2025 Discovery Award Winners
Below is the 100th cohort of the Discovery Award winners. These ten early-career scientists received an initial but critical boost to pursue their bold research that can transform lives one day.
Our 2025 winners are:
Jennifer Williams
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, Wilfred Laurier University
Ontario Brain Institute – Banting Discovery Award
Dr. Williams studies how hormonal changes, especially during everyday stressors like exercise or diet, affect blood flow to a woman’s brain and heart. As a result, they can design better lifestyles to prevent stroke and Alzheimer’s disease in women.
Jessalyn Holodinsky
Assistant Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary
Ontario Brain Institute – Banting Discovery Award
People who frequently visit the emergency department (ED) often have unmet healthcare needs that are not optimally managed, contributing to strain on the healthcare system. Using data science, Dr. Holodinsky identifies patterns among frequent ED visitors, so that targeted programming can be made to address their needs before the situation worsens to needing an ED visit.
Sirui Zhou
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Genetics, McGill University
Canerector Foundation – Banting Discovery Award
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a poorly understood connective tissue disorder, with symptoms varying between patients. By analyzing blood samples, Dr. Zhou aims to identify hEDS-related biomarkers, which will help improve diagnosis and treatment.
Jessica Willi
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge
Heaslip Foundation – Banting Discovery Award
Antibiotic resistance is a global public health concern and can arise from a variety of avenues, one of which is a cellular component called the ribosome. Dr. Willi investigates how differences in ribosomes may help bacterial cells survive low doses of antibiotics, potentially informing better treatments.
Erik Leif Lovblom
Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
100th Anniversary Discovery of Insulin Banting Award, jointly by the University of Toronto Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations and the Banting Discovery Foundation
Dr. Lovblom uses statistics to predict diabetes complications based on a patient’s medical records. Once incorporated into an app, doctors can track diabetic patients’ health journey and make more informed decisions to manage the condition.
Patricia Comeau
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Concordia University
Banting Discovery Award
Bone infection by bacteria or fungi is a major concern in conditions such as osteomyelitis. As a safer, more effective alternative to traditional treatments, Dr. Comeau is developing a nature-inspired gel with enhanced healing and antimicrobial properties.
Julien Flynn
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Institute of Integrative Biology and Systems, Université Laval
Banting Discovery Award
Cells sometimes make mistakes when duplicating and passing down their DNA during cell division. Using fruit flies as a model, Dr. Flynn studies why and how those mistakes can cause miscarriages in half of all pregnancies.
Teklab Gebregiworgis
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Western University
Banting Discovery Award
Dr. Gebregiworgis studies how a protein called small GTPase is regulated in our cells and how its malfunction can drive cancer. With this knowledge, new cancer drugs can be developed to target dysfunctional GTPases.
Louis-Philippe Picard
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université Sherbrooke
Banting Discovery Award
A cellular protein called G protein is involved in heart and brain conditions such as heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and Parkinson’s disease. To treat those medical conditions, Dr. Picard studies how G proteins can be targeted with precision therapies.
Zahra Shakeri
Assistant Professor, Health Informatics and Information Visualization, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Banting Discovery Award
Dr. Shakeri uses artificial intelligence to analyze health records and social factors of patients after surgery in the airway. The goal is to predict which patients are likely to develop post-surgical complications so that doctors and nurses can take pre-emptive actions by designing customized health care.
