Academic Innovation Award Recipients
Congratulations to the 2025 recipients!
Clinical Cadaver Program
Left to right: Dr. George Kovacs,聽Dr. Anna MacLeod, and聽Rob Sandeski
Dr. George Kovacs is a full-time professor of Emergency Medicine and is cross appointed in the Departments of Anesthesia, Medical Neurosciences and Continuing Professional Development and Medical Education at 新澳门六合彩开奖. He works clinically as an Emergency Physician at Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and is Medical Director of LifeFlight, the Provincial Critical Care Transport Program. Dr Kovacs is Medical Director of 新澳门六合彩开奖鈥檚 Human Body Donation Clinical Cadaver Program. He has made significant contributions as an author and editor of textbooks and peer reviewed publications including multidisciplinary National and International Guidelines related to his area of interest, airway management. He is an award-winning educator recognized by receiving the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) President鈥檚 Award and was a recipient of the Queen鈥檚 Platinum Jubilee Medal for his work during COVID. Family and their place in the forest on the river is home.
Dr. Anna MacLeod is Professor, Director of Education Research, and Head for the Research in Medicine Unit in the Faculty of Medicine at 新澳门六合彩开奖. Elected to the Royal Society of Canada鈥檚 College of New Scholars, Anna is internationally recognized for her innovative studies of medical education. She has held continuous, uninterrupted Tri-Council funding to support her research since taking up her faculty position over a decade ago. Anna uses the tools of critical social science to think creatively about medical education in a variety of contexts, including death and dying, learning and technology, and the invisible work that happens behind the scenes in medical education. The latter topic is the focus of her upcoming book (co-edited with Dr. Lara Varpio), A Thunderous Chorus of Unheard Voices.
Rob Sandeski trained and practiced as a funeral director before joining 新澳门六合彩开奖鈥檚 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in 2002 as an anatomy technician working alongside others as part of Dal鈥檚 Human Body Donation program. He was a respected teacher and innovator as he co-developed a first of its kind, Clinical Cadaver Program for which he assumed a leadership role as Program Manager. He completed his Diploma of Health Services Management in 2018. His work as been recognized in nominations, awards and numerous publications as he brought something very human to learners at all levels of their training, changing their experience with the human body as a teacher after death. Rob鈥檚 work has compassionately touched thousands of individuals and family members at the intersection of life providing a unique after life that has saved many. An annual Rob Sandeski Clinical Cadaver Educational Innovation Grant will honour his legacy.
2022
Biodiversity Working Group
- Lara Gibson (University Teaching Fellow) Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
- Dr. Susan Gass (University Teaching Fellow) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
- Dr. Amy Mui (Senior Instructor) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
- Dr. Heather Cray (Instructor) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
- Dr. Paul Manning (Assistant Professor) Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture
- Dr. Gabrielle Tompkins (Director, Integrated Science Office) Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
The Biodiversity Working Group are six passionate educators from the 新澳门六合彩开奖 Faculties of Science, & Agriculture. Our goal is to use a biological survey completed every year in September, to connect our students with the Studley and Truro campuses, the broader natural history community, and help them discover the other organisms we share the spaces with.
Sue Gass is a University Teaching Fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at 新澳门六合彩开奖. Her research works to decipher the complexities of human interactions within ecosystems with a focus on marine environments and in finding the most effective ways to communicate these with students. She teaches a range of Environmental Science courses where she takes a holistic teaching approach to helping students understand today鈥檚 environmental challenges. She has been teaching undergraduate science for more than a decade and teaches all levels of undergraduate students in both large and small classes including field courses. She employs a range of teaching methods and engages her students with the use of case studies. Before joining 新澳门六合彩开奖, she worked in the environmental NGO and local government sectors on biodiversity conservation planning, and as a post doctoral researcher and teaching fellow at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. She has a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science from McGill University (1998), an MES from 新澳门六合彩开奖 (2002) and PhD in Marine Environmental Science from the Open University/UHI Millennium Institute (2006)
Lara Gibson is a University Teaching Fellow in the Biology Department at 新澳门六合彩开奖. She oversees the preparation and delivery of hands-on laboratory content for two large biodiversity-focussed classes; Animal Diversity and The Diversity of Plants and Microorganisms. She holds a B.Sc in Biology from the University of Victoria, and a M.Sc in Agriculture from 新澳门六合彩开奖. She is an established natural historian, who likes to share her love of small things with those around her.
Amy Mui is currently a Senior Instructor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at 新澳门六合彩开奖 in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her areas of interest in teaching and research include species at risk conservation through geospatial habitat and connectivity modelling in disturbed ecosystems. Current work is focused on determining lidar and optical remote sensing variables capable of identifying specialized breeding habitat of the endangered Bicknell鈥檚 Thrush (Catharus bicknelli) in high elevation forests of Cape Breton highlands. Ongoing work also includes modelling priority areas for conservation of Blanding鈥檚 turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) habitat in eastern Canada using object-oriented approaches to characterize wetlands at multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Heather Cray is an Instructor in the School for Resource and Environmental Studies in the Faculty of Management and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Science at 新澳门六合彩开奖. Her research interests focus on the interconnections between living things and their feedbacks, both large and small. How decisions are made, who makes them, and what factors influence these decisions as they pertain to biotic systems is a primary area of interest. Heather鈥檚 research also examines the current knowns and unknowns in ecosystem planning and restoration, and how these elements influence our ability to conserve and manage natural systems. How we can effectively communicate, learn, teach, and create science and environmental sustainability is also a key area of Heather鈥檚 ongoing research.
Paul Manning is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at 新澳门六合彩开奖. He holds a BSc in Agriculture from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and a DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford. His research aims to understand how insect communities support ecosystem functioning in agroecosystems. Paul is interested in elevating public understanding and appreciation of insects through speaking to community groups, working with youth, and conducting research through community science.
Gabrielle Tompkins is a Senior Instructor in the Faculty of Science. She holds a B.Sc in Biology from St. Francis Xavier University, and PhD in Physiology, Cell Biology, and Developmental Biology from the University of Alberta and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. She is the current director of the 新澳门六合彩开奖 Integrated Science Program (DISP) which emphasizesundergraduate research opportunities and integration across the sciences for first year science students.