Gairdner Science Week 2025
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October 23:2025 Laureate Lectures

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The Laureate Lectures offer a rare opportunity to hear directly from the 2025 Canada Gairdner Award recipients as they share the stories and science behind their discoveries. This event will include lectures from Early Career Investigators.

Can't attend in person? Join us via livestream at https://bit.ly/GSW_2025_Watch_Live.

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Schedule

 9:00 amIntroductory Remarks
 Janet Rossant, President and Scientific Director, Gairdner Foundation
  
 9:05 amRewriting the Chapter on Cystic Fibrosis
 Michael Welsh, MD, Roy J. Carver Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Director, Pappajohn Biomedical Institute; Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
  
9:30 amThe Journey to Discover CFTR Modulators for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis, Paul Negulescu
 Paul Negulescu, PhD, Senior Vice President, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA, USA
  
10:00 amDigital Therapeutics for Pediatric Pain: Innovations in Education, Assessment, and Management
 

Jennifer Stinson, RN-EC, Ph.D, CPNP, FAAN, CAHS Fellow, Senior Scientist, SickKids Research Institute; Nurse Practitioner, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids); Co-Director, SickKids Centre for Pain Management, Research and Education; Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

  
10:25 amHealth Break
  
10:40 amChanging the way we treat severe malnutrition
 André Briend, MD, Ph.D, Former Senior Scientist, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement; Adjunct Professor, Tampere Center for Child, Adolescent and Maternal Health Research, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland; Affiliated Professor, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Demark
  
11:10 am

Early Career Investigator Presentation 

Faster, Smarter, Stronger: Building Health Systems Ready for the Next Emergency

 Prativa Baral, PhD, MPH; Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University; Deputy Director, Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab (PERL), McGill University; Faculty Associate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Co-Founder, Let Science Connect
  
11:20 amFundamental and Translational Aspects of Cancer Epigenetics: From Regulating Retroelements to Liquid Biopsy Applications
 Daniel De Carvalho, Ph.D, Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network; Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto; Allan Slaight Scientist and Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
  
11:50 amLIN-12/Notch and the Awesome Power of C. elegans Genetics
 Iva Greenwald, Ph.D, Da Costa Professor of Biology, Dept of Biological Sciences, Columbia University; Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
  
12:15 pmSolving the mechanism of Notch signaling in vivo
 Gary Struhl, Ph.D, Herbert and Florence Irving Professor at the Zuckerman Institute; Professor of Genetics and Development, Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
  
12:45 pm

Early Career Investigator Presentation 

The molecular rules of embryonic stem cell competition

 Nika Shakiba, PhD, PEng; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia; Specially Appointed Adjust Associated Professor, Premium Research Institute for Human Metaverse Medicine (PRIMe), The University of Osaka
  
12:55 pmNotch signalling pathway: a paradigm of biological complexity
 Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, Ph.D.
  
1:20 pmClosing Remarks
 

Janet Rossant, President & Scientific Director, Gairdner Foundation

 

 

Location

MaRS Auditorium, 101 College St, Toronto, ON M5G 0A3

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All Gairdner Science Week 2025 Sessions

Related awards

  • John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award

    One awarded annually. Awarded for scientifically based research that has improved the health and well-being of those facing health inequities worldwide.

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  • Canada Gairdner International Award

    Five awarded annually. Awarded to outstanding biomedical scientists who have made original contributions resulting in an increased understanding of human biology and disease.

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  • Peter Gilgan Canada Gairdner Momentum Award

    Two awarded annually. Awarded to mid-career researchers working in Canada who in their last six active years have produced exceptional scientific research contributions with continued potential for impact on human health.

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