Date: 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Time: 

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: 

Theatre C

http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/Domains/myuminfo_umanitoba_ca/Tools/200/Images/body_image_49119_930723821.jpg

Dr. Michael Kawaja
Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
Queen's University at Kingston

Topic: Nerve Growth Factor - The driving force behind sympathetic sprouting.

Biosketch:  Dr. Kawaja did his undergraduate studies in biology at Acadia University and completed his doctoral degree in Anatomy at the University of Western Ontario in 1989.  He then went on to have two MRC-funded post-doctoral positions, the first with Dr. Fred Gage at the University of California San Diego, and the second with Dr. John Roder at the Samuel Lunenfeld Institute at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.  In 1993 Dr. Kawaja commenced his MRC-funded scholarship position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Queen's University.  Over the last 17 years he has risen through the ranks of Associate and Full Professor at Queen's.  Dr. Kawaja has held numerous operating grants from CIHR (MRC), Heart and Stroke Foundation, Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, and Ontario Mental Ontario Ministry for Research and Innovation.  He has served as a panel member of CIHR Scholarships and continues to serve as a panel member for CIHR Neuroscience "B".  He has also served on a number of peer review panels including those for Alzheimer Society of Canada, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Ontario Mental Health Foundation, and Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Awards.  health Foundation.  His research focuses on gaining a greater understanding of the reparative mechanisms in the mammalian central and peripheral nervous systems, as a consequence of injury and disease.