91亚色 Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf have been awarded $100,000 each in funding under the Ontario government鈥檚 Early Researcher Awards program. 聽

Ontario鈥檚 Ministry of Economic Development聽& Innovation announced the awards Monday. 聽91亚色鈥檚 research investment of $50,000 will match the funds for the award.

The program helps promising, recently appointed Ontario researchers build research teams of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and technicians. The goal of the program is to improve Ontario鈥檚 ability to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent. Ontario鈥檚 Early Researcher Awards investment of $8.68 million will support 62 emerging researchers and their teams at 19 institutions across the province.

Professor , of the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science聽& Engineering and member of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research, is studying how individuals focus their attention on one object, thought or event, while ignoring other external information. 聽His research examines the three major regions of the brain that guide and determine selective attention, to find out how they work and interact.聽聽Womelsdorf鈥檚 research will identify how networks of brain cells coordinate separable attention information using state-of-the-art technologies and will critically advance hotly-debated, neuro-economic decision making theories.聽The research will lead to a better understanding of various diseases that widely affect health, education and the economy of Ontario.

Professor Natasha Myers, of the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, examines how plants are acquiring new status and visibility in our culture. Specifically, she explores the ways that artists and scientists are transforming our everyday assumptions through artworks and experiments that render plants as active, sensing organisms. This ethnographic research with practitioners both in Ontario and at international sites will shed light on the ethical and political significance of these shifts in perception about nonhuman life and the order of things.

鈥淚 am most pleased that the Ministry of Research and Economic Development has recognized the achievements of 91亚色 Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf, who are actively engaged in conducting globally competitive research in the early stages of their careers,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淥ur early career researchers represent the future of research at 91亚色 and contribute to building Canada鈥檚 knowledge-based economy. 聽The funding provided by the Ministry will provide these emerging researchers with resources to build their innovative research programs.鈥� 聽

鈥淭his research work is important to helping us meet our health care challenges while fostering long-term job creation and economic growth,鈥� said Brad Duguid, minister of economic development and innovation.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The will be held聽Thursday, April 26 to Friday, April 27 in the Executive Learning Centre, Seymour Schulich Building, Keele campus. Co-hosted by the and 91亚色, the conference will also be available remotely via interactive webcast.

As it becomes increasingly possible to use advanced technologies to capture and share medical images, for example, there is increased potential to improve productivity in our health-care system. Conference speakers, however,聽will address not only the technical possibilities, but the practical realities of tapping into their potential.

聽(left), Canadian astronaut, physician and president and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre and assistant professor of surgery at the University of Toronto, will look at 鈥淭ransforming the Future of Health Care with Informatics鈥�, Thursday at 8:30am.

Five keynote presentations by international experts in integrated diagnostics and integrated care delivery will follow Williams' talk.

聽(right), professor emeritus at the University of Michigan Medical School and president of the Pathology Education Consortium, who is credited with naming the field of pathology informatics, will speak about digital pathology and the future with integrated diagnostics on Thursday at 9:15am.

(left), associate professor and director of clinical informatics, University of Michigan Health System, will discuss digital pathology technology and the rush to develop algorithms that allow for direct interrogation of digital imagery for diagnostic information. Balis will look closely at the technical and operational aspects of emerging technologies that enable image-based decision support solutions on Thursday at 1pm.

聽(right), medical director, Toronto Medical Laboratories, and pathologist-in-chief, University Health Network, will talk about the use of digital pathology to provide on-site intra-operative consultations on Friday at 9am. Applying this technology in a public health-care system is a way to rationalize diagnostic medicine but provide the highest level of care, whatever the patient鈥檚 location.

聽(left), executive consultant, IBM Global Healthcare Centre of Competence, and 聽(right), senior managing consultant, IBM Global Business Services, will look at how large health-care databases and the tools of Business Intelligence can assist in the analysis and management of health care on Friday at 1pm.

In addition, the workshop聽, will explore the potential of eHealth to significantly increase the productivity of the health system at a time when funding has become highly restrained.

Other speakers include: Dr. R. Brian Haynes of McMaster University, on the evidence about what is working in health care; William Falk of the University of Toronto, discussing what is happening in eHealth in Canada; and William J. Pascal, of the Canadian Medical Association, on the policy shifts that must occur to enable the potential of eHealth systems during a time of government spending restraint.

For more information, visit the website. For program information, .

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