For immediate release:
May 23, 2001

Werner Kalow, Ronald Melzack and Norbert Morgenstern
recipients of $100,000 Killam Prizes for 2001

Ottawa, 23 May 2001 - A University of Toronto pharmacologist whose work brings together pharmacology and genetics, a McGill University psychologist who pioneered the study of pain, and a University of Alberta professor emeritus who is one of the world's pre-eminent civil engineers are the winners of the 2001 Killam Prizes, Canada's most distinguished annual awards for outstanding career achievement in the natural sciences, health sciences and engineering.

The awards to Dr. Werner Kalow, Dr. Ronald Melzack and Dr. Norbert R. Morgenstern were announced today by the Canada Council for the Arts, which administers the Killam program.

The Killam Prizes, inaugurated in 1981, are financed through funds donated to the Canada Council by Mrs. Dorothy J. Killam before her death, in memory of her husband, Izaak Walton Killam. The prizes were created to honour eminent Canadian scholars and scientists actively engaged in research, whether in industry, government agencies or universities. When the Canada Council was created in 1957, its mandate was to support both the arts and sciences; although this changed with the creation of separate research councils for the engineering natural sciences, the social sciences and humanities and the health sciences, the Canada Council retained responsibility for the Killam program. The Killam fund at the Canada Council was valued at some $61.3 million as of March 31, 2001. The Killam Trusts, which fund scholarship and research at six Canadian institutions, were valued at approximately $400 million.

The Killam Prizes are not related to a particular accomplishment, but are given in recognition of distinguished lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of natural sciences, health sciences and engineering. Scientists may not apply for the prizes but must be nominated by specialists in the field. The winners are selected by the interdisciplinary Killam Selection Committee of scientists and scholars from across Canada. The value of the Killam Prizes was increased from $75,000 to $100,000 in 2001.

The winners will be presented with their prizes at a special awards ceremony and dinner on June 19 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. The awards dinner is being made possible with the generous support of Scotiabank, whose sponsorship also allows the Council to place celebratory announcements in newspapers across Canada. Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions, with more than $273 billion in assets and approximately 52,000 employees world-wide, including affiliates. It is also Canada's most international bank with more than 2,000 branches and offices in over 50 countries. Scotiabank is on the World Wide Web at www.scotiabank.com.

Dr. Werner Kalow - Health Sciences

Werner Kalow was born near Berlin, Germany in 1917. He studied medicine in Germany and received his medical degree in 1941. He began his training in pharmacology in Berlin and in Philadelphia. In 1951, he moved to Toronto, attracted by J.K.W. Ferguson's encouragement of the mathematical aspects of pharmacology. He remained at the University of Toronto until 1965, when he became Director of Biological Research with Boehringer/Ingelheim in Germany. He was invited to return to Toronto where he served as chairman of the Department of Pharmacology from 1966 to 1977. He is still an active member of this department.

Helped by Kalow's work, pharmacogenetics became a generally recognized subspecialty of pharmacology and human genetics. Stimulated by his discovery of genetic variants of plasma cholinesterase, he systematically described the field of pharmacogenetics in a monograph in 1962. In 1973, he served as chairman of a scientific group for the World Health Organization. In 1992, he edited a large volume, Pharmacogenetics of Drug Metabolism, for the International Encyclopedia of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He recently served as main editor of a book entitled Pharmacogenomics. He has published over 300 scientific papers.

During his industrial activity, Kalow initiated the intensive pharmacological explorations which made clonidine a drug. In 1970 in Toronto, he introduced the pharmacodiagnosis of human skeletal muscle, a procedure in worldwide use, which made it possible to investigate malignant hyperthermia systematically and to identify the variable gene. His pharmacogenetic studies led to the recognition of variable metabolism of amobarbital and of oxazepam. In 1982, he published the first systematic investigations of interethnic differences in drug metabolism. Among more recent scientific achievements was his introduction of caffeine as a biochemical probe to assess the activities of four human liver enzymes, two of which are of interest in cancer epidemiology. A recent innovation led to the replacement of twin studies for investigating multifactorial inheritance in pharmacology by measuring and utilising the variability of repeated drug intake in groups of individuals.

Dr. Kalow is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an honorary member of the Canadian Anaesthetists' Society. His other major awards include the Upjohn Award from the Pharmacological Society of Canada (1981); the Oscar B. Hunter Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1993); the Research Recognition Award from the Canadian Anaesthetists' Society (1993); and the Distinguished Career Award from the Drug Information Association (1997). The K-variant of butyrylcholinesterase was named to honor Dr. Kalow in 1978. The Werner Kalow Lectureship, named in his honour, has been an annual event of the Drug Safety Research Group at the University of Toronto since 1995.

Dr. Ronald Melzack - Natural Sciences

Ronald Melzack was born and raised in Montreal, where he studied psychology at McGill University. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1954, he spent five years carrying out physiological research at the University of Oregon Medical School, University College London, England, and the University of Pisa, Italy.

In 1959, Dr. Melzack was appointed to the Faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he met Patrick Wall, with whom he began discussions which led to the innovative "gate control theory of pain" published in 1965. The theory stated that pain signals are not carried passively in a straight-through pathway but are modulated by other sensory inputs and by psychological factors during their transmission to the brain. The theory has had an enormous impact on the field of pain research and therapy. Dr. Melzack and others have also examined the neural and pharmacological mechanisms that underlie the inhibition of pain-signalling nerve impulses.

In 1963, he continued his research on pain at McGill, where he and Kenneth Casey produced a theoretical model of pain processing in the brain. His research revealed the neural areas and pharmacological mechanisms involved in pain and resulted in a widely-accepted model that has given rise to important research on every dimension of pain. Dr. Melzack developed the McGill Pain Questionnaire, (MPQ), which is now the most widely used measuring tool for research on pain in human subjects. Dr. Melzack's research with the MPQ includes studies of labor pain, phantom limb pain and morphine analgesia during palliative care. In addition to more than 200 papers on research and theory, Dr. Melzack has written, co?written or edited several landmark books on pain and pain measurement. During the past decade, Dr. Melzack has devoted most of his research to understanding phantom limb pain and has carried out research on the relationship between stress and pain, and on pain in the elderly.

Dr. Melzack's work has received national and international recognition. In 1982, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 1985 he received the Molson Prize in Social Sciences from the Canada Council. In 1986, he received the D.O. Hebb Award from the Canadian Psychological Association. He was elected president of the International Association for the Study of Pain from 1984 to 1987 and was Honorary President of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1988-1989. In 1986, he was appointed to the E.P. Taylor Chair of Psychology at McGill University, and in 1992 he received an honorary doctorate (D. Litt.) from the University of Waterloo. In 1994, he received the Prix du Quebec (Prix Marie-Victorin) for pure and applied sciences, and he has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada (1995) and of l'Ordre national du Quebec (2000).

Dr. Norbert R. Morgenstern, - Engineering

Norbert Morgenstern is University Professor (Emeritus) of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta. He obtained his D.I.C. and Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London (1964), then joined the staff at Imperial College as a Research Assistant in 1958 and Lecturer in 1960. He returned to Canada in 1968 as Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Alberta and was awarded the distinction of University Professor in 1985. He was chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering between 1995 and 1998, and he retired from teaching in 1999. Dr. Morgenstern remains active in research and consulting. He has served his profession as president of the Canadian Geoscience Council, the Canadian Geotechnical Society and the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

Dr. Morgenstern is recognized as one of the world's pre-eminent civil engineers. His unparalleled achievements as an educator, researcher and consulting engineer are internationally renowned. He has nearly 300 research publications that concentrate on geotechnical aspects of oil sand development, permafrost engineering, dams, mine waste management, numerical modelling of geotechnical structures, progressive ground failure, landslides and risk analysis. His research has made a significant contribution to the practice of geotechnical engineering around the world.

An issue of considerable importance arising in the international mining industry is the failure and flow of waste dumps. Dumps up to 1,000 metres high are currently being contemplated, so it is important to question how high such a dump can safely be built. Research conducted under the direction of Dr. Morgenstern has already shown that static liquefaction is an important factor in triggering flow slides of large dumps. New theoretical developments will provide a basis for assessing the initiation of instability of these enormous earth structures.

Another theme of Morgenstern's current research is the development of probabilistic methods of slope stability analyses and their calibration with geotechnical practice. This has been coupled with the development of risk analysis procedures for landslide assessment. The effort has been productive and promises to facilitate the transfer of probabilistic methods of analysis into industrial practice.

Dr. Morgenstern is the recipient of over 40 major honours and awards, including honorary degrees from the University of Toronto and Queen's University. He has delivered the prestigious Rankine, Terzaghi, Casagrande, Rocha and Lumb Lectures. Dr. Morgenstern is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. He is a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering; a Foreign Member of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Fellow of the Indian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Morgenstern is a Member of the Alberta Order of Excellence and the Order of Canada.

General information

The Canada Council for the Arts, in addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, administers and awards nearly 100 prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, natural and health sciences, engineering and communication technologies. Among these are the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Bell Canada Award in Video Art, the Petro-Canada Award in New Technologies, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.

For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Carol Bream, Director of Endowments and Prizes, at (613) 566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041. E-mail: carol.bream@canadacouncil.ca; or Janet Riedel, Endowments and Prizes Officer, at (613) 566-4414, or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4116. E-mail: janet.riedel@canadacouncil.ca.

The names of the 15 members of the 2000-2001 Killam Selection Committee are available on request. The roster of Killam Prize Laureates from 1981 - 1999 is available by clicking here.

Media contact:

Communications Section Donna Balkan (613) 566-4305 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4134 E-mail: donna.balkan@canadacouncil.ca; Valérie Truong (613) 566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4523 E-mail: valerie.truong@canadacouncil.ca

Visit our Web site at www.canadacouncil.ca

Tous les documents du Conseil des Arts du Canada sont disponibles en français et en anglais.