Donalda MacDonald, a primary care nurse in the Ambulatory Oncology Clinic, was one of 100 nurses from across Canada to receive a ‘100 in 100’ Centennial Award from the Canadian Nurses Association during a ceremony in Ottawa in May 2008. The awards were part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the association and honoured exceptional registered nurses for their contributions to nursing, their workplaces and health care. MacDonald has been at Mount Sinai since 1975, caring for patients receiving chemotherapy and giving support to their families. For the past eight years, she has taught new oncology nurses through the Cancer Care series available from Sinai C.A.R.E., seminars offered to nurses at Mount Sinai and from across the GTA.

Dr. Donald Low, Microbiologist-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Hospital, received an honourary Doctor of Science degree from McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences at the school’s 2008 spring convocation. Dr. Low is a recognized authority in microbiology and infectious disease and is a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Medicine at the University of Toronto and the head of the department of Microbiology at Toronto Medical Laboratories.

At the Wightman-Berris Awards ceremony held in May 2008, several Mount Sinai staff members were honoured for their superb teaching and mentorship. Two types of awards were distributed during the ceremony: Individual Teaching Awards recognizing exemplary teachers nominated by their students and the Anderson Awards honouring education innovation, administration and leadership. The award winners included:

• Dr. L.M. Picard, Neurologist - Individual Teaching Excellence Award, Undergraduate
• Dr. Alan Barolet, Cardiologist – Individual Teaching Excellence Award, Undergraduate
• Scott Bowler, Social Worker – Individual Teaching Excellence Award, Allied Health
• Dr. Gareth Seaward, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist – Anderson Award, Program Innovation in Education, for the development of the MORE OB program

For the third year in a row, Mount Sinai Hospital was named one of the GTA’s Top Employers. Seven key criteria were used for the evaluation: physical workplace; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; and training and skills development. Mediacorp Canada Inc. received a record number of applications, and the Top 75 award list was published in The Toronto Star on October 18.

Professor and Clinical Biochemist Dr. Eleftherios Diamandis, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, was elected to the prestigious Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in honour of his outstanding contribution to the Canadian scientific community. Election to the RSC, founded in 1882, is the highest national honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences. Dr. Diamandis was inducted and presented with his medal on November 15, 2008 in Ottawa.

Accreditation took place February 8-11, 2009, as part of an ongoing cycle of quality assurance and improvement. Accreditation Canada surveyors gave the Hospital an A+ rating for meeting 97 per cent of all criteria. The Hospital was praised specifically for three leading practices, including the Business Development Committee of the Board, which explores revenue generating opportunities and oversees commercial enterprise; the Hospital’s sarcoma program, which has a cure rate of 75 per cent; and the Department of Psychiatry’s work with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, an organization that serves GTA residents from 126 countries where torture is practised.

Mount Sinai Hospital was awarded Level II Certification in the Progressive Excellence Program: Healthy Workplace stream of the National Quality Institute. Level II certification is the second of four progressive levels in the institute’s program and reflects improvement and good results in several key areas. The Hospital received Level I status in 2005, demonstrating its commitment to a long-term improvement strategy.

Dr. Allan Detsky, Mount Sinai’s Physician-in-Chief and Associate Director of Research-Clinical at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, was a recipient of the 2008 Canadian Society of Internal Medicine Dr. David Sackett Senior Investigator Award.  This prestigious award recognizes excellence in research and aims to raise awareness of high quality research by general internists in Canada. Dr. Detsky has written numerous papers in the field of general internal medicine and has mentored hundreds of medical students seeking careers as general internists. 

Dr. Lesley Wiesenfeld, Staff Psychiatrist and Geriatric Psychiatry Program Postgraduate Education Coordinator in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital, won the prestigious University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry’s Robin Hunter Postgraduate Teaching Award.  The award recognizes the best postgraduate teacher in the Department of Psychiatry, as identified and voted on by residents.  Dr. Wiesenfeld was recognized for her exemplary supervisory skills and high level of respect for her patients and residents alike.  Dr. Wiesenfeld completed her residency training at Mount Sinai in 2003 and has taught staff at the Hospital since 2004.

Tenzin Dicky, an Advance Practice Nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, was awarded the Valerie Fine Bursary for her dedication and compassion on the job.  The annual award supports continuing education in areas that promote patient care excellence. Dicky recently finished her Master’s of Nursing in Acute Care from the University of Toronto. She has worked at Mount Sinai for four years.

Denise Lai and Nancy Ng were honoured at the Exceptional Achievement and Recognition Awards Ceremony, hosted by the University of Toronto’s Department of Physical Therapy.  The ceremony recognizes educators who contribute to the department’s curriculum and provide excellent support to students.  Lai and Ng taught together as small-group facilitators during the fall 2007 and winter 2008 terms.

Dr. Daniel Drucker, Principal Investigator and leading diabetes clinician-research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, received two prestigious awards: the Prix Galien Canada Research Award 2008 for his substantial contribution to the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of diseases; and the 2009 Clinical Investigator Award from The Endocrine Society.

Dr. Rayjean Hung, Principal Investigator in the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute’s Prosserman Centre for Health Research, became one of seven Ontario scientists to win a prestigious Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair. Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Research Chair program is designed to attract leading new scientists to Ontario and further strengthen the province’s cancer research capacity. In spring 2008, Dr. Hung led an international study that uncovered, for the first time, an important genetic region associated with lung cancer risk.

Dr. Nadine Kolas, Lunenfeld postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Daniel Durocher’s lab at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, was awarded the prestigious 2008 Polanyi Prize. Given to only five postdoctoral fellows in Ontario each year, the prize is awarded to outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career by the Ontario Government, in recognition of University of Toronto Professor and Nobel Prize winner Dr. John Polanyi. Dr. Kolas and colleagues recently discovered two genes that help cells avoid mutations and cancer, providing a new understanding of tumour development and new hope for potential cancer treatment.

Dr. Tony Pawson, Lunenfeld’s Distinguished Investigator and world-renowned cell biologist, became the first Canadian scientist to be named a Kyoto Prize Laureate by The Inamori Foundation of Kyoto, Japan. The Kyoto Prize is an international award that honours those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of humankind. Dr. Pawson also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the University of Alberta.

Dr. Frank Sicheri, Principal Investigator, was awarded the Merck Frosst Prize, recognizing his work in the structure and function of protein kinases. The Merck Frosst Prize is given to an accomplished, outstanding researcher in the fields of biochemistry, molecular or cellular biology, with less than ten years of independent research experience.

Dr. Louis Siminovitch, Director Emeritus, was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Dr. Siminovitch, the Lunenfeld’s founding Director of Research, is one of 42 Canadian scientists, engineers and innovators recognized for their remarkable achievements and contributions to Canadian society. Other notable members of the Hall of Fame include Alexander Graham Bell, Frederick Banting and Maude Abbott.

Dr. Katherine Siminovitch, Senior Investigator, was awarded the Jeanne Manery Fischer Memorial Lectureship, whichrecognizes outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Siminovitch is a leading geneticist who studies the molecular mechanisms of immunological diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

ScienceWatch.com, a Thomson Reuters media outlet that tracks trends and performance in basic research, named the Luenfeld’s Director of Research, Dr. Jim Woodgett a Rising Star in the field of Molecular Biology & Genetics. Dr. Woodgett’s published research in 23 papers has been cited a total of 2,061 times within ten years. His full record over all fields includes 72 papers cited a total of 5,122 times.