[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/macmillan edited.jpg” caption=”Dr. Harriet MacMillan is the recipient of the Paul D. Steinhauer Advocacy Award. File photo.”]McMaster professor Dr. Harriet MacMillan has garnered another award to add to the long list of accolades she has earned for her work to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and their families.

MacMillan has been named the 2007 recipient of the Paul D. Steinhauer Advocacy Award, presented annually to a member of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CACAP). It recognizes exceptional contributions in advocacy for children, adolescents and their families at the provincial, national, and international levels.

“This national award recognizes your career commitment and outstanding advocacy through research, publication and teaching on significant and often neglected public health issues in child welfare, aboriginal mental health, and the detection and interventions to prevent interpersonal violence toward women and its impact on children and youth,” said Dr. John S. Leverette, chair of the CACAP Awards Committee.

MacMillan is a child psychiatrist and a pediatrician, and holds the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies at McMaster University. She is a professor in the departments of pediatrics and psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences, and a member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies based at McMaster.

She has co-ordinated and published the results of many significant studies in the field of child health and welfare, and has won numerous awards in recent years, including being named Researcher of the Year by the Centre of Excellence for Early Child Development based at the University of Montreal.

“One of the driving forces behind my work is the aim of improving the lives of children and families by determining ways through research to reduce exposure to violence,” said MacMillan. “I am deeply honoured that the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry considers me an advocate in this field.”