Annual NMD4C Early Career Awards
We are excited to launch the inaugural NMD4C Early-Career Awards for 2023! This annual award program introduces three new awards, celebrating excellence and contribution to the neuromuscular field by early career neuromuscular investigators across both clinical and basic science streams.
By creating these awards, the NMD4C provides a method of recognizing outstanding achievement by early career neuromuscular researchers and clinicians on behalf of the Canadian neuromuscular community. Recipients receive a tangible accolade to bolster their academic CVs in pursuit of future academic appointments and grant applications. This award program is a part of the network's broader strategy to provide support for Canadian early-career neuromuscular investigators.
Dr. Natasha Chang
Assistant Professor, McGill University and NMD4C Early-Career working group member
Early career investigators are at a stage in their careers where finding the funding and academic appointments to continue their research programs and clinical work is integral to their career progression in the field of neuromuscular care and research. These applications are highly competitive, and it is our hope that receiving an NMD4C award can help support and strengthen these applications to secure important research funding and academic appointments.
Award Categories
The three categories awarded as a part of this competition in 2023 were:
- Early Career Biomedical Researcher of the Year
- Early Career Clinical Researcher of the Year
- Publication of the Year
*For the 2024 competition, the "Publication of the Year" category will be expanded to include both biomedical and clinical streams, for a total of two awards.
2023 Award Recipients
Early Career Biomedical Researcher of the Year
Dr. Nicolas Dumont
Associate professor, Rehabilitation department, University of Montreal
Principal Investigator, Musculoskeletal health research axis, Sainte-Justine Hospital research center
Dr. Nicolas Dumont obtained his PhD at the Université Laval where he studied the regulatory network between inflammatory cells and skeletal muscles. He did his post-doctoral training at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Dr. Michael Rudnicki’s lab, where he studied muscle stem cell defects in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Dr. Dumont became an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal in 2016, and he established his lab at the Sainte-Justine hospital research center. His research program is divided in 3 axes: 1) characterizing the intrinsic mechanisms regulating muscle stem cell fate decision during myogenesis, 2) characterizing the impact of rare genetic variants on muscle stem cell function, and 3) investigating novel therapeutic avenues targeting defective muscle stem cells to mitigate muscular dystrophies. Dr. Dumont holds a FRQS Junior-2 award, and his lab is funded by grants from the CIHR, NSERC, ThéCell network, Stem Cell Network, Orphan disease center, AFM-Telethon, and Muscular Dystrophy Canada.
Major Achievements
Dr. Nicolas Dumont has developed an innovative research program that is focused on the comprehension of muscle stem cell defects in different muscular diseases, based on his paradigm-shifting discovery showing that dystrophin-deficient muscle stem cells are intrinsically defective in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).
He recently showed that these defective cells can be targeted with therapeutic compounds (Resolvins) to restore their regenerative potential, identifying a novel therapeutic approach for DMD that is more potent than the current standard-of-care treatment as a corresponding author of “Resolvin-D2 targets myogenic cells and improves muscle regeneration in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy” in Nature Communications.
Dr. Dumont has expanded his expertise to neuromuscular diseases beyond DMD; in collaboration with an international team of experts, he identified a new human myopathy (named MYOSCO) that affects muscle stem cells, identifying a new class of human myopathies specifically affecting muscle stem cells as corresponding author of “Biallelic variants in the transcription factor PAX7 are a new genetic cause of Myopathy” in Genetics in Medicine.
Moreover, in collaboration with Dr Elise Duchesne, he also identified that muscle stem cells become prematurely senescent in myotonic dystrophy type 1, and that these defective cells can be eliminated by specific drugs to restore muscle regeneration as a corresponding author of " Clearance of defective muscle stem cells by senolytics reduces the expression of senescence-associated secretory phenotype and restores myogenesis in myotonic dystrophy type 1” in BiorXiv.
Early Career Clinical Researcher of the Year
Dr. Cam-Tu Émilie Nguyen
Neurologist, Assistant Professor, CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal
Dr. Cam-Tu Émilie Nguyen is a pediatric neurologist specialized in neuromuscular disorders at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal. Dr. Nguyen is the medical director of the Neuromuscular clinic at Marie Enfant Rehabilitation Centre of CHU Sainte-Justine. Dr. Nguyen completed a fellowship in EMG and neuromuscular disorders at McGill University, the London Health Sciences Centre under Dr. Craig Campbell’s supervision, and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). She received an EMG Diploma from the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists (CSCN) and was the recipient of the CSCN Fellowship in Neuromuscular Medicine & Electromyography in 2015.
Major Achievements
As the Medical Director of the Neuromuscular clinic at Centre de réadaptation Marie Enfant of CHU Sainte-Justine, Dr. Nguyen holds a prominent leadership role in implementing genetic therapies for children, and played a pivotal role in the construction of the nusinersen and the onasemnogene abeparvovec administration programs for spinal muscular atrophy patients.
Dr. Nguyen’s contribution to the neuromuscular field also include clinical characterization and new treatment approach of rare neuromuscular disorders, for which she was awarded best Poster at ICNMD2018 and a WMS membership award at WMS 2019.
Dr. Nguyen’s outstanding teaching and media communication skills saw her present in over 10 television, newspaper and radio interviews and receive a teaching award in 2022 as residents from the Université de Montréal Pediatric Neurology program unanimously voted her the Best Professor of the program!
Early Career Publication of the Year
Babaeijandaghi F, Cheng R, Kajabadi N, Soliman H, Chang CK, Smandych J, Tung LW, Long R, Ghassemi A, Rossi FMV. Metabolic reprogramming of skeletal muscle by resident macrophages points to CSF1R inhibitors as muscular dystrophy therapeutics. Sci Transl Med. 2022 Jun 29;14(651). doi: 10.1126
Dr. Babaeijandaghi received his MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences before achieving his PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia. During his PhD, he worked under supervision of Dr. Fabio Rossi to study the role of stromal cells including resident macrophages and fibro-adipogenic progenitors in muscle regeneration and fibrosis. Currently, he is a scientist at Altos Labs in San Diego, California focusing on muscle aging and rejuvenation.
“Metabolic reprogramming of skeletal muscle by resident macrophages points to CSF1R inhibitors as muscular dystrophy therapeutics” is published in Science Translational Medicine. Dr. Babaeijandaghi's work characterizes resident macrophages in skeletal muscle and identifies their role in acute and chronic damage, ultimately identifying a novel therapeutic strategy for DMD. His discovery that a drug interfering with muscle-resident macrophages also leads to reprogramming of myofibres to a damage-resistant phenotype opens a new path to manage the disease.
Honorable Mention
Resolvin-D2 targets myogenic cells and improves muscle regeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Dort J, Orfi Z, Fabre P, Molina T, Conte TC, Greffard K, Pellerito O, Bilodeau JF, Dumont NA. Resolvin-D2 targets myogenic cells and improves muscle regeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 29;12(1):6264. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26516-0.
Eligibility Criteria
Researcher of the year award stream
- Early-career status: within five years of the date of their first independent research-related appointment (the eligibility window will be adjusted to take into account eligible leaves, as define by CIHR).
- Member of NMD4C
- Self-nominations are accepted
- Previous award recipients are ineligible
Publication of the year award stream
- Early-career status: within five years of the date of their first independent research-related appointment (the eligibility window will be adjusted to take into account eligible leaves, as define by CIHR).
- Member of NMD4C
- Self-nominations are accepted
- Previous award recipients are ineligible
- Article published in the preceding year (January - December of year prior)
- First or last author of the article
Nomination Procedure
Researcher of the year award streams
If you wish to nominate yourself or an individual for this award, please complete this nomination form (please ensure all of the selection criteria have been addressed). You will need:
- The nominee’s contact information.
- The nominee’s biosketch (NIH format; 4-5 pages).
- Up to three research milestones of the nominee.
- A brief paragraph highlighting the achievements of the individual, and why you think they should receive the award.
Publication of the year award streams
To nominate yourself or an individual for this award, please complete this nomination form (please ensure all of the selection criteria have been addressed). You will require:
- The nominee’s contact information.
- The nominee’s biosketch (NIH format; 4-5 pages).
- Up to three research milestones of the nominee.
- A brief paragraph highlighting the achievements of the individual, and why you think they should receive the award.
- A PDF copy of the full publication you wish to nominate.
Selection Criteria
Researcher of the year award streams
Nominations will be evaluated by NMD4C’s Early-Career committee using the following selection criteria:
- Research excellence (impact, originality, productivity).
- Research collaborations/ partnerships.
- Outreach and knowledge mobilization.
- Trainee Mentorship/ supervision.
- Open science.
- Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDII).
Publication of the year award streams
Nominations will be evaluated by NMD4C’s Early-Career committee according to the following selection criteria:
- Impact on the field.
- Quality of work.
- Originality/uniqueness.
- Open science.
Deadline
The nomination deadline for the 2024 awards cycle is the January 15th, 2024. Applicants will be notified of outcomes in February 2024. Award recipients will be honoured at the NMD4C annual meeting.