Major talent on tap at Gairdner Foundation's 50th
October 20, 2009 | Gillian Wansbrough

Past winners return to honour Canada's premiere award  for international achievements in medical research

It's a testament to the influence of the Canada Gairdner Awards that at the 50th anniversary celebrations taking place in Toronto at the end of the month, the foundation had hoped to have at least 50 past honourees attend the event, and more than 60 are now on the roster.

This year's recipients, along with returning laureates-22 of whom went on to win Nobel Prizes-will be presenting a wide-ranging series of lectures, workshops, forums and discussions. These will focus on topics ranging from the latest discoveries about the workings of the cell, to the potential role of the genome in understanding human disease.

The Gairdners began in 1959, shortly after creator James Arthur Gairdner established the foundation in 1957 to recognize and reward achievements in medical research, and soon became one of Canada's foremost international awards. There have been a total of 298 awards given to scientists from 14 different countries; dozens of these went to Canadian scientists. In addition, 12 Gairdner Wightman Awards have been given for outstanding leadership in the field of medicine in Canada.

"I'm proud of the excellence of the scientists we've picked," Dr. John Dirks, president and scientific director of the Gairdner Foundation, told the Medical Post. "Year in, year out we have an outstanding group. . . . Seventy-three (Gairdner recipients) later won the Nobel Prize. I view it as an affirmation that our process is an excellent one."

A new prize this year-the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award-was made possible thanks to a $20-million grant from the federal government in 2008, which also served to increase the prize awards to $100,000 each. It is the first major international award in this increasingly important field to recognize an individual for contributions to health in low- and middle-income countries, says Dr. Dirks.

The award was given to Dr. Nubia Muñoz (see sidebar), of Colombia, who was recognized for her work in human papillomavirus studies. She is visiting Quebec City and Montreal before coming to Toronto for this year's awards, and will also give a presentation at El Rosario University in Bogota in November, in partnership with the Canadian Embassy in Colombia.

Anniversary events
The foundation has undertaken an ambitious series of cross-country 50th anniversary events, partnering with universities to hold symposia between March and November, all featuring past Gairdner winners as keynote speakers. These are taking place in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Sherbrooke, Montreal and Halifax. This year's winners will also be visiting a host of other centres.

The foundation maintains close relationships with past winners, notes Sheila Robinson, manager of external relations for the Gairdner Foundation. "Because we have a reputation for recognizing breakthrough science early, it's often the first major prize that these people have won, so they kind of have a soft spot for Gairdner."

This means that when it comes to the foundation's goals-to reward scientific excellence and create a culture of science in Canada-they're eager to help out. In addition to speaking to academics, laureates participate in lectures with high school students, sharing what prompted them to go into research and what current question they are working on. "As far as I know it's the only prize of its kind in the world that does this," adds Dr. Dirks.

Dr. Dirks eagerly recounts some memorable moments from years past. They include a "spell-binding" address by British biochemist Sir Paul Nurse-best known for his discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle, 1992 Gairdner honouree and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in medicine-who noted "the Gairdner Award is one of the world's greatest biomedical research prizes. Where it leads, others follow, including the Nobel committees in Stockholm."

There's also the time American biochemist Dr. Rod MacKinnon-lauded for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels and a 2001 Gairdner awardee-spoke so engagingly to high school students about how potassium moves in and out of cells. "It was actually like electricity flowing from him to every student there."

The late Dr. Judah Folkman, a world-renowned cancer researcher and 1991 Gairdner winner, once spoke to an overflowing crowd in a public address at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto. "What was magic about that was questions from those either afflicted with cancer or who had family members or friends with cancer. He handled it beautifully in terms of responding to the personal aspects that were raised in the questions."

This year five awardees will also head to Ottawa at month's end for an introduction in the House of Commons. They will have a lunch given by the Clerk of the Privy Council, where they will meet with 15 senior deputy ministers to discuss how they were successful in their fields and what policies enabled their successes. A Parliamentary reception will follow.

The anniversary finale takes place in Toronto, from Oct. 28 to 30. Highlights on the Wednesday include an address by 2009 Gairdner award winner Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Japan on stem cells (see sidebar), the Gairdner Global Health Symposium and an address on "The cell: an endless frontier."

"We have so much talent here, it's going to be a feast of science," says Robinson, noting that American molecular biologist Dr. James Watson (PhD), who co-discovered the structure of DNA and received a Gairdner in 2002, will be here, along with South African molecular biologist Dr. Sydney Brenner (PhD), a 1978/1991 Gairdner winner, and German virologist Dr. Harald zur Hausen, who determined the causative role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer and received a Gairdner award last year.

On the Thursday there will be an industry breakfast-"Unclogging the pipeline: rejuvenating drug discovery"-and this year's award recipients will give their addresses.

The Gairdner-Nobel Laureate Forums take place on the Friday at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. These will address infections and inflammation, the metabolome and new insights into cancer biology. Additionally, the Gairdner-Nobel Public Forum will address the personalized genome. Award-winning NBC News correspondent Charles Sabine will speak about the importance of genomic research; his father died of Huntington's disease, his brother has it, and testing found Charles also carries the gene.

Dr. Dirks notes that since we're now in a position to know about our genetic makeup, every physician will soon be faced with questions from patients about what to do with this knowledge. "How do we deal with this information about our genetic makeup, and what steps can we take in terms of averting the outcome of the disease, changing our lifestyle, and focusing and drawing the attention of our governors and the public in general to the fact that this particular disease or ailment needs this scientific solution?"

However, he also cautioned that we can't get ahead of ourselves, letting the "hype exceed the hope." We must continue to learn and at the same time be excited and supportive of efforts to do so, he says.

For more information on the Gairdner Foundation's 50th anniversary events, please go to www.gairdner.org.