Dr. Cal Stiller, who with wife Angie owns and operates harness racing nursery Stonebridge Farm, has been awarded the prestigious Canada Gairdner Wightman Award
for 2010.
The Canada Gairdner Wightman Award is given to a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science.
Canada's only international science prizes, they are considered one of the world's most prestigious medical research awards. Next to the Nobel Prize, the Canada Gairdner Awards are the most prestigious global medical research awards, and have a track record of identifying significant work early. In the 50 years since the Gairdner awards were first presented, 76 Gairdner winners have gone on to win Nobel prizes, including 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine recipients Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr. Carol Greider, and 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Dr. Tom Steitz.
“It’s extraordinary and something I never expected of course. It never even crossed my mind,” Stiller told the London Free Press. "I would have never have placed this on a list of a hundred likelihoods.”
Past discoveries of Canada Gairdner Award winners have included the vaccine that eradicated smallpox; the technology that made MRI, CT and PET scans possible; the identification of the structure of DNA; and immunosuppressant drugs that allow organ transplantation.
Dr. Stiller is being honoured "for his pioneering work in transplantation and diabetes, and as a remarkable entrepreneur and builder of private and public institutions that have greatly enriched the research landscape of Canada."
Dr. Stiller is Professor Emeritus, of the University of Western Ontario in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Stiller established the Multi-Organ Transplant Service in London, Ontario, and served as the unit's chief until 1996. During this period, he was principal investigator of the Canadian multi-centre study that established the importance of cyclosporine in transplantation and led to its worldwide use as first-line therapy for transplant rejection. He was the first to demonstrate the efficacy of immunosuppression in newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes, establishing the human disease as an immune disorder. He has published over 250 Scientific Papers.
Dr. Stiller is the co-founder of two healthcare funds including the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund Inc., where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He was a Member of the Council and Executive Committee of the Medical Research Council of Canada (1987-1993), was the Founding Chair of the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund , is Chair (and co-founder) of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and of the Ontario Innovation Trust.
Dr. Stiller serves on the Board of Directors of several Public endeavours and foundations and is Co-founder and Director of MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences Discovery District). He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the MEDEC Award (1992), the Order of Canada (1995) and the Order of Ontario (2000). He has received three Honorary Doctorates from McMaster University, University of Saskatchewan and University of Western Ontario. He will be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2010.
"These awards pay tribute to the passion, dedication and vision that drive these extraordinary individuals to push the boundaries of medical science," said Dr. John Dirks, President and Scientific Director of The Gairdner Foundation. "Their work has changed the face of medicine, from the discovery of the mechanisms underlying electrical signaling in the brain, to the validation of an ancient Chinese remedy as a treatment for malaria."
The awards come with a $100,000 cash prize, and will be presented in October to the seven recipients. In addition to honouring groundbreaking work, the awards distinguish Canada as a leader in science and elevate the profile of science across the country.
"In a very real sense, the Canada Gairdner Awards drive innovation," says 2010 Canada Gairdner Global Health Award recipient Dr. Nicholas White, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust South-East Asian Tropical Medicine Research Programmes and Professor of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University Bangkok and Oxford University, UK. "Grant support can be very conservative, and there is often little support for really innovative research. The Canada Gairdner prize gives us the freedom to pursue exciting ideas that are right on the edge."
In addition to rewarding medical discovery, The Gairdner Foundation strives to inspire the next generation of medical researchers. The importance of promoting a career in science to students is a sentiment echoed by many of this year's Gairdner recipients.
"Science is not just a job - it's not an ordinary job - it's a passion," said Dr. Pierre Chambon, 2010 Canada Gairdner International Award recipient and researcher at L'Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Strasbourg. "You tackle problems which, at the beginning, seem impossible to solve. So when you find a solution it's really exciting."
(with files from The Gairdner Foundation)