Awards and Honours

University of Manitoba Faculty Listed in Women's Executive Network's 2012 Top 100 Most Powerful Women

Two University of Manitoba researchers, Dr. Janice Ristock and Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg, have earned a spot on the Women's Executive Network's 2012 list of Canada's Most Powerful Women, Top 100, in the 'trailblazers and trendsetters' category.  The Toronto-based network chooses women who have had an impact on Canadian society and are strong contributors in their fields, organizations and communities.

Vice-Provost (Academic Affairs) and professor in Women's and Gender Studies, Ristock's work on gender and sexuality has changed society's view of domestic abuse.  Rockman-Greenberg, Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, was the driving force behind the opening of the first lab in Winnipeg for the diagnosis of genetic disease with DNA testing.  Congratulations to them both. More...

2012 Campbell Outreach Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2012 Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award is Dr. Dean Kriellaars, Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy, School of Medical Rehabilitation in the Faculty of Medicine.  The honour is awarded to a university staff member who demonstrates unquestionable meritorious service in outreach activities.

Dr. Kriellaars has travelled across the country, volunteering his time to teach about healthy lifestyles. He has pioneered new programs,

which have been implemented across Canada, that address substance use in sports and health and drug prevention among youth. He speaks regularly to student bodies about healthy living and substance abuse and leads workshops for educators and health care professionals on proper lifestyle practices. Dr. Kriellaars has worked with both national not-for-profit organizations and national agencies to help develop effective tools for assessing physical literacy in our youth.

Dedicated to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and physical activity, Dr. Kriellaars’ passion to pass on this knowledge, at the local and national level, is both commendable and honourable. We congratulate him for his achievements. For further information on his accomplishments, please click here.

2011 Campbell Outreach Award Recipient

We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2011 Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award is Dr. Francis Amara, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine. A visionary educator and scholar, Dr. Francis Amara has shared his gifts generously with the community.

For over a decade he has actively engaged with the community to raise funds for Alzheimer’s disease, the United Way, refugee programs he has co-founded and directed, and science education programs he created to impassion inner-city students and their teachers.


Dr. Amara did this while executing his world-class research examining aspects of Alzheimer’s disease: publishing 30 refereed journal articles, three book chapters, two monographs and receiving a patent. He mentors students in Grades 5-8 and he has won numerous awards honouring such activity. He regularly speaks with students at their middle and high schools to promote the life sciences. He founded the Head Start Aboriginal Science Initiative and coordinates its efforts. In 2004 he co-founded Sierra Leone Refugee Inc. to help immigrants adjust to life in Canada and an aspect of this process dear to Dr. Amara is ensuring new Canadians know about academic opportunities, and that refugee children are successfully integrated into Manitoba’s school system.

His remarkable achievements have earned him, among other awards, the Top 25 National Immigration Award in 2009, the 2009 Visions of Science Network of Learning Canada Award, the 2009 Science Teachers’ Association of Manitoba Achievement Award, the 2008 Ministry of Energy, Science, Mines and Technology Manitoba Certificate Award, and the 2006 Sanofi-Pasteur Canada Award. Throughout his career Dr. Amara has sustained his motivation, passion, and dedication to outreach activities. He is a man for others, and definitively embodies the spirit of the Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award.