By: S. Amanda Ali, ORT Times Writer and UHN Trainee
The University Health Network is home to hundreds of postdoctoral fellows and to support their success, the Research Institutes offer regular funding competitions. Not only do these internal awards provide salary support, they also enhance the awardee’s curriculum vitae, thereby improving them with a competitive advantage in subsequent external scholarship applications. Postdoctoral fellows are also encouraged to take advantage of these internal opportunities, as the feedback from internal adjudicators also teaches applicants how to improve their future applications for both internal and external scholarships.
While the specific eligibility criteria and competition guidelines are different for each Research Institute, many similar rules apply. For example, to be eligible, postdoctoral fellows or clinical research fellows must have a supervisor at the respective Research Institute. At the Krembil Research Institute, this includes a Scientist, Senior Scientist or Clinician Investigator, whereas at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, this includes an Assistant Scientist, Scientist or Senior Scientist. For both Research Institutes, recipients can only hold the award once, and cannot hold other salary awards at the same time. Trainees must be with 3 years of their fellowship term at UHN and within 4 years of having completed their PhD or advanced clinical training. Complete application guidelines can be obtained on the ORT website.
The Krembil Research Institute offers two yearly competitions.
Recipients of the Spring 2017 competition:
1. Dr. Na‐Ryum (Danny) Bin (Supervisor: Dr. Shuzo Sugita)
2. Dr. Neil Drummond (Supervisor: Dr. Robert Chen)
3. Dr. Asrafuzzaman Riyadh (Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Monnier)
Recipients of the Fall 2017 competition:
1. Dr. Amy Wilkinson (Supervisor: Dr. Mary Pat McAndrews)
2. Dr. Kazuya Yokota (Supervisor: Dr. Michael Fehlings)
3. Dr. Shabana Amanda Ali (Co-Supervisors: Drs. Mohit Kapoor and Rajiv Gandhi)
The Toronto General Hospital Research Institute offers a yearly competition.
Recipients of the 2017 Competition:
1. Dr. Junichi Sugihara (Supervisor: Dr. Mingyao Liu)
2. Dr. Peter DiStefano (Supervisor: Dr. Jason Fish)
3. Dr. Zahraa Mohammed-Ali (Supervisor: Dr. Ana Konvalinka)
The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute did not award any new fellowships for 2017 but is currently honouring existing awards to:
1. Dr. Andrea Bandini (Supervisor: Dr. Yana Yunusova)
2. Dr. Tatyana Mollayeva (Supervisor: Dr. Angela Colantonio)
3. Dr. Crystal MacKay (Supervisor: Dr. Susan Jaglal)
4. Dr. Gabriela Rozanski (Supervisor: Dr. Avril Mansfield)
5. Dr. Swati Bhatawadekar (Supervisor: Dr. Azadeh Yadollahi)
The Princess Margaret Postdoctoral Fellowship Award will be held twice per year and the recipients of the award in the Fall of 2017 include:
1. Dr. Arokia Priyanka Vaz (Supervisor: Dr. Robert Rottapel)
2. Dr. Laura Kuhlmann (Supervisor: Dr. Thomas Kislinger)
3. Dr. Mingjing Xu (Supervisor: Dr. Aaron Schimmer)
4. Dr. Parinaz Mehdipour (Supervisor: Dr. Daniel De Carvalho)
5. Dr. Isabel Morgado-Palacin (Supervisor: Dr. Tak W. Mak )
6. Dr. Helena Boutzen (Supervisor: Dr. John Dick)
On behalf of the ORT Times, congratulations to all award winners and apologies if we have missed anyone (please do let us know). Best of luck to future applicants!