Professor Margaret Somerville, from the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, won the first-ever UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science. Somerville is a pioneer in the development of bioethics. She has counseled international organizations including the World Health Organization and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.

• Philosopher Charles Taylor won the first Gold Medal of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the organization's highest distinction.
• Dr. Brenda Milner was the first scientist working outside the United States to be honoured with the National Academy of Science Award in the Neurosciences.
• Biochemist Nahum Sonenberg won Canada's most prestigious cancer research award, the National Cancer Institute of Canada's Robert L. Noble Prize.
• Eight McGill professors joined the Royal Society of Canada in 2004. McGill now has 115 members in the prestigious organization.
• The 2005 Fiske Guide to Colleges said McGill professors "receive high marks for their knowledge and accessibility outside class."
• Over the years, McGill professors have won 26 Prix du Québec, 14 Prix de l'Association francophone pour le savoir and 13 Killam Prizes.
• Two McGill professors have won Nobel Prizes: Ernest Rutherford in 1908 and Frederick Soddy in 1921.