Two UK Recipients Among the Canadian International Gairdner Award Winners

If you’re in a Canadian or international health science field, then you’ve likely heard of the Gairdner Foundation and the awards they distribute, and if not, then let me quote from their “About us” page:

“The Gairdner Foundation was created in 1957 by James Arthur Gairdner to recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life.”

Every year, the Gairdner Foundation bestows thier prestigious awards on internationally recognized medical researchers (here‘s CBCs coverage of the 2010 Awardee announcements).  This year, two of those recipients were from the UK: Dr. Peter J. Ratcliffe (2010 Canada Gairdner International Award Recipient for his work in the identification of molecular mechanisms of oxygen sensing in the cell) and Dr. Nicholas White (2010 Canada Gairdner Global Health Award Recipient for his clinical studies on artemesinins in the treatment of malaria and the use of ACT to prevent resistance).  You can see some video clips of the events: the Canada Gairdner Awards Recipient’s lecture and the Global Health Symposium on “Eradicating malaria: “Prospects and Perils” .

Dr. Peter J. Ratcliffe

Dr. Nicholas White

(Photos obtained from the Gairdner Foundation Awardees Website)

Although I did not have the opportunity to meet Dr. Ratcliffe (he also did a cross Canada tour with many speaking engagements), we did have the pleasure of hosting Dr. White and his lovely wife here in Ottawa for a series of events and visits.  For those of you (in Canada) who were unable attend any of these (he made stops in Vancouver, Toronto as well as Ottawa),  he also did a couple of radio interviews with CBC (that are available online) on the programs As It Happens (the section with Dr. White is @ ~15:45-23:15 of the linked clip), as well as on the local Ottawa Morning show. There was also a piece about his work in the Globe & Mail.

Among his talks and events in Ottawa, Dr. White spoke at the Canadian Conference on Global Health, IDRC, Carleton University, and the Health Canada Science Forum. 

Dr. White was a wonderful individual to host, and we look forward to his next opportunity to visit us here in Canada (as well as those visits of other UK researchers who may be travelling this way), promoting some of the excellent work being contributed internationally by UK scientists.

We’re very proud of the research done by Dr. Ratcliffe and Dr. White and pleased to see them being recognised within the international medical sciences field! Congratulations to you both!