McMaster professor in Hamilton is the #1 woman scientist in Canada
Published October 26, 2022 at 2:29 pm
Dr. Deborah Cook, a critical care physician in Hamilton, has the de facto title of top woman scientist in Canada after winning a major award for leadership in medicine and medical science.
A leading academic research portal recently ranked Dr. Cook as the top woman scientist based in Canada, and 17th in the world. That acclaim came after the McMaster University professor of medicine winning the 2022 Canada Gairdner Wightman Award for her research breakthroughs focused on improving treatment for ICU (intensive care unit) patients.
The Gairdner Wightman Award recognizes outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science. Cook’s work has created improvements in ICUs that reduce the risk of complications and enhance end-of-life care for those with fatal illnesses or injuries.
Cook is the fourth McMaster faculty member — the first woman, and the third in the last 15 years — to win the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award. It includes a $100,000 cash prize.
“I am deeply humbled and grateful to all the teachers, trainees, clinicians, collaborators and staff with whom I’ve had the privilege of working,” Cook, who is a McMaster alumna and a physician with the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton hospital network, states in a recent release from Mac’s faculty of health sciences.
“There are so many talented, discerning and accomplished scientists here in Hamilton and across our country. To be recognized as one of them playing even a small part in the advance of medical research is truly awe-inspiring.”
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Cook helped found and operate the world’s first successful critical care research collaboration in the world.
“Her pioneering research has transformed critical care medicine in Canada and has enduring global impact,” states Dr. Janet Rossant, the Gairdner Foundation’s president and scientific director.
Last week, Cook was also the top Canadian in Research‘s a ranking of the top 1,000 female scientists in the world . She was ranked No. 17 overall.
The ranking was generated from scanning more than 166,880 scientist profiles across 24 research disciplines on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph. Several indicators and metrics were reviewed in order to gauge each scientist’s inclusion.
The aforementioned Dr. Rossant was the second Canadian to appear in the ranking, at No. 45. She is affiliated with the University of Toronto.
McMaster had two of the first 25 Canadians on the list. Dr. Christine Wilson, distinguished university professor of physics and astronomy at Mac, ranked 23rd in Canada. Wilson’s area of expertise is in observational astronomy, with a particular focus on the optical and radio regions.
Research also examined gender inequities in the sciences. It says one-third of persons involved in scientic research are female, and less credited than their male peers on a patent or scholarly article.
Twelve of the top-ranked 16 scientists are based in the United States. Two are based in the United Kingdom, one is the Netherlands and the other is in Iceland.
Prior to Cook, the last McMaster-based winner of the Gairdner Wightman Award was Salim Yusuf in 2014, for spearheading global clinical trials and population studies of cardiovascular disease. David Sackett won in 2009 for being a pioneer of evidence-based medicine who founded McMaster’s department of clinical epidemiology, which was the first of its Canada. Back in 1992, John Evans, the founding dean of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, was also honoured. The award was founded in 1957.
(Cover photo: McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences.)
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