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Each year, the Faculty of Health Professions recognizes teaching and research excellence by granting peer-nominated awards at the Spring Full Faculty meeting.  Congratulations to this year's award winners:

Senior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Brenda Beagan
School of Occupational Therapy

Brenda has been with the School of Occupational Therapy for sixteen years, and was appointed as the CRC Tier II in Women's Health from 2001 - 2012.  She has a well-defined and ongoing program of research related to social inequities, health and well-being, human occupation and health professional practice.  Brenda has contributed significantly to the local, national and international discussions of issues of diversity and is a leader in this area at Dalhousie.  In 2015, after several years of research with colleagues around the issues of food security, Brenda's book "Acquired Tastes: Why families eat the way they do" was launched.  As well as being a very productive researcher - with over $2 million in funding as a Principal Investigator, more than 60 peer reviewed articles and nearly 40 book chapters to her credit - she is also a mentor to students, peers and her colleagues.

Early Career Research Excellence Award

Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo
School of Nursing

Marsha joined the School of Nursing in 2012, and since arriving at Dalhousie has established herself as a leader in the field of investigation of maternal led interventions and parental involvement to improve outcomes of medically at-risk newborns - specifically related to pain, stress and neurodevelopment. In addition, her research has focused on innovative strategies to optimize the uptake of these strategies into practice.  Marsha's work has been funded by numerous organizations, and she has been recognized with awards including the CRNNS Nursing Research Excellence Award; the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship, and the Canadian Pain Society Early Career Investigator Award.  Marsha also demonstrates a committment to mentorship, passing her skills and knowledge on to the graduate students she supervises.

Teaching Excellence Award

David Westwood
School of Health and Human Performance

David joined the School of Health and Human Performance in 2002, and is currently Professor and Division Head of Kinesiology.  David demonstrates a passion for teaching, and has been a four-time recipient of the Health and Human Performance Student Appreciation Award.  He has impact on both graduate and undergraduate students and pays close attention to the feedback he receives from students.  The letters of support for David's award present a professor with expert knowledge in his field, and the ability to bring enthusiasm, humour and sensitivity to teaching.  As noted by his nominator, "he is a wonderful professor with a true gift for teaching...Dave has an engaging teaching style that students can relate to and learn from."