

“I’m not saying rehabilitation isn't valuable,” Gibson said. “What I’m trying to do is encourage clinicians to promote acceptance of diverse bodies and abilities and have these conversations with parents and kids.”

The six 2016 U of T members of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists are:

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Hani Naguib, department of mechanical and industrial engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Naisargi Dave, department of anthropology
Stephen I. Wright, department of ecology and evolutionary biology

Faculty of Medicine

Barbara Gibson, department of physical therapy and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
Wolfgang Kuebler, department of surgery and St. Michael’s Hospital
Sharon Elizabeth Straus, department of medicine and St. Michael’s Hospital

Twelve new U of T fellows join Royal Society of Canada

lavende4 — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 14:48:37 +0000

Twelve new U of T fellows join Royal Society of Canada

lavende4 Wed, 09/07/2016 - 10:48

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Patricia Brubaker: one of 11 U of T faculty members newly named as Royal Society of Canada fellows (Photo by Eva Eng, Dept. of Physiology)

Jennifer Robinson

Author legacy

Jennifer Robinson

Topic

Honours

Great discoveries in the lab really do happen through “serendipitous observation,” says Patricia (Pat) Brubaker.

Twenty years ago, she and colleague Dr. Daniel Drucker were injecting intestinal peptide hormones into mice. They were on the hunt for something else when they noticed their booster shot of the naturally occurring hormone GLP-2 was triggering growth and improved bowel function in their furry subjects.

It was our bingo! moment, she recalls. Their discovery of GLP-2 as an intestinal growth factor opened up an entirely new frontier in the treatment of disorders such as short bowel syndrome and possibly the inflammatory bowel diseases Crohn’s and colitis.

Today, the outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic accomplishments of Brubaker and 10 other U of T researchers have been recognized by the prestigious Royal Society of Canada, which has named them as fellows.

“I was deeply honoured that I was nominated in the first place. The fact that I’m receiving it [the fellowship] is really wonderful news,” says Brubaker, a professor in U of T’s department of physiology and faculty of medicine, as well as the Canada Research Chair in Vascular and Metabolic Biology since 2001.

This year’s U of T inductees come from four faculties and their research interests range widely, from thermal spray coatings and conservation biology to pioneering social history and probing the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. See the full list below.

They’re joining more than 2,000 active fellows in the Royal Society of Canada, which was established in 1883 to promote learning and research in the arts, the humanities and the natural and social sciences.

“As one of the top research universities in the world, the ��Ƶ’s primary mission is to create new knowledge. We are incredibly proud of these 12 scholars — U of T’s newest Royal Society of Canada fellows — who embody that spirit in their exemplary work as they continue to blaze new trails in their fields,” said Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation.

In Brubaker’s case, the fellowship recognizes a “lifetime’s work” spent investigating intestinal peptide hormones and how they help the body repair itself. In addition to her pioneering work with GLP-2, she and her colleagues have found boosting the levels of its sister hormone GLP-1 in people with diabetes can help improve blood glucose control.

This research has already laid the foundation for others to create new drug therapies and diet regimens to treat — and someday hopefully prevent — these diseases.

“It’s very humbling to know that people think well of your work,” Brubaker said, thanking her colleague and principal nominator Dr. Drucker, as well as the researchers from Canada, the United States and Britain who supported her nomination by writing letters of support.

The 2016 U of T fellows of the Royal Society of Canada are:

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Javad Mostaghimi, department of mechanical & industrial engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Marie-Josée Fortin, department of ecology & evolutionary biology
Smaro Kamboureli, department of English
Anne Lancashire, department of English
Natalie Zemon Davis, department of history
Stevo Todorcevic, department of mathematics
Jeremy Quastel, department of mathematics
Aephraim Steinberg, department of physics

Faculty of Medicine

Patricia Brubaker, department of physiology
Julie Forman-Kay, department of biochemistry
Gordon Keller, department of Medical Biophysics and UHN

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Normand Labrie, department of curriculum, teaching & learning

This year’s new fellows will be officially inducted into the academies of the Royal Society of Canada at a ceremony on Friday, November 18 in Kingston, ON.

Five U of T faculty named to Royal Society college

sgupta — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 15:39:24 +0000

Five U of T faculty named to Royal Society college sgupta Fri, 09/18/2015 - 11:39

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Professor Aaron Wheeler is one of five U of T faculty named to the RSC College of New Scholars [photo by Diana Tyszko, Faculty of Arts & Science]

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