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Research Day 2023

May 26th, 2023

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SBME 2022-2026 Strategic PlanningÌý

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SBME Annual Research Day 2022 Recap

Hello SBME Community,

Thank youÌýall for making our 20th Annual Research Day (and my 1st as Director) on Friday, June 3rd a great success! It was wonderful to be in person again for this year’s event, and to enjoy the smaller, hallway conversations as much as the formal talks and sessions.

The quality of the research and presentations given by our graduate students was exceptional. Congratulations to all of you! It was clear from the length of time our judges deliberated, that making presentation prize decisions was very difficult. Congratulations to this year’s presentation prize winners: Lindsey Power (1st place, PhD), Meghan Martin (2nd place, PhD), Ahmed Ramadan (hon mention,ÌýPhD); Nick Dawe (1st place, MASc), Courtney O’Brien (2nd place, MASc), Meriya Cervantes Gonzalez (hon mention, MASc). And a heartfelt thank you to our judges for the day, Dr. Mark Filliagi, Dr. Ana Luisa Trejos, and Dr. Wendy Naimark.

SBME 2022 Research Day Presentation PhD Prize Winners (L-R): Lindsey Power (1st), Meghan Martin (2nd), Ahmed Ramadan (Hon Mention)

SBME 2022 Research Day Presentation MASc Prize Winners (L-R): Nick Dawe (1st), Courtney O’Brien (2nd), Mireya Cervantes Gonzalez (Hon Mention)

Also a special thank you and congratulations to our students who chaired our scientific sessions: Christine Andrea, Brenna Kettlewell, Ally Klassen, Stephanie Civiero, Sajjad Fanaee, Sofia Magana. You did an excellent job! And thank you for all of the questions and engagement by our students in the audience. Your interest and the discussion generated is what makes our Research Day a success.

We were so pleased to host two invited guests for our 2022 Research Day. Thank you to our Distinguished Academic Speaker, Dr. Ana Luisa Trejos, associate professor in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering from Western University and CRC Tier II chair in Biomechatronics, and to our Distinguished Industry Speaker, Dr. Wendy Naimark, CTO of Ripple Therapeutics. We thoroughly enjoyed their keynote addresses, their wisdom and experiences on the career panel (along with Dr. Locke Davenport-Huyer), and for spending time with our community.

Ìý(L-R): Dr. Wendy Naimark, Ripple Therapeutics; Dr. Ana Luisa Trejos, Western University; Career Panel including Dr. Locke Davenport-Huyer, Dr. Naimark and Dr. Trejos

Research Day also marks the annual closing of our academic year, and a time for formal prizes that represent the accomplishments of our community. This year, the prestigious Marble Prize for excellence in Biomedical Engineering research at the PhD level was presented to Matthew Mallay. The prestigious Holbrook Prize for excellence in Biomedical Engineering research at the Master’s level was presented to Mireya Cervantes Gonzalez. Congratulations Matt and Mireya!

(L-R): Dr. Jeremy Brown, Graduate Coordinator, presenting the Marble Prize to Matthew Mallay (L) and the Holbrook Prize to Mireya Cervantes Gonzalez (R)

The Annual Biomedical Engineering Teaching Prize was awarded to Dr. Sarah Wells for her numerous contributions as Assistant Dean of the Medical Sciences Program, an important feeder program to SBME, and for her continued commitment and contributions to EDIA in our community, including developing and driving the Inclusive Pathways to medical Professions (IPMP) initiative that will accept its first cohort of Black and Indigenous students this Fall. Congratulations Sarah, and thank you for all of your contributions to teaching, mentorship and curriculum development.

We closed the day with recognizing the many contributions of our past Director, Dr. Geoff Maksym. Geoff served first as interim Director and then Director for more than a decade from 2010 until 2021. Through his leadership, we saw continued growth of our faculty, student body, research productivity, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Thank you Geoff for all of your service, leadership, and contributions to our community over the years. We are very grateful.

(L-R): Dr. Janie Wilson, Director, presenting the SBME Annual Teaching Prize to Dr. Sarah Wells (L) and a special recognition to Dr. Geoff Maksym for his leadership and contributions as Director of SBME (R)

And finally, a sincere thank you again to our organizing team for Research Day: Dr. Brendan Leung, Dr. Locke Davenport-Huyer, Sandra Pereira, Mady Thompson, and Meghan Martin. Your efforts made this a wonderful and highly successful day. I’m looking forward to 2023 already!

Janie Wilson