Michelle Harkness Mentorship Awards celebrate & promote mentoring excellence

On the evening of January 29, 2019, at the Gala event of AllerGen’s final Research Conference, eight exceptional members of the AllerGen network were recognized for their excellence as mentors, and four others were awarded grants to support the development of their mentoring skills.

Participating in the ceremonies were members of the Harkness family: Michelle’s husband Glenn and daughter Kasey, who also served on the committees that selected the winners for this, the inaugural presentation of the Michelle Harkness Mentorship Awards (MHMA).

Photo above, from L to R: Min Hyung Ryu (representing Dr. Chris Carlsten); Loubna Akhabir; Lianne Soller; Mary-Ellen Rayner; Kasey Harkness; Manel Jordana; Gurpreet Singhera; Glenn Harkness; Meghan Azad; Jeremy Hirota; Sue Keller-Olaman; Paige Lacy.

2019 MHMA Lifetime Mentoring Achievement awardee:

Manel Jordana, Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University.

2019 Mentoring Excellence – Investigator awardees:

Meghan Azad, Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba;

Jeremy Hirota, Assistant Professor, McMaster University;

Paige Lacy, Professor, University of Alberta; and

Christopher Carlsten, Professor, University of British Columbia.

2019 Mentoring Excellence – Non-Investigator awardees:

Loubna Akhabir, Postdoctoral Fellow, McMaster University;

John-Paul Oliveria, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, and Adjunct Faculty member, McMaster University; and

Gurpreet Singhera, Research Associate, The University of British Columbia.

2019 MHMA Mentorship Development Grant awardees:

Sue Keller-Olaman, Manager of Knowledge Synthesis and Evaluation Services, Public Health Ontario;

Mary-Ellen Rayner, Chief Partnerships and Communications Officer, The Sandbox Project;

Lianne Soller, Postdoctoral fellow and Research Manager, The University of British Columbia; and

Neelofer Mookherjee, Associate Professor, the University of Manitoba.

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