Alumni awards of distinction recipients - 2026 - Advancement

View the list of all award recipients from 2009 to 2024 (PDF, 121 KB).

Congratulations to the 2026 Alumni Awards of Distinction recipients!

On Friday, October 2nd, the Faculty of Medicine will honour five alumni for their outstanding contributions to medicine in Canada and around the world.

The awards, to be presented during the Homecoming welcome evening, celebrate leaders, innovators, and educators who have made a real impact in their fields.

This year’s recipients are recognized in three categories:

Lifetime Achievement Award – honouring alumni whose extraordinary careers have left a lasting mark on their fields.
Exceptional Leadership Award – recognizing alumni demonstrating outstanding leadership and dedication to their communities.
Rising Star Achievement Award – celebrating promising young graduates making significant contributions to medicine.

These accomplished graduates inspire the next generation of healthcare professionals and reflect the Faculty’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and community impact.

Read on below to learn more about each awardee and their remarkable achievements.

Exceptional Leadership Award

The Exceptional Leadership Award is presented to alumni who have demonstrated professional excellence, leadership and dedication to the community. The recipient is a true champion in the realm of medicine who demonstrates excellence as a community leader.

Recipients:

Dr. Peter St George-Hyslop

Dr. Peter St George‐Hyslop is an internationally acclaimed molecular geneticist and neurologist. His pioneering work on the genetic causes of neurodegenerative diseases has significantly advanced our understanding of Parkinson’s disease, Motor Neuron Disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. St George-Hyslop earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ottawa in 1976. In his career since, he has played a pivotal role in the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. He has played a major part in the cloning of genes associated with susceptibility to numerous neurological disorders, worked on protein structural, molecular, cellular and animal models that been used to explore potential therapeutics for these diseases, and he is one of the most cited authors in the field of Alzheimer's disease research.

He is currently brining his years of expertise to his roles as professor at Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; visiting professor for the Department of Chemistry at University of Cambridge; and Belle and Murray Nathan Professor of Neurology in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and the Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He has mentored more than 60 postdoctoral fellows, PhD and undergraduate learners, many of whom have gone on to independent careers in academic medicine or in biotech and pharmaceutical research.

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Dr. St George-Hyslop has been awarded more than 40 awards and fellowships including the Dan David Prize, the Michael Smith Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Scholar, and the Gold Medal in Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of London and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. He was previously honoured by uOttawa with the Meritas Tabaret Award for Alumni Achievement.

Joyce Msuya

Joyce Msuya is a globally respected humanitarian and development leader with 25 years of experience spanning the United Nations and both the public- and private-sector arms of the World Bank Group. A champion of inclusive, community-centered leadership, Msuya brings governments, civil society, international institutions, and business together around shared solutions.

After traveling from Tanzania to complete her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Immunology from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, Msuya earned her Master of Science in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Ottawa in 1996. She also holds a Certificate of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a General Management Executive Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Msuya has built a career as a globally recognized leader in humanitarian response, environmental governance, and international development. Msuya’s tenure at the World Bank Group spans public and private sectors alike. There she spread her impact across three continents, from establishing World Bank Group's first Korea office to co-directing IFC's $1.3 billion Africa investment strategy. She then went on to lead the turnaround of the UN Environment Programme through an extremely challenging period for the institution. As UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, she led operations for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) across more than 60 countries.

Msuya has gained a well-earned reputation for building partnerships that deliver results; bringing a rare combination of scientific rigor, diplomatic skill, and institutional leadership to the world's most urgent challenges.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award honours a lifetime of significant contributions to the community and achievement in health care and medicine. Recipients are leaders in their respective fields and have demonstrated professional excellence and selfless dedication over their years of work.

Recipients:

Dr. Jeffrey Weitz

Dr. Jeffrey Weitz is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University and Executive Director of the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute. Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology, Dr. Weitz focuses his clinical practice on patients with thrombotic disorders. He completed his medical degree and foundational training at the University of Ottawa before establishing his internationally recognized research program.

His research spans the spectrum from basic biochemistry of blood coagulation to animal models and clinical trials of antithrombotic therapy. By focusing on the mechanisms of anticoagulants and clot-digesting drugs, Dr. Weitz opened new avenues of investigation, paving the way for safer targeted therapies now used in clinical practice. The breadth of his work is highlighted by over 500 publications in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Blood, and Circulation, alongside 60 book chapters.

Dr. Weitz is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Heart Association, which also named him a Distinguished Scientist. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2023, named a Distinguished University Professor at McMaster, and elected Secretary General of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) for 2024–2028. In recognition of his lasting contributions to health science and patient care, he was honored with the 2025 Health Research Foundation (HRF) Medal of Honour.

Dr. Mary-Ellen Harper

Dr. Mary-Ellen Harper is a University Research Chair in Mitochondrial Bioenergetics at the University of Ottawa, where she also serves as Director of the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology (OISB). Additionally, she directs the Metabolomics Advanced Training and International Exchange (Matrix) program, an NSERC-CREATE initiative dedicated to training the next generation of researchers in advanced metabolomics.

An alumna of the University of Ottawa, Dr. Harper credits her alma mater with nurturing her leadership skills—values she actively pays forward by mentoring medical students, graduate trainees, and postdoctoral fellows. Her research program leads the way in cellular energy and mitochondrial function, spanning studies from isolated organelles and cell cultures to transgenic models and clinical investigations, significantly strengthening uOttawa’s reputation in translational research.

Having established an international reputation in bioenergetics and metabolic health, Dr. Harper is frequently invited to lecture at academic institutions and scientific conferences worldwide. Her collaborative research across the Faculty of Medicine, affiliated hospital research institutes, and international networks continues to bring distinction to the University of Ottawa.

Rising Star Achievement Award

This Rising Star Achievement Award recognizes outstanding alumni who have made significant contributions to health care and medicine. This award honours young alumni with 10 to 20 years of professional experience in their medical specialty.

Recipient:

Dr. David Pépin

Dr. David Pépin is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and a Principal Investigator in the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories at Massachusetts General Hospital. A molecular and developmental biologist by training, his research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of female reproductive development, ovarian physiology, infertility, and gynecologic cancers. Dr. Pépin completed his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa, where he studied chromatin remodeling during ovarian development and ovarian cancer.

After joining Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011 as a Research Fellow, Dr. Pépin established his own laboratory in 2016. His pioneering work has transformed the understanding of anti Müllerian hormone (AMH), revealing its critical role in early follicle development. His laboratory is actively developing a first in class non steroidal contraceptive, AMH based fertility preservation strategies for patients undergoing chemotherapy, and personalized gene editing approaches for chemoresistant ovarian cancer. He is also the co founder of Provulis LLC, a biotechnology company advancing innovations in female reproductive health.

Dr. Pépin’s contributions to reproductive biology have been recognized internationally. He is the recipient of the 2025 RV Short Medal and Lecture, awarded jointly by the Society for Reproductive Biology, the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, and the Society for the Study of Reproduction. He previously received the Virendra B. Mahesh New Investigator Award for his groundbreaking translational work on Müllerian Inhibiting Substance.