Twelve McGill professors honoured by the Royal Society of Canada

Newest Fellows and Members to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists recognized for scholarly, research and artistic excellence

Ten McGill professors researching in such areas as child trauma, memory and cardiovascular diseases are among the Royal Society of Canada’s (RSC) newest Fellows. Another two early-career professors at the University have been named Members of the RSC’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

They are among 104 new Fellows and 56 Members from across the country announced by the RSC on September 3, 2024.

“McGill’s new cohort of Royal Society of Canada Fellows and Members are not only exceptional individuals but are, in many ways, the very embodiment of the university," said Dominique Bérubé, Vice-President, Research and Innovation. "Their transformative contributions, from advancing equitable and inclusive public policies to enriching French-language literature, reflect the core of McGill’s mission and impact."

“McGill exists because of their work and their success is the university’s success,” she added. “The entire McGill community celebrates and congratulates them on these well-deserved honours.”

The new Fellows, elected by their peers, are being honoured for outstanding achievement and impact, including contributions to public life. They join more than 2,500 distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists already named to one of the three Academies: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Science.

The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists is Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for emerging intellectual leaders. It has more than 400 Members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in their disciplines and are within 15 years of having received their PhD or disciplinary equivalent. Members of the College are elected for seven-year terms.

McGill scholars address trauma, mental health, and public policy

The RSC Class of 2024 includes Delphine Collin-Vézina, a professor in the School of Social Work. Her trauma-informed, children’s rights-based research informs the promotion and implementation of social responses to children and youth who have experienced traumatic life events. In 2020, she received $2.5M in SSHRC Partnership Grants, which allowed her to establish the Canadian Consortium on Child & Youth Trauma.

Another new Fellow is Karim Nader, a James McGill Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and a renowned leader in memory research focusing on fear. His groundbreaking findings show that memories can be retrieved and become changeable through a process called “reconsolidation,” changing the way we think about how memory is formed and retrieved. This could one day help treat sufferers of life-altering post-traumatic stress disorders stemming from violence or abuse, as well as drug addiction, epilepsy or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

New Fellow Rhian Touyz, Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) is recognized for her research advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases. She is also a Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine (Tier I).

Daniel Weinstock of the Faculty of Law is a leading expert in contemporary moral and political philosophy. The new Fellow has participated in numerous public policy debates in Quebec, including on equity in health care and access to higher education, and the accommodation of cultural and religious diversity in democratic societies.

One of McGill’s newly elected College Members, Jai Shah, is a leading researcher on the early phases of psychotic illnesses. A psychiatrist and researcher at the Program for Prevention and Early Intervention in Psychosis (PEPP-Montreal) at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, he is involved in and committed to early-intervention efforts across youth mental health.

The new Fellows and Members will be inducted at the RSC Celebration of Excellence and Engagement (COEE) from November 7 to 9 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

McGill’s 2024 RSC Fellows

• Arash Abizadeh, R.B. Angus Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts
• Daniel Béland, James McGill Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts; Director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC)
• Jacob Burack, Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education; Director, McGill Youth Study Team (MYST)
• Delphine Collin-Vézina, Professor and Nicolas Steinmetz and Gilles Julien Chair in Community Social Pediatrics, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts; Director, Centre for Research on Children and Families
• Alain Farah, Professeur agrégé, Département des littératures de langue française, de traduction et de création, Faculty of Arts
• Karim Nader, James McGill Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science
• David A. Stephens, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science; Vice-Dean, Faculty of Science
• Rhian Touyz, Professor and Dr. Phil Gold Chair in Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC)
• Brigitte Vachon, James McGill Professor, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
• Daniel Weinstock, Professor and Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy, Faculty of Law; Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Law

McGill’s 2024 Members to the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists

• Stefanie Blain-Moraes, Associate Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; Tier II Canada Research Chair in Consciousness and Personhood Technologies
• Jai Shah, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; Researcher, Douglas Hospital Research Centre

Read the official RSC press release.