Faculty of Health Awards
• Dr. Parissa Safai - Early Career Service Award
• Professor Carol Wilson - Established Career Service
Award
• Dr. Jonathan Weiss - Early Career Research Award
• Dr. Michael Riddell - Established
Career Research Award
• Dr. Janessa Drake - Early Career
Teaching Award
• Dr. David Hood - Established
Career Teaching Award
Dr. Parissa Safai
Early Career Service Award
•
Dr. Safai has participated in committee
activities at every level of the university, from
the School of Kinesiology, the Faculties of
Health and Graduate Studies, and the
University Senate. And her service has
extended outside of the university, notably as
a member of the Get Active Toronto Advisory
Committee since 2009, and also to the Sport
Canada Research Initiative Advisory
Committee since 2009. I quote from her
nomination letter - "Dr. Safai has had a
serious impact on the way York University is
governed and importantly in steering its
future direction."
Professor Carol Wilson
Established Career Service Award
•
Professor Wilson is a long serving member of the
School of Kinesiology and Health Science, and the 5page nomination letter on her file includes far too
many accomplishments and contributions to list here.
So, offered are a few: long serving Undergraduate
Program Director over three separate terms; served as
lead for two undergrad program reviews; led the
accreditation process of the undergraduate program by
the Canadian Council of Physical Education and
Kinesiology Administrators; early in her career, from
1972-1981, she served as Don of Founders College; and
more recently she spearheaded the highly successful
welcome event for more than 650 Kinesiology and
Health Science 1st year students called "Destination
Graduation". The nomination letter closes with "Carol
Wilson is a remarkable faculty member who has served
York University with distinction."
Dr. Jonathan Weiss
Early Career Research Award
•
His research productivity is simply
outstanding for someone at his career stage.
He has 36 peer-reviewed publications,
delivered 34 conference papers, and made 76
poster presentations. He has published in the
broad area of intellectual disabilities,
including Special Olympics, family stress and
coping, intervention for Asperger syndrome,
mental health issues in autism spectrum
disorders, bullying in children, and the list
goes on. His publications appear in no fewer
than 16 different journals, including all the
top-tier journals in his field. And, of course,
he is the $2 million CIHR Chair in ASD
Treatment and Research.
Dr. Michael Riddell
Established Career Research Award
•
What is particularly impressive about Dr.
Riddell's research program is his capacity to
maintain human research along with his rodent
model and cell culture studies. These multiple
models put Dr. Riddell in a unique position to
apply and translate his finds from basic
research into real world settings that benefit
people. In order to conduct this cutting edge
research, Dr. Riddell has successfully obtained
over $1.7 million in funding grants from CIHR,
NSERC, NGOs, and industry in the last 3 years
alone, and over $7.8 million in total funding. He
is also committed to training future researchers
with 14 undergrad thesis students, 13 NSERC
funded summer students, 19 MSc students, and
4 PhD students.
Dr. Janessa Drake
Early Career Teaching Award
•
Dr. Drake brings a superior level of a passion
and enthusiasm to all of her courses. She has
consistently demonstrated excellence in her
teaching abilities … evaluations have
continuously been exceptional for both her
undergrad and grad level courses, particularly
impressive given the heavy weight on
mathematics in the courses that she teaches.
One student writes, "I know I am just one of
many students that are indebted to her as a
mentor, and as a professor and supervisor."
Dr. David Hood
Established Career Teaching Award
•
The Faculty of Graduate Studies Teaching
Award, and the former Faculty of Pure and
Applied Science Excellence in Teaching Award
have previously recognized Dr. Hood’s
teaching excellence. And now he is
recognized by the Faculty of Health Dean's
Award for Excellence in Teaching. His formal
teaching evaluations are consistently
"excellent", often scoring a perfect 5 out of 5.
And one student said, "I actually knew what
Dr. Hood was talking about and teaching me.
This is the only time I've felt like I knew what I
was talking about …"