Two McGill researchers honoured with 2010 Prix du Québec
Nancy Adler and Mark Wainberg among those awarded Quebec’s
highest accolade
Again this year, McGill researchers are among the winners of the
Prix du Québec, which were announced today at a news conference in
Montreal. Professor of organizational behaviour and international
management at the Desautels Faculty of Management and creative
powerhouse Nancy Adler, and renowned HIV/AIDS researcher and
activist Mark Wainberg received the highest honour conferred by the
provincial government in recognition of their contribution to the
social and scientific advancement of Quebec.
“It is a great honour for McGill to have Professors Adler and
Wainberg – a social scientist and a health scientist – awarded with
Prix du Québec this year,” said Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Heather Munroe-Blum. “The awards are a testament to McGill’s
diverse strengths, superb talent and its focus on innovative,
world-class research. And, while the transformative work of
Professors Adler and Wainberg is recognized around the world and
throughout Canada, it is always particularly gratifying to be
recognized at home.”
Adler, winner of the Prix Léon-Guérin for the humanities, has been
a pioneer in the increasingly important integration of art and
design with business and societal leadership. An accomplished
artist as well as a respected management researcher, Adler has
brought artistic approaches into her work with managers and
executives worldwide for more than a decade. Her innovative
approach has helped shape an emerging trend at universities around
the world, as top business schools increasingly weave lessons from
the arts and design into their curricula.
Wainberg, Director of McGill’s AIDS Centre, will be awarded with
the Prix Wilder-Penfield in biomedical sciences. He was one of the
first Canadian scientists to study HIV/AIDS and in the late ’80s
his research team was credited with the first identification of the
anti-viral properties of 3TC, a widely used HIV drug. In addition
to contributing significantly to our knowledge about HIV drug
resistance and replication, Wainberg has been a tireless voice in
advocating for funding of HIV-prevention programs and universal
access to prevention, care and treatment programs.
The government of Quebec presents the Prix du Québec annually to
those deemed to have remarkable careers in the artistic and
cultural sphere or who have devoted their working lives to the
social and scientific advancement of Quebec. Winners receive
$30,000 and a silver lapel pin of the Prix du Québec symbol – an
emblem worn only by Prix du Québec winners.
Adler and Wainberg join a long list of illustrious McGill
researchers who have also won a Prix du Québec including Vicki
Kaspi (2009), Jean-Marie Dufour (2008), Paul-André Crépeau (2008),
Philippe Gros (2008) and Lawrence Mysak (2006), to name only a few
of the most recent recipients.