Past Jonas Salk Awards Recipients 

2010

Dr. Robert Burrell

Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Biomaterials, Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Professor & Chair of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculties of Engineering, University of Alberta.

Dr. Burrell has established a program for the development of advanced nanomaterials for biomedical applications. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the use of these materials for medical applications including control of microbial growth on a wide range of devices and control of the inflammatory response after injury. He invented and developed the world’s first commercially successful therapeutic application of nanotechnology – Acticoat wound dressings. These dressings are marketed and sold worldwide and have changed the outcomes of people’s lives by saving their limbs and lives. He is a named inventor on more than 290 patents and pending patents worldwide.

2009

Dr. Janice Eng

A professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at University of British Columbia, and a faculty member of the Brain Research Centre and Graduate Program in Neurosciences, Dr. Eng is involved with the Rehab Research Lab at British Columbia’s largest rehabilitation centre, the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.  Eng also provides research for the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), which seeks "solutions for spinal cord injury."

Dr. Eng has achieved great success in the field of practical rehabilitation research to find solutions that are patient-driven, effective and inexpensive.  She has developed an arm and hand exercise program for inpatient stroke rehabilitation called GRASP (Graded Repetitive Arm Supplementary Program), which was proven to increase the functioning of arms and hands affected by stroke, and therefore increased the amount these arms and hands were used.  This program is particularly useful because it complements regular therapy sessions but can be performed independently by the patient after initial instruction by a physical or occupational therapist, letting patients take charge of their recovery.  Tasks are easy, safe, effective, and meaningful to the patient, resulting in a better emotional state along with improved physical function.  GRASP is practiced in ten countries, with fifteen sites in Canada.

Similarly, Eng’s Fitness and Mobility Exercise Program (FAME) is an independent program (following instruction) designed for stroke survivors with standing and walking ability to improve arm and hand fitness, but also cardiovascular function and mobility.  FAME strives to combat the inactivity often observed in stroke survivors and the health problems which result, particularly the risk of a second stroke, by improving cardiovascular fitness.

Dr. Eng is passionate about the sharing of knowledge, seeking to increase the generally available pool of research information in a comprehensible manner.  She is the co-leader of the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence (SCIRE) project, a Canadian research collaboration between scientists, clinicians and consumers in Vancouver, British Columbia and London, Ontario and their respective health centres, research institutions, and universities. SCIRE reviews and evaluates existing research and case studies, then presents the results in a direct and understandable manner for the education of health professionals and anyone else with an interest in best rehabilitation practices.  The website receives over 25,000 hits per month, and covers 25 different areas of management.  By aggregating relevant literature and research studies, her team has been able to review and use this previously-uncollected information for comparison; for example, by analyzing 41 different studies, they determined  that repeated gait practice was most beneficial to functional ambulation in patients with subacute/chronic spinal cord injury
Dr. Eng has published almost 150 studies related to rehabilitation and stroke research, many of which highlight the relationship between specific exercise (individual or group) and improvement in the abilities and lives of people who have had spinal cord injuries, strokes, or are simply aging. For example, Eng spearheaded a six-month clinical trial that proved the ability of a long-term resistance or agility training program to significantly improve the risk of falling in women aged 75-85 by reducing postural sway, and increased cortical bone density. Eng and her team have also conducted several evaluations of soft-foot orthotics and prosthetic feet; determined different strategies of muscle movements to help a person recover from tripping, depending on what stage of step during which they trip; and proved that a three-dimensional model of the lower limbs offers a much better understanding of joint movements, powers, and work than a planar model, due to the specific motions that are made.

Dr. Eng’s studies have been cited in hundreds of subsequent research projects involving rehabilitation and exercise for patients with spinal cord injury, stroke, and MS.  She is widely cited in the fields of gait rehab strategies, balance control, walking and strength training, and other strategies for growth of abilities and prevention of future complications for these patients. Her other honours include the YMCA Women of Distinction Award, an Award of Excellence in Mentoring Early Career Faculty, a Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellowship, UBC’s Killiam Research Prize and Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and the title of Senior Scholar at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

2008

Dr. Andres Lozano

By the year 2030, it is estimated that deaths from neurodegenerative diseases will surpass the number caused by cancer.  With this in mind, neuroscientist Dr. Lozano has devoted his life’s work to the study of neurological disorders, in order to find and classify what circuits and neurons are involved in causing them. At the Lozano Laboratory at Toronto Western Hospital, Lozano and his team study new restorative brain functioning neurosurgical techniques, brain imaging, deep brain stimulation, and electrophysiology, and their efficacy in treating Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease (including the disease’s effect of cell death), and even treatment-resistant depression.  Lozano is a senior scientist in the Division of Brain Imaging and Behaviour Systems.  Dr. Lozano holds an MD from the University of Ottawa and a PhD in Neurobiology and neurosurgical training from McGill.  He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1990.  In 1991, he joined the Department of Surgery at University of Toronto’s Toronto Western Hospital and became a full professor in 1999; now professor and RR Tasker Chair in Functional Neurosurgery, he has trained many PhD students and neurosurgical fellows. Dr. Lozano is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience.

Lozano is routinely listed at the top of the list of cited researchers in deep brain stimulation and in Parkinson’s disease (5th, according to Essential Science Indicators in 2007).  He has been published in more than 300 peer reviewed publications, and is the editor in chief of the Textbook of Stereotatic and Functional Neurosurgery. As of 2007, Essential Science Indicators listed 5,813 citations on a range of 156 of his papers (Taubes, www.esi-topics.com), particularly an extensive, two-part 1998 review on advances in Parkinson’s treatment, and Google Scholar lists 15,894 citations on 616 papers.

Deep brain stimulation involves a three-volt battery, a wire under the skin of the neck and scalp, and a small electrode firing 130 pulses a second implanted, in the case of Alzheimer’s, in the memory centre of the brain, four inches deep.  The patient is awake during the procedure for monitoring purposes.  It has been found to be useful in quelling the tremors, rigidity, lack of movement (Akinesia) and, to a lesser extent, postural and gait abnormalities associated with Parkinson’s, serving as a pacemaker for the brain.

In 2008, a 20-patient trial was published showing that 60 percent of patients with treatment-resistant depression found some relief after deep brain stimulation was performed on a particular, overactive section of the brain, and 35 percent of the patients showed no symptoms after a year. The treatment had none of the cognitive problems associated with electroshock therapy, and can help patients who do not respond to electroshock.

In 2010, Dr. Lozano was the first to publish results suggesting that deep brain stimulation could access the circuits in the brain that control memory, slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, and even improve the memory of the patient, after a serendipitous discovery that occurred when an extremely vivid 30-year-old memory was triggered in a patient using deep brain stimulation to treat overeating.  Lozano found, in a small study, that the damaged portions of the brain were circumvented by DBS, and healthy circuitry was restored; those parts of the brain began to once again use the glucose required for their functioning.

Deep brain stimulation has been featured on 60 Minutes, The Independent, and The New York Times, and has gained international interest.  It has been used over 80,000 times worldwide.

Other awards for Dr. Lozano include the 2009 Donald Calne Lectureship from Parkinson Society Canada, the Gold Medal Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Penfield Award, the Order of Spain for Meritorious Civil Service, and his election as a fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. He has held editorial positions with twelve neurosurgical journals, and has served on the board and executive of several international organizations, including the Lifeboat Foundation Neuroscience Advisory Board, the National Institutes of Health, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Resarch, and is a former President of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery.  

2007

Dr. Robert Inman

Dr. Inman was one of only a handful of researchers who had devoted their careers to advancing the scientific knowledge and treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), one of the most common forms of arthritis affecting young adults, primarily young men.
While the exact cause of AS is unknown, Dr. Inman made key contributions in advancing scientific understanding of how a bacterial infection may trigger the disease in susceptible individuals.  He published a landmark study about this relationship after there was an occurrence of reactive spondyloarthritis after an outbreak of Salmonellosis within the Ontario Provincial Police during Pope John-Paul II’s visit to Toronto in 1984.

2005

Dr. Carol L. Richards

The 2005 award recognizes Dr. Richards' outstanding achievement as a pioneer in rehabilitation science and builder of multidisciplinary relations across the rehabilitation sciences.  Dr. Richards is internationally recognized for her work in the rehabilitation of walking disabilities of persons after stroke, with cerebral palsy and musculoskeletal impairments.

Since 2001 she has held a senior Canada Research Chair in Rehabilitation for her work in the rehabilitation of persons with stroke and, since 2003, the Laval University Research Chair in Cerebral Palsy.