Four graduate students at the College for Interdisciplinary Studies have been awarded one of Canada’s most prestigious graduate student prizes: the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Awarded to students who demonstrate leadership and a high standard of scholarly achievement, the scholarship provides up to three years of funding at $50,000 per year. Designed to attract world-class doctoral students, it’s part of a larger strategy to make Canada a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. The four Vanier Canada Graduate Scholars cover the fields of oncology, genomic medicine, neuroscience, and genetics and biotechnology. 

Larissa Pikor is in the UBC Interdisciplinary Oncology program and is working at the Lam Lab on genetic differences and similarities in lung cancer. “Traditionally, subtypes of lung cancer have been treated as a single disease. But since they arise from different cell types, locations in the lung and have different genetic alterations, this suggests they are distinctive diseases,” notes Pikor. Pikor hopes that her research will improve the understanding of tumour biology and lead to more targeted treatments.

Nurit Gazit started her education in Jerusalem and chose UBC for its world-leading Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Working with Dr Janet Werker, Nurit is looking at visual learning and attention in infants in the first year of life. “I’m looking at this in relation to Autism, as well.  Hopefully, in addition to achieving a better understanding of typical brain development, my research will eventually lead to finding better treatment and educational methods for children coping with Autism,” says Nurit.

Rodrigo Goya did his undergraduate degree in Electronic Systems Engineering in Mexico City and worked in the information security field prior to attending UBC’s Bioinformatics Training program.  Working at the BCCA Genome Science Centre and UBC, Rodrigo is  working on methods of analyzing alternative splicing and expression in cancer using  next generation sequencing data. 

Ashley Sanders completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, specializing in Genes Genetics and Biotechnology, with a minor in Sociocultural Anthropology, "...providing a complimentary 'nurture' element to my 'nature' focus," she says. "I greatly value Canada’s high standards of public education and it has always been a priority of mine to remain in Canada for my education in order to exploit the amazing training programs offered here. UBC was a natural place for me to do my PhD, as it is one of the nation’s finest and most reputable Universities." Ashley is in the Cell and Developmental Biology program, and her research looks at investigating genomic instablilty in mammalian cells.

Punching above our weight. Of the 167 Vanier Scholarships awarded across Canada, UBC received 24. CFIS has about 5% of UBC's graduate students (500/9,500), and yet we received 17% of the scholarships (4/24), so our programs are clearly attracting some of the best and brightest. See the Vanier Scholarship website here for more detail about the award.