New Canada Research Chairs announced
McGill researchers awarded more Canada Research Chairs than any other Canadian university.
Twenty-three outstanding McGill researchers are being awarded Canada Research Chairs (CRC), as announced today by Ahuntsic Member of Parliament Eleni Bakopanos. This represents the most CRC awards given to a Canadian university in this competition.
The CRC program was created to enable Canadian universities to attract and retain established and emerging world-class researchers. McGill research projects that will benefit from the new funds include the genetics of bipolar mood disorder, the use of anti-anxiety agents in contemporary medicine, and the creation of innovative microdevices (complete list of projects below).
"This new group of Canada Research Chairs is simply outstanding," said Jacques Hurtubise, interim Vice-Principal (Research). "McGill has made a conscious decision to use the Canada Research Chairs program exclusively to attract great new talent into our ranks, and today's announcement shows the immense benefits of that decision for Canada."
Three-quarters of these new McGill researchers were working outside Canada before receiving a CRC award.
McGill assistant professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute Jean-François Cloutier is a new CRC award recipient. He was recruited from Johns Hopkins University, and is studying the formation of brain circuitry during development. His research is searching for regenerative therapies for certain mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
"The existence of the CRC program had a major influence on my decision to return to Canada," he says. "The program will allow us to perform cutting-edge research and ensure that we stay at the forefront of new developments in our field of study."
Andrea Tone, a McGill professor of History with a joint appointment in Social Studies of Medicine, also received a CRC award. She was recruited from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is looking at the development and use of anti-anxiety agents in contemporary medicine and culture. Her research may lead to a better understanding of the diagnosis, interpretation and treatment of anxiety in modern society.
"I am honoured by the recognition and delighted to have landed in a country that places such a high premium on creative scholarship and independent thought," she said.
"Given my research interests — history of psychiatry and pharmaceutical science, sexuality and gender, and the history of medicine and technology as told through the perspective of patients — there's no place in Canada I'd rather be."
The CRC awards not only enable world-class research, they help train the next generation of researchers. One hundred ninety-four new Chairs are being awarded across Canada.
McGill Canada Research Chairs, November 2004
Abouheif, Ehab
Secrets of the Ant Wing: Environmental Influences on the Genome during Development and Evolution
Evolution and Ecology
Alda, Martin
Mood Genes
Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Barralet, Jake
Boning up on Materials
Material Science
Borck, Cornelius
Modern Metamorphoses: How Changing Our Bodies Changes Us
Multidisciplinary in SSH
Brandenberger, Robert
Developing a New Theory of the Very Early Universe
Physics
Cloutier, Jean-François
Wired for Sense: Discovering the Mechanisms Governing Sensory System Development
Central Nervous System
Dimitrakopoulos, Roussos
"I'd rather be approximately right than precisely wrong": Sustainable Mineral Development Under Uncertain Conditions
Mining and Mineral Processing
Fuhrer, Rebecca
Psychosocial and Cultural Patterns of Illness
Population Health
Gonzalez, Andrew
Learning About Biodiversity Loss From Lilliputian Landscapes
Evolution and Ecology
Haghighi, Ali Pejmun
From Drosophila to Man: Discovering How Nerve Cells Connect and Communicate
Cell Biology
Kristof, Arnold
Investigating Pulmonary Immunity and Inflammation
Respiration
Le Bourdais, Celine
Families in Flux
Demography
Lynch, John
The Importance of Time and Timing for Health
Population Health
Martinez Trujillo, Julio Cesar
How Does the Brain Pay Attention?
Central Nervous System — Organic
McAdams, Stephen
Thinking in Sound
Psychology
Nadeau, Jay
Subtle Changes, Deadly Diseases
Biomedical Engineering
O'Loughlin, Jennifer
Seeds of Disease: Investigating Childhood Determinants of Adult Chronic Disease
Population Health — General
Piccirillo, Cariaco A.
Master Switches at Work: The Role of Regulatory T Lymphocytes in Controlling Autoimmune Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus
Tone, Andrea
Mother's Little Helpers: Anti-anxiety Agents in Modern Medicine
History
Vengallatore, Srikar
Building Tiny Machines
Materials Science and Engineering
Vidal, Silvia
Keeping Viruses at Bay: Lessons From Nature
Genetics
Vinals, Jorge
Studying the Nuts and Bolts of Advanced Materials
Physics
Young, Jason C.
The Protein Folding Toolkit
Biochemistry
