University of Manitoba - Rh Awards Program

Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Awards Ceremony, Lecture & Reception

EMCEE Dr. Digvir Jayas, Vice-President (Research and International) and Distinguished Professor, University of Manitoba

OPENING REMARKS Dr. Michael Benarroch President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manitoba

GREETINGS Dr. Juliette Cooper, Chair, Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation

A W A R D S P R E S E N TAT I O N Terry G. Falconer Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Awards: Dr. Sabine Kuss Dr. Filiz Koksel Dr. Natalie Mota Dr. Amar Khoday

Dr. Aleeza Gerstein Dr. Raphaël Clouâtre Dr. Fenton Litwiller Dr. John M. Bowman Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Award: Dr. Peter Nickerson, Distinguished Professor, Internal Medicine and Immunology, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

Lecture followed by Q&A

CLOSING REMARKS Dr. Jude Uzonna, Associate Dean (Research) Reception to follow in the Joe Doupe Concourse

Dr. Peter Nickerson MD, FRCPC, FCAHS Recipient of the Dr. John M. Bowman Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Award Dr. Peter Nickerson, Vice Dean (Research), Flynn Family Chair in Renal Transplantation, and distinguished professor at Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences is the recipient of the Bowman Award in recognition of his life altering and lifegiving research contributions to the field of transplant immunology medicine. Dr. Nickerson completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Returning to his alma mater in 1995, he immediately established a clinical research program in transplant medicine. Dr. Nickerson and his team significantly enhances patients’ access to transplants, reduced their risk of rejection, and improved their quality of life for patients all around the world.

Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Awards

Dr. Sabine Kuss (Applied Sciences) Dr. Sabine Kuss is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Applied Sciences category in recognition of her team’s discoveries and developments in rapid, accurate and cost-efficient point-of-care biosensor devices, which aims to save time, health care costs and, most importantly, lives. Dr. Kuss investigates molecule transport across cell membranes in the UM Department of Chemistry. The overall goal of her work is to detect diseases, and to understand phenomena such as drug resistance. In the Kuss research team cost-efficient diagnostic tools are being developed that will save time and, more importantly, lives.

Dr. Filiz Koksel (Applied Sciences) Dr. Filiz Koksel is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Applied Sciences category in recognition of her team’s discoveries and developments in rapid, accurate and costefficient point-of-care biosensor devices. Dr. Koksel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences.

Her research program aims to tackle issues of world hunger with sustainable plant-based foods. They are also developing new ways to monitor and improve the quality of Canadian crops on their way from the field to our tables.

Dr. Natalie Mota (Health Sciences) Dr. Natalie Mota is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Health Sciences category, in recognition of her work to generate knowledge that can be used to develop and improve treatment and prevention programs for PTSD. Dr. Mota is Assistant professor and Research Director at the Max Rady College of Medicine Clinical Health Psychology. She studies the impacts of trauma exposure among military service personnel and other high-risk public safety occupations. She specializes in identifying resilience factors that mitigate post-traumatic stress disorder and other related conditions.

The goal of her research is to develop new prevention and treatment programs for PTSD on a larger scale.

Dr. Amar Khoday (Humanities) Dr. Amar Khoday is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Humanities category, in recognition of his research into the ways resistance interacts with law and vice-versa.

Dr. Khoday is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law where he studies the connections between resistance and the law. For Dr. Khoday resistance takes many forms to confront, and sometimes influence the law. His research considers how acts of resistance become legitimized by legal norms, or through popular narratives in film, music and other media.

Dr. Aleeza Gerstein (Interdisciplinary) Dr. Aleeza Gerstein is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Interdisciplinary category, in recognition of her leadership in the research of chronic conditions that affects many women. Dr. Gerstein is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Science where she studies the evolution of human fungal pathogens to understand drug resistance and the conditions that promote virulence. Her interdisciplinary lab combines clinical sampling, microbial experiments, bioinformatics and statistical methods. Her work seeks to identify new treatment strategies with special interest in chronic condition that affect women.

Dr. Raphaël Clouâtre (Natural Sciences) Dr. Raphaël Clouâtre is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Natural Sciences category, in recognition of his theories underlying recent developments in operator algebras and operator theory. Dr. Clouâtre is an associate professor in the mathematics department where he studies operator algebras which arise in the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. The goal of the research program is to develop tools to better handle an absence of symmetry. The theory resulting from Dr. Clouâtre’s work underlies recent developments in operator algebras and operator theory.

Dr. Fenton Litwiller (Social Sciences) Dr. Fenton Litwiller is the 2021 recipient of the Falconer Award in the Social Sciences category, in recognition of their work exploring gender and promoting wellbeing among youth. Dr. Litwiller is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management where they conduct ethnographic research into gender, euphoria and queer joy. They are currently developing a research project studying gender, youth and sexuality by connecting young people to needed community allies and resources. In this project, mentors work with youth to promote wellbeing and explore gender through makeup, movement to music and costume.

umanitoba.ca/research