2 UCalgary researchers named to Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Two Cumming School of Medicine scholars, Dr. Adam Kirton, MD, and Dr. Paul Kubes, PhD, were elected Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Science (CAHS) this week, in recognition of their contributions to advancing the health sciences in Canada.

CAHS brings together Canada’s top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars to make a positive impact on the most complex health challenges faced by Canadians. CAHS fellows are selected from disciplines across the range of health sciences to evaluate and recommend strategic, actionable solutions.

“Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences is an opportunity to serve Canadians by helping to address their urgent health concerns, at a national scale,” says Dr. William Ghali, vice-president (research). “Drs. Kirton and Kubes are tremendously dedicated, thoughtful, and accomplished scholars, and their contributions to CAHS are sure to be valuable. We congratulate them on this prestigious honour.”

Dr. Adam Kirton, MD

Professor, departments of Paediatrics, Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine

Member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Kirton is a paediatric neurologist. Over the last 15 years, Kirton has focused his efforts and those of his teams on understanding how children with brain injuries at the beginning of life develop, to create innovative therapies to improve their participation in life.

His internationally recognized programs apply advanced neurotechnologies including non-invasive brain stimulation, neuroimaging, and brain computer interfaces to better understand the plasticity and potential of children with neurological disabilities. Affected children and their families have remained at the core of Kirton’s efforts with their engagement and personal successes driving progress. Collectively, they have advanced new opportunities for some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

He holds numerous leadership positions, including serving as board chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta and International Pediatric Stroke Organization. At UCalgary, Kirton founded the Non-invasive Neurostimulation Network (N3) and directs the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Brain Computer Interface Program (BCI4kids). Kirton is also a co-facilitator for the Technology Solutions accelerator for UCalgary's One Child Every Child. 

Dr. Paul Kubes, PhD

Professor, departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Cumming School of Medicine

Member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases and Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Kubes is a world leader in the field of immunity and inflammation, an area of investigation highly relevant to human disease. He is one of Canada’s leaders in basic science research trying to understand how the innate immune system deals with infections and injury. Using state-of-the-art microscopy, he is able to image and see the immune system in unparalleled ways.

Kubes has developed ways of looking inside the body to understand how immune cells fight infection and promote healing and has discovered where bacteria hide inside the body and how to get drugs into these sites. He also discovered novel healer cells that repair tissue in an unprecedented way, and his imaging research helped identify a new therapy for COVID-19.

In addition to his research, Kubes has established cutting-edge infrastructure at UCalgary. He led the development of the Live Cell Imaging Lab, the International Microbiome Centre, and the re-opening of UCalgary’s Level-3 containment facility and the imaging facility within it.

Kubes was the founding director of the Snyder Institute from 2008-2021. He has led UCalgary’s research strategy for Infections, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases in the Changing Environment since 2015, and was named Canada’s Researcher of the Year by CIHR in 2011.