Children and Youth University founder recognized for role as mentor

Synapse award

Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq, left, presents McMaster's Sandeep Raha with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Synapse Mentorship Award. The award recognizes Raha's work with, among other things, the McMaster Children and Youth University.


A McMaster researcher known for introducing youth to the wonders of science and health has been honoured by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Sandeep Raha, an assistant professor in pediatrics, has received the organization’s Synapse Mentorship Award.

The award, worth $5,000, recognizes the efforts of a health researcher who has made exceptional efforts to promote health research among Canada’s students.

Through the Hamilton Health Sciences Summer Bursary program, Raha has supervised grade 11 and 12 students in his lab as they perform biomedical experiments and analyze data in the area of reproductive biology.

He developed “Health Research under the Microscope”, an all-day event at which 200 high school students can discuss careers in health care and health research with mentors from McMaster Children’s Hospital and biomedical researchers from McMaster.

Raha has also reached 1,600 children with a series of interactive lectures about popular health subjects, which include the human body, called the McMaster Children and Youth University.

“I applaud Dr. Raha’s mentorship efforts with Canadian youth,” says the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. “His drive to educate students through interactive lectures, supervision of activities in his lab and science fairs challenges is a clear testament to his desire to motivate them to appreciate the value of science and health research overall.”

With the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair, Raha has created a science fair challenge regarding specific themes (like the impact of nutrition on the human body) for senior high school students.

Raha has also partnered with school boards/community groups to provide scientific guidance for at-risk youth and encouraged McMaster graduate students to mentor high school students through Let’s Talk Science, a nationally-based science organization.

“It’s valuable for researchers to pass along their knowledge of science to the next generation,” says Robert Thirsk, CIHR’s vice-president of public, government and institute affairs. “Dr. Raha deserves this Synapse mentorship award because he’s devoted to teaching youth about the value of science through various outreach activities. This guidance will help students choose career paths that will make them scientific leaders of tomorrow.”