Our Honoured Guests
Over the course of FUSION, Learning Through the Arts will be presenting its fifth annual Celebration of Excellence awards.
Roberta Bondar - Lifetime Achievement Award
 As the world’s first Neurologist in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar is globally recognized for her pioneering contribution to space medicine. Aboard the Discovery mission in 1992, she conducted experiments in the shuttle’s first International Microgravity Laboratory. For more than a decade at NASA, Roberta Bondar continued her research finding new connections between the brain recovering from a zero gravity environment and neurological disease which she continues to publish. Her findings developed technology that has been used in clinical studies at Harvard Medical School.
A true renaissance woman, Dr. Bondar is an acclaimed photographer of the natural wonders of our planet. She is the author of three critically acclaimed books featuring her stunning photography of the Earth both from space and on the ground. Roberta’s photographs of the deserts in the American Southwest and the Canadian Arctic became a well received exhibition entitled The Deserts of North America which is currently on tour. In April, 2005, Hoopers Gallery in London, England, premiered Roberta’s exhibition, Ancient Ruins and Desert Dunes a new look at the Roman ruins found in the Libyan portion of the Sahara Desert.
Respected for her expertise and animated commentary, Roberta Bondar has been a guest of television networks such as CNN, BBC, PBS and the CBC as well as many radio stations throughout the U.S. Dr. Bondar has co-anchored the Discovery Channel's coverage of space shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Bondar has been recognized with the NASA Space Medal, inducted into Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for her pioneering research in space medicine and into the International Women’s Forum’s Hall of Fame. In addition, she has received 24 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American universities. Last year TIME magazine named her among North America's best explorers.
Roberta Bondar is the author of three photographic essay books: Touching the Earth about her astronaut experiences, Passionate Vision ~ Discovering Canada’s National Parks and Canada ~ Landscape of Dreams. Recently published is a catalogue of her desert photography entitled, The Arid Edge of Earth. Currently, Dr. Bondar is Chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario and she continues photographing the deserts of the world.
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Dr. Vincent Lam - Cecilia Zhang Award
 “…a running start at a high-voltage literary career that has received the endorsement of Margaret Atwood and Wayson Choy.” -The Toronto Star
Dr. Vincent Lam was born in London, Ontario, and grew up in Ottawa. His family is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam. Dr. Lam did his medical training in Toronto, and is an emergency physician who also does international air evacuation work and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships.
His non-fiction has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star, Toronto Life Magazine, and the University of Toronto Medical Journal.
His first book, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, won the 2006 Giller Prize. The panel of judges consisted of Alice Munro, The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, and Michael Winter. His fiction has been published in Carve. Dr. Lam's first novel, Cholon, Near Forgotten, about a Chinese compulsive gambler and headmaster of an English school in Saigon during the Vietnam War, will be published by Doubleday Canada. He and his wife live in Toronto.
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Linda Schuyler - Lifetime Achievement Award
| President: |
Epitome Pictures, Inc |
| President: |
Playing With Time Inc., Time To Play Inc., Playing With Time Distribution, Playing With Time Foundation |
| Board of Director Member: |
Canadian Women in Communications |
 Linda Schuyler executive produced and co-created the multi-award winning Degrassi series including The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. These series have won two International Emmy's, nine Gemini Awards, two Prix Jeunesse's and countless other honours from festivals around the world. She also co-directed one film: Ida Makes a Movie, which preceded the Kids of Degrassi Street series. Linda completed the Degrassi series by co-producing the tele-feature "School's Out!" and a series of six documentaries entitled Degrassi Talks, which she also co-directed.
In 1993 Linda executive produced the Movie of the Week called "X-Rated", which later inspired the creation of 26 episodes of the dramatic series Liberty Street. Linda produced the series in 1995 and 1996.
Linda was awarded The Order of Canada in 1994. The honour "pays tribute to Canadians who exemplify the highest qualities of citizenship and whose contributions enrich the lives of their contemporaries".
As a producer, Linda is dedicated to stories that explore the human experience. She tries to break stereotypes, and encourages communication and enjoying a good laugh. Her stories are true to life and come from the heart.
Linda is a former teacher and was introduced to Learning Through the Arts when Degrassi: The Next Generation was awarded the first Shaw Rocket Prize in 1994 by a student jury made up of Learning Through the Arts students.
In addition to producing, Linda is a founding member of the Association of Media Literacy and is co-founder and active Board member of the Playing With Time Foundation. Linda is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and is a member of the Centennial College Advisory Board for Radio and Television. As well, Linda has a seat on the National Board of Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) and is a member of the Women's Entrepreneur's of Canada (WEC).
Currently Linda Schuyler is producing the sixth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
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Dr. Jeff Nisker - Excellence in Education Award
 Jeff is Coordinator of Health Ethics and Humanities and Professor of Obstetrics-Gynaecology and Oncology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario (UWO). His research is transdisciplinary, centering on public engagement for health-policy development, particularly regarding emerging genetic technologies. Similarly, his educational initiatives embrace the humanities and social sciences, such as in his narrative bioethics and health ethics through film courses. Jeff has written many scientific articles and book chapters, as well as six plays and several short stories to explore health issues and encourage compassion in healthcare. His plays have been performed throughout Canada, as well as in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.
Jeff was co-chair of the Health Canada Advisory Committee on Reproductive and Genetic Technology, and served on the National Council of Ethics in Human Research, and Executive of the Canadian Bioethics Society. Jeff was the Editor of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada, and Exec. V.P. (CEO) of the Chair of the Canadian Medical Association Council of Affiliate Societies Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC). Currently Jeff serves on the CIHR Standing Committee on Ethics, the RCPSC Ethics and Equity Committee, and is Chair of the SOGC Ethics Committee. Jeff also serves on the UWO Senate and is Chair of its Research Ethics Policy Committee, as well as working on the Faculty of Health Sciences’ graduate program committee.
Jeff received his MD and PhD at the University of Toronto, and specialty training at UWO. He was awarded an MRC Fellowship to study the effect of hormones on cancer (University of California and McMaster University). Jeff now holds CIHR grants to investigate public engagement in health policy development and to explore ethical issues related to the concept of “health,” as it applies to embryos; and also other national research grants.
Jeff has received many teaching awards including the first Canadian Association of Medical Educators Award of Merit, the UWO Students’ Council Award of Excellence, the Douglas Bocking Award (presented to the member of faculty who, in the opinion of graduating medical students has made the most outstanding contribution to their education), and the Association of Professors of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada Educator of the Year Award. Jeff has received the SOGC President’s Award for the most significant contribution to obstetrics and gynaecology in Canada, as well as other national awards. He was chosen by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Peter Gzowski as one of the 13 “Best Minds of Our Time.”
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