Recognizing Excellence
The Vision Science Research Program offers two awards to trainees within the program in recognition of outstanding achievement.
The Stella Zegas‐Dunn Graduate Scholarship in Vision Science is awarded to the most outstanding MSc or PhD graduate student completing a thesis in vision science at the University of Toronto. It may be awarded to a trainee in any graduate department.
This award honours Stella Zegas‐Dunn, a graduate administrator in the Department of Immunology, who succumbed to cancer in the early 1990s. Her husband, Dr. James Dunn, was Vice‐President of research at Visible Genetics, a company that has played an important part in the history of the Vision Science Research Program.
| 2014-2015 The Stella Zegas-Dunn Graduate Scholarship was awarded to Jason Charish who is completing a PhD in Physiology in the laboratory of Dr. Philippe Monnier. Jason is developing and testing therapeutic compounds that may prevent the death of light-sensing photoreceptor cells in mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa. |
The William P. Callahan Fellowship for Clinician Scientists is awarded to the most promising PhD in vision sciences, who has completed training as a physician. This award acknowledges the vital importance of clinician scientists in bringing research findings to clinical application.
This award is named after the late ophthalmologist, Dr. William P. Callahan, founder of the Eye Research Institute of Canada, the precursor to the Vision Science Research Program (see our history). Dr. Callahan was active staff at St. Michael's Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, and The Toronto General Hospital and was a Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto.
| 2014-2015 The William P. Callahan Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Michael Richard. Dr. Richard is studying the underlying neuroscience of eye movement disorders. |