AUCC congratulates Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman on receiving the 2010 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research

OTTAWA, September 30, 2010 – It is with great pleasure that the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada congratulates Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman on receiving the 2010 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research.

Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Tilghman gave an address at the University of Ottawa as part of her lecture series supported by the Henry G. Friesen prize. Her speech, entitled “Science and enterprise as a social good: the role of universities,” emphasized the critical role research universities play in society by creating socio-economic mobility and a unique interplay between talent and resources to produce the next generation of scientists.

She outlined five reasons that make the US scientific system is a good one:

• investing in young people;
• good immigration policies that permit institutions to attract the best and brightest;
• generous funding that can make a difference
• a willingness to take risks; and
• a sustaining environment where taking research findings in the market place is encouraged and a robust venture capital system.

View her presentation.

Dr. Tilghman, a native of Canada, is the president of Princeton University and the first woman to hold the position. She served on the faculty of Princeton for 15 years before being named president in 2001.

She attended high school in Winnipeg, Man. and earned her BSc at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. in 1968. After two years of secondary school teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa, she obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University in Philadelphia.

From 1993 through 2000, Dr. Tilghman chaired Princeton’s Council on Science and Technology, which encourages the teaching of science and technology to students outside the sciences, and in 1996 she received Princeton’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.

The Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research was established in 2005 by Friends of CIHR in recognition of Dr. Friesen’s distinguished leadership, vision and innovative contributions to health research and health research policy. The award supports an annual fall lecture or series of lectures by a worthy and accomplished speaker of international stature on topics related to the advancement of health research and its evolving contributions to society.

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For more information:

Lyse Huot
Director, Government Relations and Communications
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada