“The selection committee is pleased to confirm that our 2012 Alumni of Distinction award will go to Dr. Niznick,” said Dr. Scott Leckie, past president of the University of Manitoba Dental Alumni Association. “Dr. Niznick’s track record and huge body of work really speaks for itself.”

He has personally trained tens of thousands of practitioners in dental implant procedures and has received numerous awards including Distinguished Educator and Research Awards from ICOI and AAID, two of the largest dental implant organizations, and an honourary doctorate from the University of Manitoba.

Dr. Niznick has contributed generously to oral health education and research. Most recently, he returned to Manitoba with a commitment of over $500,000 in support of the Niznick Overdenture Program, targeting under-served and disadvantaged populations in the province. This clinical treatment and research project, using one of Dr. Niznick’s latest 1-piece implant inventions, is providing training and support for post-graduate fellows at several Canadian Universities in a study being administered through our dental school.

“Dr. Niznick’s impact on implant dentistry is immeasurable,” said Dr. Anthony Iacopino, Dean of Dentistry at the University of Manitoba. “His contributions have had an immediate and positive impact as our Faculty seeks to provide the most comprehensive educational experience of any dental school in Canada or the United States.”

Soon after securing his DMD at the University of Manitoba in 1966, Dr. Niznick earned a MSD degree in Prosthodontics at Indiana University. He went on to become recognized as an international leader in the field of implant dentistry.

With 35 US patents to his name, he is also the founder and CEO of three highly successful implant companies: Core-Vent Corporation (1982), Paragon Implant Company (1997) and Implant Direct Int’l (2004). In December 2010, a majority interest in Implant Direct was acquired by Sybron Dental Specialties with Dr. Niznick retaining a minority interest and continuing to serve as its President and CEO.

He will be presented with the award at the annual Alumni of Distinction banquet slated for September 28 at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg.

“Support for Dr. Niznick was widespread among his classmates and colleagues,” Dr. Leckie said. “He is certainly a most deserving recipient of our 2012 distinction.”

For more information contact Grant Warren, Public Affairs, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Manitoba, 204-789-3267 (gwarren@cc.umanitoba.ca).

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It’s part of the Verna J. Kirkness Science Education Program. Students from Frontier School District, representing First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities, will work in pairs with a post-doctoral or graduate student from the U of M, experiencing trailblazing research first-hand. The students will also stay in residence while here to further immerse themselves in the U of M’s exciting culture and campus lifestyle.

On May 17, Jim Rondeau, Minister of Healthy Living, Seniors and Consumer Affairs, will speak at a feast that will be held at Migizii Agamik on the Fort Garry Campus to celebrate the program. The Minister will be joined by Dr. Verna J. Kirkness

This program creates fun opportunities for students to engage in research and experience life on campus. The program’s goal is to further excite the students’ interest in pursuing science and research at university, and in making a positive difference in their home communities.

“Education has a transformative power for students, their families and their communities,” said Dr. David T. Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manitoba. “It is our honour to partner with the Verna J. Kirkness Foundation so that students from northern communities can experience and be inspired by laboratory science.”

Verna Kirkness graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1980 with a Master’s in Education after she completed her BA and B.Ed at the U of M as well. She is a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation, and a member of the Order of Manitoba and Order of Canada. She is a national leader in education in Canada who has inspired countless students and educators in both Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal communities.

The students in this year’s program are coming from communities throughout Manitoba’s Frontier School Division: Rorketon school in Rorketon; West Lynn Heights in Lynn Lake; Helen Betty Osborne school in Norway House; Frontier College Institute in Cranberry Portage; Frontier Mosakahiken school in Moose Lake; Leaf Rapids Education school in Leaf Rapids; and Minegoziibe Anishinabe school in Camperville.

The Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost is a sponsor of the event and six faculty members from the University of Manitoba have been assigned to host the students in their laboratories. They include: Drs. Rotimi Aluko and James Friel in Human Nutritional Sciences; Drs. Nancy Ames and Curtis Rempel in the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals; Soil Science’s Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst, NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering; and Dr. Robert Hoppa in Anthropology.

“The Frontier School District students are not the only ones who benefit from this program. The mentors (the professors, graduate students, and post-doctoral students) relish the opportunity to give back to the community and to witness the students’ excitement and wonder of doing research for the first time,” said Dr. Ron Woznow, the founder of the Verna J. Kirkness Foundation.

For more information contact Andrea Bilash, Marketing Communications Office, University of Manitoba, 204-480-1473 (andrea_bilash@umanitoba.ca).

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The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a survey filled out by almost all Kindergarten teachers in Manitoba. The tool was developed in Canada and is used throughout the world. It measures school readiness in five areas or domains (physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, as well as communications skills and general knowledge). When scores are below the cutoff in a specific domain, children are said to be not ready or vulnerable in that area.

The EDI does not assess individual students. It provides planners with a sense of how prepared groups of children are for school.

By anonymously linking EDI results to health records, the report found that right from birth, differences in children’s health can impact how prepared they may be for school. For example, after adjusting for things like socioeconomic status, children who had a low birth weight were more likely to not be ready in one or more of the EDI domains five years later.

The study looked deep into social circumstances. It identified three factors associated with poor EDI scores. “Children born to teen moms, in families on income assistance, or in the care of Child and Family Services, were found to be more at-risk,” says Rob Santos, lead researcher for the report at MCHP, who is also executive director of science and policy at the Healthy Child Manitoba Office. “These kids were up to four times more likely than children who were not in any of these at-risk groups to show vulnerability in one or more EDI domain.”

Researchers from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy also used anonymized results of the EDI surveys from 2005-2007, then linked them with areas of residence. Out of nearly 22,000 children included, they found that EDI scores seemed to be strongly related to how rich or poor the area was.

“Children living in the poorest areas in Manitoba, for both urban and rural settings, were about one and one-half times as likely to be not ready in at least one EDI domain when compared with children living in the wealthiest areas,” says Marni Brownell, MCHP co-investigator.

Interventions designed for the most vulnerable kids may have the largest impact in closing the gap. Breastfeeding, for example, seemed to equalize EDI scores, regardless of whether or not kids were born healthy at birth, and seemed to have a larger impact in those children who were more vulnerable at birth. Among children breastfed at infancy, about 25 per cent of children born less healthy were not ready in one or more EDI domain, compared to 22 per cent of the children born healthy.

“The EDI results show that groups of children facing multiple risks require more attention, and as early in life as possible, to get the help they need to succeed at school and later in life,” says Santos. “This report provides planners with insights about when and where resources should be applied.”

MCHP is a research unit in the department of community health sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Research scientists and their collaborators at MCHP study health services, population and public health, and the social determinants of health using data from the entire population of Manitoba. Most of the research answers questions of interest to policy makers based on a formal association with Manitoba Health and input from other government departments.

Drs. Rob Santos and Marni Brownell are available for interviews.

For more information, please contact Jack Rach, communications officer, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, at: 204-789-3669.

The summary and full report will be available for download on May 11 from http://mchp-appserv.cpe.umanitoba.ca/deliverablesList.html

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Sheffield is owner of Sheffield Farms, a farm near Pilot Mound he expanded from 160 acres to 1,700 acres, and Stay Fit Health Club. The 26-year-old claimed his most recent entrepreneurial victory, besting 750 students and academic advisors from 50 Canadian universities, at the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship’s (ACE) annual national exposition. Earlier this year he won ACE’s Central Canada regional competition.

His next stop will be the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in New York in November.

Sheffield is a student in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Science and he still attends class full-time, while running his grain farm and the Stay Fit Health Club in Pilot Mound, Mb. The health club was going to close and he didn’t want the community to lose it, so he bought it and brought it into the black.

For the past 25 years ACE Expositions have brought together industry, educational and student leaders from across Canada, around the shared cause of building a better country. Industry leaders evaluate students’ business plans on the economic opportunity they create for the students and their communities.

For more information contact Crystal Jorgenson, Communications Specialist, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Manitoba, 204-474-9435 (c_jorgenson@umanitoba.ca).

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From 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, there will be free hands-on activities and demonstrations in the Engineering and Information Technology Complex (EITC), 75 Chancellors Circle, Fort Garry Campus.

The many Science Rendezvous activities will include:
-          Slimy surprises (making slime)
-          Make your own thermometer
-          Make some Candy DNA
-         Spaghetti bridge-building contest
-          Alternative energy vehicles
-          Sew an E. coli (ewwww!)
-          And, of course, the Chemistry magic show!

Science Rendezvous is a public platform to promote science awareness in Canada. It informs and works to engage and transform the general public from passive supporters of science and technology into active and passionate champions. In the process, people will develop a basic understanding of the important role science plays in our rapidly changing world.

Science Rendezvous is designed to bring science and its practitioners face-to-face with the public. The program strives to encourage a public understanding that science affects their daily lives and that it is a worthy educational and career path for our youth.

For more information about Science Rendezvous 2012, visit the website:
http://www.sciencerendezvous.ca/2012/the-university-of-manitoba/

For more information, contact James Xidos, University of Manitoba Faculty of Science, at: 204-474-6078 or email: xidos@cc.umanitoba.ca

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The finding was announced today by Dr. Albert Chudley, medical director of the genetics and metabolism program, a member of the Manitoba Institute of Child Health (MICH) and a professor in paediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba. In a paper published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Chudley notes that a particular gene, GPSM2, is responsible for profound hearing loss and brain malformations during children’s development, caused by asymmetric cell divisions as a fetus takes shape.

Chudley and his colleagues first described the condition, now known as Chudley-McCullough Syndrome, and published a paper about it in 1997. He says: “Since that initial report there have been several reports of this condition worldwide. This condition may be more common than we thought initially, and this discovery will allow more accurate diagnosis and earlier detection of hearing loss in children affected.”

Chudley and colleagues at MICH and the U of M worked with a large international team of researchers to better understand what was creating the malformations in children.

He explains: “This is the first time that changes in the GPSM2 gene have been implicated in the cause of a variety of brain malformations in humans. We stand to gain important information on brain development and the cause of a variety of brain malformations previously without a known cause.”

The research team will continue to work with University of Manitoba researchers on this condition and collaborate with Geoff Hicks, U of M associate professor of biochemistry, medical genetics, and cell biology. They hope to establish a mouse model of this disorder which will allow better understanding of this gene and the possibility of discovering perhaps how best to treat or prevent the complications in this condition.

As for having a medical condition named for him, Chudley notes: “Having a syndrome named after you is something a lot of geneticists take pride in. Here in Manitoba, we took part in discovering the gene and the reasons it causes the syndrome. This reflects the fact that we have great medical care and research in Manitoba.”

He adds: “Finding the gene is important―this gene has never been associated with brain abnormalities before and this discovery may be a clue to other brain abnormities at birth. It could even lead to the possibility of prevention and treatment of Chudley-McCullough Syndrome in the future.”

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Ab Chudley at: 204-787-4370 or cell: 204-451-2483, or email: achudley@hsc.mb.ca

Or contact:

Sarah Delaquis, communications coordinator, Manitoba Institute of Child Health, at: 204-272–3135 or cell: 204-227-1438, or email: sdelaquis@mich.ca

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“It is particularly fitting that in the year of the Associates’ 30^th Anniversary we are recognizing Stu Clark, an I.H. Asper School Alumnus, to receive this prestigious award,” says Arni Thorsteinson, chair of the IDEA Committee for the Associates and president of Shelter Canadian Properties Limited. “The IDEA Committee felt strongly that this was the perfect time to recognize a deserving, Manitoba-born and educated entrepreneur of international stature.”  Previous recipients born in Manitoba are Albert D. Cohen, O.C., Israel H. Asper, O.C., Q.C., and Gerald W. Schwartz.

“The University of Manitoba is delighted that Manitoba-born entrepreneur and I.H. Asper School alumnus Stu Clark will be recognized as the 30th IDEA recipient; a true trailblazer, he can rightfully stand among the other great international entrepreneurs who have been recognized in the past,” says David T. Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manitoba.

Stu Clark is a Calgary oil and gas entrepreneur.  He is Chairman of Storm Resources Ltd. and Rock Energy Inc.as well as Lead Director of Chinook Energy Inc.  Mr. Clark is also Chairman of Alliance Trust Company, a private trust and shareholder services firm, servicing public and private entities in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Mr. Clark was born and raised in Manitoba and educated in Brandon and Winnipeg, before beginning his entrepreneurial career in the oil and gas industry in Calgary.

Mr. Clark earned his B. Comm. (Hons.) from the University of Manitoba in 1976, and in 2011 was recognized by the University of Manitoba with an honourary Doctor of Laws.

Over three decades, Mr. Clark translated his education into starting, running and then selling several oil and gas exploration companies.  Mr. Clark has been involved in the start-up and reorganization of a number of Calgary-based public and private entities.

Mr. Clark moved to Calgary in 1984 with the Northland Bank.  In 1986 he founded Pinnacle Resources Ltd. and raised $2 million of shareholder capital.  The company was sold in 1998 for $1 billion.

A renowned entrepreneur, philanthropist and volunteer, Stu Clark is recognized for his tireless dedication to supporting a variety of charities and educational institutions in Canada.  His donation to the University of Manitoba enabled the establishment of the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship in the I.H. Asper School of Business.  Mr. Clark has been a strong supporter of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and became a Director of The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights this year.

He remains active in the Calgary business community and is married with three adult children.

Dean Michael Benarroch of the I.H. Asper School of Business applauded the recipient choice, saying “there could not have been a more appropriate recipient for 2012; it is the 75^th Anniversary of the School and the 25^th Anniversary of our home, the Drake Centre.  September will be a month of celebration culminating with the presentation of the IDEA to a distinguished alumnus of the School.”

The award will be presented to Mr. Clark at a formal dinner in Winnipeg at the Winnipeg Convention Centre on Thursday, September 27, 2012, where Mr. Clark will be presented with a custom-made pure gold medal produced by the Royal Canadian Mint specifically for the award.

The Associates are committed to ensuring that the Asper School of Business remains one of the top business schools in Canada. The Associates support and promote interaction between the business community, faculty and students through programs and events including the IDEA presentation.

“RBC Royal Bank is proud to partner for the third time with the Associates of the Asper School of Business for this year’s IDEA Gala,” says Rob Johnston, Regional President Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and North Western Ontario. “We are honoured to be a part of an event that recognizes and celebrates tremendous entrepreneurial success and contribution to our society.”

Mr. Clark joins past IDEA recipients including Sir Richard Branson, Paul Desmarais, Akio Morita, Ross Perot, Heather Reisman, Dame Anita Roddick, Gerald Schwartz, Peter Munk, Jim Balsillie, Murray Edwards and last year’s recipient Jim Sinegal.

To arrange an interview with Arni Thorsteinson, chair of the IDEA Award Committee for the Associates and president of Shelter Canadian Properties Limited, please call: 204-475-9090, ext. 202;

For more information or to purchase IDEA Dinner tickets please contact Taralee Turner, executive director, Associates of the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba, at: 204-474-6201

For a digital photograph of Stu Clark please contact: Taralee Turner at tturner@associatesmb.ca

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Degrees will be conferred on 103 medical school graduates: 50 females and 53 males, including three Aboriginal students and 23 with rural backgrounds. Among this year’s exceptional graduates are a rural Manitoba Aboriginal student who is the first in his family to graduate with an MD and plans to practice in a rural Manitoba community after completing family medicine residency in Dauphin; a former nurse and flight attendant who is embarking on a career in anesthesiology; an inner-city resident who beat the odds of going on to post-secondary education; and a Winnipegger heading up north to complete a Northern & Remote family medicine residency.

“We are proud of the achievement of the 103 MDs graduating today. They represent the future of medicine,” said Brian Postl [MD/76], Dean, Faculty of Medicine. “As Manitoba’s only medical school, we are dedicated to educating and training physicians who are compassionate, socially accountable, professional and who will serve communities across the province. My congratulations to the graduates, their families and friends on this momentous day.”

“It is a proud day for these students and their families. After many years of hard work and sacrifice, this is their moment to shine,” said Health Minister Theresa Oswald. “These dedicated individuals are pursuing a career that will help Manitoba families with what matters most:  getting the best medical care  when they need it.”

The Convocation also includes the presentation of an Honorary Doctorate degree to University of Manitoba alumnus George Yee [MD/60].

George E. Yee, M.D.(Man); F.R.C.P. (C)

A celebrated physician and philanthropist, Dr. George E. Yee is recognized for his commitment to medicine, to his community and to the support of young doctors.  Dr. Yee grew up in one of Winnipeg’s poorest neighbourhoods and in 1960, graduated from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine. During medical school he received a bursary and vowed to give back if ever fortunate enough to do so. He kept his promise.  Dr. Yee has supported Class of 1960 Bursary and Entrance Scholarship funds, and created the Charles and Pauline Yee Bursary in Medicine at the University of Manitoba. In 2008, thanks to his generosity, the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation was established at the University of Manitoba, a centre that fosters interdisciplinary research and collaboration aimed at improving patient care and safety. Since 1966, Dr. Yee has served as the CEO and Laboratory Director of Medical Laboratories of Windsor, Ontario, the busiest laboratory in Canada.  He has served as President of the Ontario Association of Pathologists, and from 1992-2002 as Inspector for the College of American Pathologists. Dr. Yee received the Ontario Medical Association Life Membership Award (2001) and Advocate for Student Awards (2007) and the Canadian Medical Association’s Senior Membership Award (2002).

Media are invited to obtain photos of the Class of 2012 during their procession at 10:25 a.m. or during the Hippocratic Oath near the end of the convocation.

For more information contact Ilana Simon, Director of Communications & Marketing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, (204) 789-3427 or cell (204) 295-6777 or ilana.simon@med.umanitoba.ca

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“Everyone has a story,” says Jessica Senehi, festival director and associate director of the Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice. “Listening to each other’s stories and sharing stories of wit and wisdom nurture human development, build and share culture, cross boundaries and create a shared identity. This helps to build bonds of friendship and community; and a global citizen knows her or his own story with a larger context of a globe-spanning web of stories and life experience.”

At the Festival this year, the first Dr. Philip Weiss Award for Storytelling for Peace and Human Rights will be given out. The recipient will be Dr. Monique Saigal, a Holocaust survivor who had been a “hidden child” in France during World War II.

More than 6,000 seats have been booked already for the festival’s school program, bringing K through 12 students to Winnipeg from as far as Swan River.

Featured tellers this year include: renowned playwright and performer Ian Ross; young spoken word artist and refugee advocate Faiza Hargaaya; hip hop artist nereO Eugenio; deaf storyteller Noah Buccholz from New Jersey; francophone teller Eveline Ménard from Quebec; Indian education activist Sr. Cyril Mooney; Winnipeg clown Sue Proctor; and children’s theatre director Tetiana Bielousova from Ukraine.

On May 9, more than 400 students will participate in small group circles in the Investors Group Athletic Centre, led by 18 University of Manitoba graduate students from 14 different countries.

Other highlights:
- Deaf Storytelling Night, Thursday, May 10, 7 pm, Deaf Centre of Manitoba
- Spoken Word Concert, Friday, May 11, 7 pm, Aqua Books
- ASL Interpreter Workshop, Saturday, May 12, 10 am, Millennium Library
- Chiga Biga Performance, Saturday, May 12, 11 am, Millennium Library
- Chiga Biga Children’s Theatre Workshop, Saturday, May 12, 1 to 4 pm, Millennium Library
- All featured tellers plus Noma Sibanda at Saturday Night Storytelling Concert, Saturday, May 12, at St. Paul’s College.

The Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice is based in St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba.

For more information, please see http://umanitoba.ca/storytelling

Or contact Jessica Senehi at: 204-474-7978 or email: Jessica_Senehi@umanitoba.ca

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The event co-ordinated by the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Human Rights Research, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak brings members of about 10 Manitoba First Nations together with researchers from the universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan  and University College of the North. They will share information about drinking water and sanitation challenges in First Nations communities and brainstorm ways that researchers might be able to help solve those problems.

“I see water as a holistic health right,” said Dr. Brenda Elias, who received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to fund the symposium. In 2010, the United Nations recognized safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right.

Media are welcome to interview participants at the close of the meeting at 2 p.m. Thur. May 10.

Participants will address issues such as:
- What are the health problems related to drinking water and sewage in your community?
- How can youth get involved in assessing drinking water and sanitation?
- What does your community want to know about laws on drinking water and sanitation?
- What’s the best way to measure the effects of good/poor water services and the costs and benefits of fixing the problems?

“We are pleased the Centre for Human Rights Research has chosen First Nations water and sanitation as one of their main research areas. Water is significant to the health of our people and environment. We must work collaboratively to address the inequities First Nations face in ensuring the health and safety of First Nations and our future generations,” said Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak. “In addition to the centre, we invite governments to work with us to invest adequate and comparable resources for solutions.”

The symposium is also supported by Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst, the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering in the Prairie region and Dr. Warren Cariou, the Canada Research Chair in Narrative, Community and Indigenous Cultures. Filmmaker Cariou will videotape the proceedings.

For media interviews, please contact:

Helen Fallding, Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba, fallding@cc.umanitoba.ca
or
Michael Anderson, research director, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak natural resources secretariat, at 204- 794-4312
or
Sheila North Wilson, chief communications officer, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, at 204-957-8450, or email: snorthwilson@manitobachiefs.com

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