Alan Evans receives Order of Canada
Career of breakthroughs in neuroimaging recognized with one of the nation’s highest honours
A career that took an uncharted trajectory has been recognized with the Order of Canada, one of the country’s top honours.
Alan Evans, PhD, Distinguished James McGill Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery and Psychiatry at McGill University and neuroscientist at The Neuro, has been named one of this year’s Order of Canada recipients by the office of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada. The Order recognizes those whose service shapes our society; whose innovations ignite our imaginations; and whose compassion unites our communities.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Evans about his Order of Canada. “It’s something that means you've made a substantive contribution beyond your own specific research accomplishments. I'm very, very grateful and gratified to receive it. As an exiled Brit, it’s nice to get recognition from my adopted homeland. It means a lot to me.”
Among Evans’ many titles is co-Director of the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health, researcher in the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (BIC), Principal Investigator of CBRAIN, and Scientific Director of McGill’s $84 million CFREF project, “Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives.”
“It's been an interesting journey,” said Evans. “I started as a physicist, then became a biophysicist and a medical physicist, and slowly moved into medicine and the brain. At the time it was an uncharted trajectory. Now, lots of people do this multidisciplinary integration. It's now how science is conducted.”
Since beginning his career, Evans has published over 750 peer-reviewed papers, and is a member of numerous international advisory boards, review panels and research collaborations. He has been acknowledged as a Thompson-Reuters Highly Cited Scientist since 2014, being in the top one per cent in the Neuroscience and Behaviour category. In 2020, Evans was awarded one of Canada’s highest honours, the Killam Prize, in recognition of his many contributions to the understanding of the human brain.
Quotes about Alan Evans
“As one the most highly cited researchers worldwide, Alan Evans has helped to keep Canada and McGill on the cutting-edge of brain imaging over the course of his time at the University. The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is proud to count him among our ranks.” – Dr. Lesley Fellows, Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
“Over the course of his impressive career, Alan Evans has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of neuroscience and neuroimaging. He has fostered international collaboration, leading global efforts to map the human brain, giving clinicians and researchers powerful new tools with which to push forward discovery. Congratulations to Alan on this well-deserved recognition.” – Dr. Guy Rouleau, Director of The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital)
