Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute Youth Outreach Program Receives CIHR's 2012 Synapse Award for Mentorship
This award recognizes the Lunenfeld program's efforts to help Canadian youth understand the value of health research and the potential of a scientific futureFor immediate release –
2012-26
Toronto (May 24, 2012) – The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is pleased to announce that the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute Youth Outreach Program team, which is led by Dr. Jim Woodgett, has won the 2012 CIHR Synapse Mentorship Award – Research Group.
The award, which is worth $10,000, recognizes the efforts of a group that has made exceptional efforts to promote health research among Canada's high school students. Through mentorship, the winning group regularly motivates youth to consider both the value of health research as well career opportunities that exist within various scientific fields. The winning group is nominated by someone who understands its direct scientific contributions to young people, and is chosen by the members of the CIHR Youth Outreach Advisory Board.
For 15 years, the Lunenfeld, which is based at Mount Sinai Hospital, has mentored 30,000 Canadian youth in various ways through its Youth Outreach Program. With SciHigh Workshops in Schools, the program's graduate student volunteers have taught Grades 1-12 students about subjects like the isolation of DNA in bananas and genetics in fluorescent mice. Through Science Days, high school students have learned about fetal health and molecular genetics in human cancers at the Lunenfeld. For eight weeks every summer, five high school students have had the chance to work on a research project through an internship at SLRI. Also, thanks to the program's annual science fair, grade 7 and 8 Toronto students have been able to develop projects with a health or biomedical related topic. Each November, with Take Your Kids to Work Day, grade 9 students can go to the Lunenfeld's labs and learn about science through on-site demonstrations. The program has also used Science Rendezvous as an open house lab tour for the general public, and partnered with Pathways to Education to reach out to low-income youth.
"The Lunenfeld has achieved great success with their youth outreach program," says Dr. Jane Aubin, CIHR's Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research and Knowledge Translation Portfolio. "Their devotion to education through various means serves as a model that other research groups can aspire to follow. Should Canadian youth participants become interested in the science and knowledge presented to them through the program's hands-on workshops, science fairs or summer internships, another generation of researchers will be created that will strengthen our healthcare system. I commend the Lunenfeld for their 15 years of mentorship – and wish them continued success for the future."
CIHR's Synapse – Youth Connection initiativeacts as a meeting place, a scientific junction that brings together health researchers and young students. More than 9,000 CIHR-funded health researchers from across the country have already signed up to become CIHR Synapse mentors. Synapse, in collaborative partnership with national science outreach organizations, connects these mentors with high school students through hands-on training experience that will help create the next generation of Canadian health researchers.
The Lunenfeld's award is one of three related to mentorship through CIHR's Synapse initiative. Ms. Megan Dodd, from McMaster University, won the Synapse Mentorship Award – Graduate Student / Post Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Ute Kothe, from University of Lethbridge, won the Synapse Mentorship Award – Individual Researcher.
- 30 -
About the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.
About Mount Sinai Hospital:
Mount Sinai Hospital is an internationally recognized, 472-bed acute care academic health sciences centre affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is known for excellence in the provision of compassionate patient care, innovative education, and leading-edge research. Mount Sinai's Centres of Excellence include: Daryl A. Katz Centre for Urgent & Critical Care; Frances Bloomberg Centre for Women's & Infants' Health; Christopher Sharp Centre for Surgical Oncology; Centre for Inflammatory Bowel Disease; Centre for Musculoskeletal Disease and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.
About the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute:
The Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, a University of Toronto affiliated research centre established in 1985, is one of the world's premier centres in biomedical research. Thirty-seven principal investigators lead research in diabetes, cancer biology, epidemiology, stem cell research, women's and infants' health, neurobiology and systems biology.
Media Contacts:
David Coulombe
CIHR Media Specialist
Office: 613-941-4563
Mobile: 613-808-7526
E-mail: mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Karin Fleming
Communications Specialist – Research
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
Tel.: 416-586-4800, ext. 2046
Fax: 416-586-8839
E-mail: fleming@lunenfeld.ca