CIHR Recognizes Hamilton student with 2012 Synapse Prize for Mentorship
Ms. Megan Dodd receives the Synapse award for her exceptional work in helping youth both appreciate the value of health research and realize potential scientific futuresFor immediate release –
2012-27
Hamilton (May 24, 2012) – The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is pleased to announce that Ms. Megan Dodd, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at McMaster University, is the 2012 recipient of the CIHR Synapse Mentorship Award – Graduate Student / Postdoctoral Fellow.
The award, which is worth $5,000, recognizes the efforts of a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow who has made exceptional efforts to promote health research among Canada's high school students. Through mentorship, the winner regularly motivates youth to consider both the value of health research as well career opportunities that exist within various scientific fields. The winner is nominated by someone who understands his/her direct scientific contributions to young people, and is chosen by the members of the CIHR Youth Outreach Advisory Board.
Ms. Dodd has devoted her personal time towards the engagement of youth in health science activities. With Let's Talk Science (LTS), a non-profit science outreach organization, she has been a mentor at the Stem Cell Talks Symposium in Toronto, designed an accessible molecular biology workshop for grade 12 students, and demonstrated DNA extraction from fruit. She has also developed a mentorship program that explains popular science concepts in the media to grade 9 and 10 students. Ms. Dodd established a partnership with Youth Engaging in Science (YES) program to help ‘at risk' Hamilton secondary school students develop science fair projects. She also offered scientific outreach to students in rural areas of Ontario. With McMaster's Learning Achievement and Enrichment Program (LEAP), she has designed hands-on lab tours and lectures in the bioengineering stream for grades 9-12 students. Ms. Dodd has also been a reporter and editor of accessible health research stories for Health Science Inquiry.
"With a full-time schedule as a student herself, it's impressive that Ms. Dodd has managed to find time to pass along knowledge and love for science to Canadian youth," says Dr. Jane Aubin, CIHR's Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research and Knowledge Translation Portfolio. "By inspiring the next generation to appreciate the value of health research for a person's overall wellbeing, these youth may one day apply their newfound scientific knowledge towards careers that will help fight diseases that are currently untreatable."
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.
Ms. Dodd's award is one of three related to mentorship through CIHR's Synapse initiative. Dr. Ute Kothe, from the University of Lethbridge, won the Synapse Mentorship Award – Individual Researcher and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (SLRI) Youth Outreach Program, led by Dr. Jim Woodgett, won the Synapse Mentorship Award – Research Group.
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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 McMaster University
McMaster University, one of four Canadian universities listed among the Top 100 universities in the world, is renowned for its innovation in both learning and discovery. It has a student population of 23,000, and more than 156,000 alumni in 140 countries.
Media Contacts:
David Coulombe
CIHR Media Specialist
Office: 613-941-4563
Mobile: 613-808-7526
E-mail: mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Veronica McGuire
Media Relations, Faculty of Health Sciences,
McMaster University
Tel.: 905-525-9140, ext. 22169
E-mail: vmcguir@mcmaster.ca