May 2026 Award Winners

Dr. Sarah Hedtrich (centre) with students in the lab

May flowers have sprung and we’re giving them to all the amazing Vancouver researchers that earned accolades and recognition this past month for all they do for science and the community.

This month, we’re highlighting Dr. Sarah Hedtrich from UBC. She is among the three UBC Faculty of Medicine researchers who are leading new federally funded training initiatives aimed at strengthening Canada’s biomedical research and innovation capacity in key areas like drug development and aging. Her program, BioHuMS (Training Program in Biodevices for Human-Based Model Systems) focuses on how we predict how drugs will work in people and is co-led with Dr. Govind Kaigala.

See the full list of award winners for May 2026 below.

Grants

Winner

Grant

Link to Article

Dr. Anne Gadermann

Renewed Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Bio-Eco-Social Determinants of Child and Youth Mental Health

Dr. Aresh Sepehri

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Investigator Award

Dr. Ashley Dalrymple

New Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Spinal Cord Neuromodulation

Dr. Cheryl Wellington

Brain Canada Platform Support Grant

Dr. Clare Ardern

Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Stream

Dr. Govind Kaigala

NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program

Dr. Graziano Oldani

Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Stream

Dr. Kyle Burrows

New Tier 2 CRC in Barrier Tissue Immunity and Chronic Inflammatory Disease

Dr. Lisa Julian

Renewed Tier 2 CRC in Human Neural Stem Cell Biology and Brain Modeling

Dr. Marie-Pier St-Laurent

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Investigator Award

Dr. Michael Bond

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Investigator Award

Dr. Michael Hayden

Brain Canada Platform Support Grant

Dr. Min-Hyung Ryu

Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Stream

Dr. Sarah Hedtrich

NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program

Dr. Shari Li

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Investigator Award

Dr. Stefan Tauber

NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program

Dr. Stuart Turvey

Renewed Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Precision Health

Dr. Yanpu He

New Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Immuno-Bioengineering

Awards

Winner

Award

Link to Article

Dr. Angela Devlin

Killam Teaching Prize

Dr. Bridgette Clarkston

BCTLC West Coast Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Fabio Rossi

Stem Cell Network’s 25 for 25 Silver Anniversary Award

Karina Thiessen

Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award

Dr. Kelley Lee

SFU Research Excellence – Legacy Award

Dr. Kelly Apostle

Killam Teaching Prize

Dr. Kurt McBurney

Killam Teaching Prize

Dr. Nika Shakiba

Stem Cell Network’s 25 for 25 Silver Anniversary Award

Dr. Pauline Johnson

2026 Gillian E. Wu Mentorship Award

Dr. Peter Zandstra

Stem Cell Network’s 25 for 25 Silver Anniversary Award

Dr. Quynh Doan

Killam Teaching Prize

Dr. Shelina Babul

2026 YWCA Women of Distinction Award

Fellowships

Winner

Fellowship

Link to Article

Dr. Elizabeth Nethery

2026 Health System Impact Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Dr. Lorraine Block

2026 Health System Impact Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Dr. Tasha Wainstein

2026 Health System Impact Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Dr. Yuetong Zhou

2026 Health System Impact Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Grants

Awards

Fellowships

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