Ontario announces Premier's research awards

Ontario has announced nearly $13 million in awards to honour achievement in research and innovation. Presented in three categories, Premier's Innovation Awards recognize researchers and companies with the richest prizes reserved for medical research.

The Premier's Summit Award in Medical Research was made to two researchers who each will receive $2.5 million over five years, with half provided by the provincial government and a matching amount by the sponsoring institutions. They are Dr Benjamin Neel of the University Health Network's Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute and Dr John Wallace of McMaster Univ's Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute.

The Premier's Discovery Awards are made in a wide spectrum of disciplines with the 2009 awards going to:

Dr John Smol, Queen's Univ, for his study of aquatic ecosystems (life sciences & medicine - $500,000);

Dr Paul Corkum, Univ of Ottawa for his pioneering of the attosecond laser pulse (natural sciences & engineering - $500,000);

Dr Will Kymlicka, Queen's Univ, for his research into multiculturalism and minority rights (social sciences - $250,000);

Dr David Bentley, Univ of Western Ontario, for his work on early Canadian literature (arts and humanities - $250,000);

Dr Ming Li, Univ of Waterloo, for his leadership in the field of bioinformatics (innovation leadership - $250,000).

The $200,000 Premier's Catalyst awards were made to Dr Bin Ma, Univ of Waterloo (best young innovator), Dr Navid Zargari, Ryerson Univ (innovator of the year), Cinevate Inc, Thunder Bay (start-up company with the best innovation), Sanofi Pasteur (company with the best innovation), Unitron Hearing (company with the best innovation) and Dr Scott Vanstone, Univ of Waterloo (lifetime leadership in innovation).

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