Medical Grad Wins Giller Prize

Emergency-room physician Vincent Lam (MD 1999) was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize in November for his first book, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. The linked stories, which centre on the lives of medical students, will be made into a TV series for The Movie Network.

A panel of Canada’s top music journalists and broadcasters chose Owen Pallett (BMus 2002) and his Final Fantasy project as the inaugural winner of the Polaris Music Prize. The $20,000 award recognizes Pallett’s second album, He Poos Clouds, which is inspired by the eight schools of magic in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game.

Lorne Michaels (BA 1966 UC,LLD Hon.2002), the creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live, has won the 2006 Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. The show, now in its 31st season, is the longest-running, highest-rated late-night TV show ever.

This year’s Dora Mavor Moore Outstanding Production Award went to Zorana Kydd (2002 PhD) for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Kydd’s production also earned four other Dora Awards – for outstanding direction and lighting design, as well as outstanding performances by a male and a female in principal roles. Kydd is the founder of BirdLand Theatre in Toronto.

Benjamin Shinewald (JD 2002), Jason Mitschele (JD 2002), Sana Halwani (JD 2004), and alum and graduate student Dr. David Kelton (MD 2005) are among 15 Canadians to receive $20,000 Action Canada Fellowships for assuming leadership roles in their community.

The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and Professional Engineers Ontario awarded Phillip Simmons (BASc 1964, MASc 1965, PhD 1968) the “Engineering Medal – Entrepreneurship” for his outstanding contribution to the engineering profession. Simmons is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Eco-Tec Limited, an internationally recognized water treatment business that specializes in purifying, recovering and recycling industrial wastewater.