posted on May 17: Health Sciences graduates honoured this afternoon

Graduands, honorary degree recipients and two winners of this year's President's awards will be recognized this afternoon at the Faculty of Health Sciences Convocation at the Great Hall, Hamilton Place.

The commitment and hard work of 298 health sciences students will be recognized with the awarding of the following degrees and diplomas: doctor of philosophy (2), master of science (18), doctor of medicine (101), bachelor of health sciences midwifery (16), bachelor of science nursing (129), graduate diploma in advanced neonatal nursing (1), diploma in occupational health and safety (15), diploma in child life studies (9), diploma in environmental health (7).

Health sciences professors emeritii Susan French (nursing) and Arnold Johnson(CE&B) will receive honorary doctor of science degrees for their contributions to health sciences education. French will give the Convocation address.

And two women in the Faculty, nursing student Mary-Melinda Gillies and professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences Priyanthy Weerasekera will be recognized with President's awards. Gillies will receive an award for student leadership while Weerasekera will receive an award for excellence in course or resources design.

The valedictory address will be given by Michelle Violette.

Biographical information about the award winners and honorary degree recipients appears below.

Susan French

Doctor of Science

Susan French is associate dean and director of the School of Nursing at her alma mater, McGill University. Her areas of interest include international health, women's health, gerontological nursing, and aging and health. She joined McMaster's School of Nursing faculty in 1970, becoming a full professor in 1977. Since 2001, French has been a professor emeritus at the school.

While at McMaster, she played a major role in designing and implementing problem-based, small-group learning in the nursing program. From 1980 to 1990 she was associate dean of health sciences nursing and director of the University's School of Nursing. In her role as director, French helped to develop and establish the nursing school as the leading institution in nursing research in Canada. Along with colleagues in both Canada and Pakistan, she also designed and implemented the nursing program at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, a program which developed the profession of nursing in Pakistan and has been described by the Canadian International Development Agency as a flagship program in development.

She has served on a wide variety of committees and with various Canadian and international organizations including: World Bank Mission's Family Health Projects (Pakistan), Canadian Association of University Schools of Nursing (CAUSN), Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital's Community Advisory Board, and the Hamilton-Wentworth District Health Council.

Arnold Johnson

Doctor of Science

Since his retirement from McMaster in 1983, Arnold Johnson has taken a keen interest in biomedical ethics. He chaired and continues to be involved with the Committee on Education in Medical Ethics for the Faculty of Health Sciences. His efforts on this committee resulted in the publication of Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in the Health Care Setting – a booklet used in the Faculty's MD Program.

His education work in this field has influenced a generation of students and graduate health professionals in the intricacies of ethical decision making and has been recognized with the creation of the Arnold L. Johnson Chair in Health Care Ethics. His former work in cardiology has also been recognized with the establishment at McMaster in 1995 of the Arnold L. Johnson Lectureship in Cardiology.

Johnson served in the Royal Canadian Navy (1941-45) before commencing his academic career at McGill University. His clinical, research and teaching activities at the Royal Victoria and Montreal Children's Hospitals (1946-1972) focused on the cardiovascular system. He performed the first heart catheterization in Canada in 1946 and is widely acclaimed as one of the great pioneers in Canadian cardiology.
He has served on many committees and organizations including the Committee on Cardiology for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and was a governor of the American College of Cardiology.

Johnson, who joined McMaster in 1974, continues to have an active role at McMaster as emeritus professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics.

Priyanthy Weerasekera

President's Award for Excellence in Course or Resources Design

Psychiatry residents at McMaster gain unusual scope and breadth in psychotherapy training thanks to an innovative program developed by Priyanthy Weerasekera, an assistant professor of psychiatry & behavioral neurosciences. The program has earned Weerasekera the 2002 President's Teaching Award for Excellence in Course or Resources Design.

The Postgraduate Psychotherapy Program at McMaster differs significantly from traditional psychotherapy training programs across the country. First introduced seven years ago, this program trains residents in a variety of psychotherapies that are considered relevant for the treatment of psychiatric disorders rather than in the traditional single form.

The McMaster curriculum teaches residents specific psychotherapies for psychiatric disorders such as client-centred therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (for anxiety and depressive disorders), psychodynamic therapy, interpersonal therapy, couple and family and group therapy.

What makes the program unique, says its co-ordinator, Weerasekera, is the teaching methods that are utilized. The program is mandatory for all residents and therapy is guided by the use of treatment manuals, audio and videotapes. Resident competency is assessed and evaluated using rating scales and audiotapes from treatment sessions.

The program train psychiatrists how to be more empathic with their patients, so they develop a therapeutic alliance and become more skilled and better able to offer their patients a wider range of treatment options. Program results indicate it is doing just that. Data collected shows resident satisfaction with the overall program, improvements in resident therapeutic ability across the different modules (therapies) and significant improvement in the ability of residents to encourage patient self-exploration.

External examiners have identified the program as one of the University's strengths. One examiner declared it to be the “best psychotherapy training program in the country.”

Since developing the program, Weerasekera, a graduate of Harvard University, has been invited to share the program design with other Canadian universities and one institution, the University of British Columbia, now uses a similar approach.

Weerasekera has also introduced a similar program at McMaster for fellows and faculty. A leading figure in developing educational programs for outpatient psychiatry at McMaster, in 2001 she received the Assocation of Academic Psychiatry's Teacher of the Year Award for all of Canada. The previous year she received the Association of Academic Chairs of Canada Award for Excellence in Education.

Mary-Melinda Gillies

President's Award of Excellence in Student Leadership

Nursing student Mary-Melinda Gillies has been an active participant and leader at McMaster since 1998. She founded The ABCs of CPR, a volunteer program to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation to
schoolchildren in Dundas. Through CPR certification sessions, she has raised money for the McMaster Student Outreach Clinic for homeless people in Hamilton. As clothing co-ordinator, Mary-Melinda has
helped collect more than 10,000 pounds of clothing since fall 2001.

Among her initiatives for fellow students, she founded the Nursing Student Peer Assistance Program in 1999 to help first-year nursing students. With a grant from the University's Centre for Leadership in
Learning, Mary-Melinda also wrote a students' guide to health sciences at McMaster. She served on the McMaster University Nursing Science Society and the Undergraduate Nursing Education Committee, and
was editor of the undergraduate nursing newspaper and Web site.

As a volunteer for the Family Support Program of Hamilton Health Sciences, she provided emotional support to children and families of people undergoing surgery. She has alsovolunteered as a research assistant in the Hamilton Stroke Prevention Clinic pilot project, which has since been awarded long-term provincial funding.

Among her research projects, she has studied aspects of coronary artery bypass surgery. She conducted a community assessment of Six Nations Reserve, and presented the results at the 2000 International
Women's Conference in Delhi, India. A member of the dean's honour list in the School of Nursing, she has completed a minor in Indigenous Studies at McMaster.

“She is indeed a leader,” says Carolyn Byrne, School of Nursing. “Throughout her four years here at McMaster she has consistently shown outstanding leadership within the school of nursing, within the larger university community and in our local community.”