Dr. Lisa Lix and Dr. Ryan Zarychanski have been elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Canadian Academy of Health Sciences honours two UM researchers
Two Max Rady College of Medicine researchers have been elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS), one of the highest honours in the Canadian health sciences community.
Dr. Lisa Lix, professor of community health sciences and a UM Canada Research Chair in electronic health data quality, and Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, professor of internal medicine and the Lyonel G. Israels Research Chair in Hematology, are among the 49 new CAHS fellows for 2024.
“Congratulations to Drs. Lix and Zarychanski,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, UM vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine. “As a CAHS fellow myself, I welcome your expertise and enthusiasm to this Canada-wide group of accomplished scientists and scholars working to advance the health of Canadians and people around the world.”
Dr. Trevor Young, president of the CAHS, said that election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences acknowledges outstanding contributions to the health sciences.
“We are proud of these Fellows’ accomplishments, and we are honoured to welcome them to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,” Young said.
Lix is an international leader in statistical and data science methods for population-based electronic health data. She is working on improving chronic disease prediction models and collaborates with such organizations as the Public Health Agency of Canada on chronic disease surveillance methods.
She is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatics and is a fellow of the American Statistical Association. Lix provides national leadership to train the next generation of scientists on artificial intelligence in public health.
Lix said she is thrilled to be inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
“While it is an honour to be recognized for my leadership and accomplishments in the health sciences, I also recognize that there is a responsibility for ongoing and continued commitment to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences to contribute my expertise on health-related topics that are of importance to all Canadians,” Lix said.
Zarychanski’s research focuses on the hematologic aspects of critical illness and he leads several national and international randomized trials in the fields of sepsis, anticoagulation and blood conservation.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Zarychanski and team developed novel clinical trial methods to speed knowledge generation and facilitate global collaboration. These adaptive platform trials identified several effective therapies for hospitalized patients to improve survival and prevent illness progression that have been widely adopted in Canada and around the world.
Zarychanski, who is also a researcher with CancerCare Manitoba, said it is a tremendous honour to be inducted into the CAHS and it speaks to the supportive scientific environment at UM and CancerCare Manitoba that helps support world-class science and made-in-Manitoba discoveries.
“While the goal of the research and clinical trials our local team undertakes squarely focuses on improving patient outcomes and the function and sustainability of our health system, external validation of the team’s commitment and impact is energizing,” Zarychanski said. “With the decorated fellows in the academy, I look forward to promoting clinical trials in health research as one core component of a learning health system.”