Three of the five Killam Prizes – Canada’s most distinguished awards for career achievements in research – went to McGill researchers in 2005.
Luc Devroye, Professor in Computer Science and associate member of Mathematics and Statistics, won the Killam Prize in Engineering. His research within the field of applied mathematics includes computer science, mathematical statistics and probability theory.
Margaret Lock, the Marjorie Bronfman Professor in Social Studies in Medicine (cross-appointed to Anthropology), was awarded the Killam Prize in Social Sciences. One of the world’s foremost medical anthropologists, she looks at the relationship between society, culture and technology, on the one hand, and the body, in health and illness, on the other. Her current research is on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The same week that she picked up her Killam Prize, Margaret Lock was named a Trudeau Fellow by the Trudeau Foundation. She was one of only five Canadian leaders so recognized this year for their outstanding contributions to the social sciences and humanities.
Nahum Sonenberg, James McGill Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and the McGill Cancer Centre, received the Killam Prize in Health Sciences. Sonenberg conducts cutting-edge research into basic biological processes in normal and cancer cells, leading to new cancer treatments. In addition to his cancer focus, he is interested in virology and studies poliovirus, rhinoviruses, HIV and the hepatitis C virus.