The Palais des congrès de Montréal honoured five McGill professors at its 2024 ambassadors’ gala for their exceptional contributions to the city’s economic and societal growth. Although there are a few other professors among the total of 14, McGill alone can boast of multiple honourees.
The basis for earning the kudos is the ability to organize large-scale events in Montreal. For Dominic Frigon, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, some recognition for success also goes to McGill as an institution.
“It really demonstrates this driving force that McGill has on the Montreal community,” says Frigon. “McGill is well integrated in the city, and helps Montreal unite the world.”
Frigon chairs the organizing committee for EDAR7, the Environmental Dimension of Antimicrobial Resistance conference, hosted by McGill’s Antimicrobial Resistance Centre. The event takes place in May 2024, and is expected to attract 500 delegates from around the world.
“We’re trying to bring together scientists, policy and decision makers, and the industry in between, and translate knowledge into action.”
Seeing scientific knowledge applied to policy – whether locally, nationally, or internationally – is Frigon’s ultimate goal for EDAR7. In the meantime, the acknowledgement for his work on the conference is a nice bonus.
“It was totally unexpected – you don’t do it for that,” says Frigon. “But it’s really nice to have local recognition for the efforts one is doing.”
Other McGill honorees
Elena Bennett, professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences, is an organizer of the Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society, also known as of the PEC-3. It’s taking place in August 2024.
David Juncker, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is an organizer and conference co-chair of MicroTAS 2024, the 28th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, taking place in October 2024.
Momar Ndao and Martin Olivier are both professors in the Faculty of Medicine. They are co-chairing the 16th International Congress of Parasitology, to be held in August 2026.
The full list of winners can be found here.