Forum 2015

Dr. Stéphanie Bélanger, Gen (Retd) Walt Natynczyk, Dr. Alice Aiken

The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Forum 2015 was held at the Hilton Quebec in Quebec City from Nov. 23-25 featuring many remarkable keynote speakers: Hon. J. Michel Doyon, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec; Gen (Retd) Walt Natynczyk, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada; LGen Guy R. Thibault, Vice Chief of Defence Staff; BGen H.C. MacKay, Surgeon General/Commander CFHSG; Dr. Nicola Fear, Kings College London; Dr. Rory Cooper; University of Pittsburgh; and Dr. Stephen L. Fisher, University of Waterloo. Over the three-day event, there were 180 research presentations presented to a delegation of 600 people from the military, government, industry and academia.

During the opening plenary, Drs. Aiken and Bélanger were presented with the United States’ Four Chaplains’ Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion by Dr. Cooper; an award that recognizes exemplary individuals who have gone above and beyond in service to their community and nation.

Two prestigious scholarships are awarded at Forum every year to help fund the next generation of researchers. This year, The Royal Canadian Legion Masters Scholarship in Veteran Health Research was presented to Ms. Ashleigh Forsyth, Queen’s University, and the Wounded Warriors Doctoral Scholarship in Military and Veteran Health Research was presented to Ms. Helena Hawryluk, University of Calgary.

The 2015 recipient of the Major Sir Frederick Banting award, sponsored by the True Patriot Love Foundation was Dr. Deniz Fikretoglu, DRDC. Four additional awards were presented this year: the Student Research Award, sponsored by Via Rail Canada, was presented to Ms. Linna Tam-Seto, Queen’s University; the Mental Health Treatment Award, sponsored by Homewood Health Centre, was presented to Dr. Craig Bryan, University of Utah; the Military Family Health Research Award, sponsored by the Vanier Institute of the Family, was presented to Dr. Alla Skomorovsky, DND; and the Editors’ Choice Award, sponsored by the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, was presented to Ms. Andrea Stelnicki and Dr. Kelly Schwartz, University of Calgary.

To all Forum 2015 delegates, thank you for serving those who served us.