CAN Young Investigator Award

The CAN Young Investigator Award recognizes outstanding research achievements by a young neuroscientist at the early stage of his or her career.

The 2013 Canadian Association for Neuroscience Young Investigator is Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum from York University.

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience is proud to announce Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum, from York University, will receive the CAN 2013 Young Investigator Award at the opening ceremony of the upcoming Annual meeting in Toronto, on May 21.

  Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum is a renowned expert in the area of Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory.  As a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Neuropsychologist, she combines brain imaging techniques with cognitive methods to study the neural bases of learning and memory in patients with memory impairment.  Her work, and unique perspective, has allowed her to further our understanding of the different forms of memory and how these are represented in the brain, of the effects of specific brain injuries on learning and memory, and of the social and personal effects of amnesia.   She is also examining strategies that may be used by amnesic patients to compensate for the changes in the way their brains work.

Dr. Rosenbaum's publication track record demonstrates the importance of her research contributions.  She has authored 40 publications, published or in press, many in prestigious journals such as Science or Nature Neuroscience.  Twenty of these publications were produced in the last three years alone.  Her work has gained media attention from many of the top news sources from Canada (CBC News, CTV, Toronto Star and National Post) and the USA (USA Today and The New York Times).  She has also served as expert commentator for the journal Nature, CBC radio, The Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail, further highlighting her capacity to explain the complex nature of memory formation to the public. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Sloan Research Fellow in Neuroscience.  The Sloan award has been an excellent predictor of research superstars in Canada and the USA.  

Dr. Rosenbaum is a great example of a Young Canadian Neuroscientist who not only excels in her field of research, but is also a great ambassador for Neuroscience Research in Canada.  The Canadian Association for Neuroscience wishes to thank Douglas Crawford (York University), Suzanna Becker (McMaster University) and Donald Stuss (University of Toronto) for nominating Dr. Rosenbaum for the Young Investigator Award.  

More information about Dr. Rosenbaum and her research can be found on her laboratory website, at http://www.yorku.ca/shaynar/index.htm

Barbara Turnbull Award for Spinal Cord Research

The Barbara Turnbull Award for Spinal Cord Research is a partnership between the Barbara Turnbull Foundation, Brain Canada and the CIHR-Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction. It is awarded annually to a highly ranked researcher from the CIHR open operating grants competitions who is doing work in the area of spinal cord research, and it is an amount of $50,000 in addition to the funds awarded to the grant. This is the 12th year that this award has been offered.

The 2012 recipient is Dr. Stephen Scott from Queen's University, for his research project titled: "Influence of motor behaviour on sensory feedback to primary motor cortex."

CAN is honored to showcase excellence in neuroscience research by hosting this year's official Barbara Turnbull award ceremony during our opening ceremony on May 21st.

Brain Star Awards

Each year, since 2001, the Institutes for Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) selects up to 15 great research articles and award their authors a Brain Star Award. These awards were designed to recognize the excellence of research done in Canada by students and trainees in all fields and disciplines covered by INMHA, to promote research careers in neuroscience, mental health and addiction in Canada, and to stimulate the participation of trainees in the planning and development of INMHA activities.

The top three Brain Star Awardees are invited by INMHA and CAN to present their award-winning research at the Canadian Neuroscience Meeting. INMHA also gives the recipient a prize of $1500, and recognition on the INMHA website and communications.

Details of the program can be found on the CIHR website.

2013 Brain Star Winners

Our sincere congratulations to the top three Brain Star Awardees for 2013:

Hideto Takahashi, University of British Columbia

Jason Gallivan, Queen's University

Maxime Rousseau, Baylor College of Medecine