Pioneering scientist inducted into Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
The University of Manitoba is proud to announce the election of Dr. Estelle Simons into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Estelle Simons
Simons, a professor of pediatrics and child health in the Faculty of Medicine and a research scientist at the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, is an internationally renowned expert on allergic diseases like asthma.
She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) during a ceremony last night in Ottawa. Fellows are elected by their peers based on their demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies and commitment to advancing academic health sciences. Membership is considered one of the highest honours for the Canadian health sciences community. The objective of the CAHS is to provide advice on key issues relevant to the health of Canadians.
“Dr. Simons’s accomplishments have been groundbreaking and impacted the care of millions around the world,” said Digvir Jayas, University of Manitoba vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor. “Her colleagues at home and abroad recognize her expertise and leadership as both stellar and absolute.”
For more than three decades Simons has worked tirelessly to improve the health of patients suffering from allergic diseases, including asthma and anaphylaxis. With her colleagues, she pioneered pharmacological approaches to the investigation of medications used to treat allergies. Her world-leading research on anaphylaxis has made her the “go to” authority on the subject. Her comprehensive studies of epinephrine resulted in changes to practice and made epinephrine autoinjectors (“epi pens”), the standard delivery method for those suffering from anaphylactic reactions brought on by allergies.
Simons is the Past-President of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Past-Chair of the Allergy Section of the Canadian Pediatric Society, and Past-President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (she was the first Canadian ever elected to this international body as President). She has published more than 535 peer-reviewed original publications, edited or co-edited seven books, given many invited lectures and received many national and international lectureship and career awards.
With the induction of Dr. Simons, the University of Manitoba now has 22 Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
For more information please contact Janine Harasymchuk, Marketing Communications Office, University of Manitoba, at 204-474-7300.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.