Biochemist Monica Pillon wins Governor General’s Medal

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Biochemistry PhD Monica Pillon has won this year’s Governor General’s Academic Medal.

The award recognizes Pillon’s long history of academic excellence, first as a master’s student and later as a PhD candidate.

Pillon, now a post-doctoral scholar working with Alba Guarné, studies DNA mismatch repair — specifically the repair pathway that corrects replication errors and prevents genomic instability.

Defects in this pathway can cause cancer.

Over the course of her graduate career, Pillon won every award offered by Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, earned $150,000 in scholarships and awards and published five papers.

She also earned an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

“Monica is a natural leader with a genuine personality,” wrote Brian Coombes, Canada Research Chair in Infectious Disease Pathogenesis, in nominating Pillon for the prestigious award. “She’s what I call an ‘all-rounder;’ someone with impeccable and diversified talents. We don’t see such individual often, but when we do, they galvanize everyone around them to be better.

“McMaster should be proud to have had Monica Pillon in our midst.”

Pillon will be presented with the Governor General’s Academic Medal at Friday’s Fall Convocation ceremony.

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