Congratulations to Dr. Mamatha Bhat for receiving a 2022 Terry Fox New Investigator Award. Dr. Bhat is one of four scientists receiving the award, valued at $450,000 over three years, which supports groundbreaking cancer research in Canada.
Dr. Bhat is a scientist at UHN's Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and transplant hepatologist at the Ajmera Transplant Centre. She is also an Assistant Professor within the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Bhat's research program aims to improve the long-term outcomes of liver transplantation. She has also recently begun focusing on the innovative use of liver transplant as a model to understand liver cancer. She received this New Investigator Award for her research into treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma, a deadly liver cancer that affects a growing number of Canadians each year.
This funding will enable Dr. Bhat to collaborate with Dr. Gang Zheng, a Senior Scientist at UHN's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Together, they will test the safety and efficacy of Dr. Zeng's nanoparticle drug delivery system (which relies on porphysome technology) for delivering cancer drugs and other therapies directly into liver cancer cells.
Congratulations to Grissel Crasto for receiving the 2021 Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice by Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
The award is presented to a nurse for leadership and excellence in nursing practice.
Grissel is a nursing graduate of the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto. She has worked in inpatient Neurology, Epilepsy and Neurosurgery for more than six years, and is currently working as an Advanced Practice Nurse Educator in Perioperative Services at Toronto Western Hospital.
Grissel is the recipient of the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network's Fellowship Award and has been actively involved in research and quality improvements initiatives at UHN. She has presented her work in countries across North America, Europe and Australia. She recently completed her Master of Nursing degree at Charles Sturt University in Australia.
Grissel has taught neuroscience nursing for the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing in the inpatient setting and also works as a clinical education consultant for the faculty. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and serves as the Councillor for the Ontario Central Chapter for the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses.
Congratulations to Dr. Raja Rampersaud for receiving the inaugural Ontario Chiropractic Association's 2021 Chiropractic Champion Award.
Dr. Rampersaud is an orthopaedic surgeon and clinician-investigator at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, and Professor of Surgery at University of Toronto. Dr. Rampersaud's national and internationally recognized research focuses on comparative effectiveness, as well as health services research, aimed at improvements in the delivery of patient-centred musculoskeletal and spine care, with a focus on osteoarthritis. He is an advocate for inter-professional models of care for spine and musculoskeletal disorders. He has developed the Inter-professional Spine Assessment and Education Clinic (ISAEC) program which has been provincially implemented as the Rapid Access Clinics – Low Back Pain Pathway.
A new award for 2021, the Chiropractic Champion Award is given to an advocate, ally, or individual who is instrumental in the advancement of the chiropractic profession in Ontario. This award is intended to recognize someone who is not a currently licensed chiropractor but who has enhanced the profession in meaningful ways within the Ontario healthcare system.
