The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes McMaster University graduates who have attained a high level of distinction and achievement through scholarship, research, teaching, creative contributions to the arts or sciences and/or service to society. This Award is intended to honour alumni whose accomplishments and contributions are of national and/or international significance, and/or have had a seminal or transformative impact on their field of endeavour. Two Distinguished Alumni Awards will be offered each year, one in the Arts (comprising Humanities, Performing and Fine Arts, Social Sciences and Business) and one in the Sciences (comprising Science, Engineering and Health Sciences).

Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award will be chosen annually by the Selection Committee from among the nominations submitted. Nominations will be retained and reconsidered annually for a period of three years.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented at Fall Convocation, and cannot be conferred in absentia.

More information on Eligibility and Criteria.

Click here to submit a nomination for an Distinguished Member.

2011 Award Recipients

Arts – Dr. Michael Lee–Chin

Dr. Michael Lee–Chin, the chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., is a visionary entrepreneur whose philosophy of “doing well and doing good” has led him to both phenomenal success in business and inspiring philanthropic contributions. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree at McMaster in 1974 and in November 2003, he received a second McMaster degree: a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Dr. Lee–Chin rose to prominence in the financial services sector by growing Advantage Investment Counsel (AIC) into a company with $15 billion in assets under management at business peak. Now through Portland Holdings, a privately held investment company which manages public equity, private equity as well as having direct ownership interest in a collection of diversified businesses operating in sectors that include telecommunications, financial services media, tourism, health care and waste management. Examples of such investments include the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Ltd, Columbus Communications and a significant share of Manulife Financial.

Those successes in business have fueled Dr. Lee–Chin’s ambitious philanthropic mission in Canada, Jamaica and the Caribbean. While supporting a range of initiatives in the arts, culture and education, he has made several iconic gifts to support initiatives such as the creation of the AIC Institute for Strategic Business Studies in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster, he was lead donor in the Renaissance ROM expansion campaign and creation of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, and the founding of a world–class nursing school at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica.

The list of honours and awards Dr. Lee–Chin has received for his contributions to business and philanthropy are both extensive and diverse. He is recipient of Jamaica’s highest national honour, the Order of Jamaica, the Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year (for services category), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, and has been named one of TIME Magazine’s “Canadian Heroes.” He is a member of the McMaster Alumni Gallery and the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction while across the bay he is a member of the Burlington Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and has been named that city’s entrepreneur of the year. The International Association of Fundraising Professionals named him one of their Outstanding Philanthropists. He has received several honorary degrees from prestigious universities in Canada and the Caribbean in addition to numerous honours in the United States including being named a Renaissance Honoree by the Abyssinian Development Corporation in Harlem, New York and being honoured at the United Nations during the World Diversity Leadership Symposium. His extensive board service includes the Trust of Americas, a Foundation with the Organization of the Americas and the Haiti Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Development.

McMaster is proud to recognize Dr. Michael Lee–Chin for his business leadership and his support of the arts, culture and education with the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Arts.

Sciences – Dr. Gary Schrobilgen

After earning his undergraduate degree in his native Iowa, Dr. Gary Schrobilgen came to Canada and Brock University for his Master of Science degree and then graduated from McMaster University with his PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1974 under the supervision of Professor Ron Gillespie. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in England, he joined McMaster’s Chemistry Department where, in 1988, he became a full professor of inorganic chemistry.

Dr. Schrobilgen’s research has focussed on fundamental studies of highly reactive chemical species involving fluorine derivatives of the noble gases and polyatomic anions of main–group elements. He is perhaps best known for his detailed work involving the syntheses and structural characterizations of a large percentage of the known compounds of krypton and xenon, as well as fluoro– and oxofluoro-derivatives of main–group elements and transition metals in their highest oxidation states. His work has had applications in nuclear power generation, photovoltaic and semiconductor materials, refrigerants, advanced rocket propellants and microelectronics.

In addition to leadership in research, Dr. Schrobilgen is an accomplished mentor, having won the McMaster University President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision. Dr. Schrobilgen has dedicated himself not just to research and teaching, but to advancing his profession as well. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Division of Fluorine Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, holding the chairmanship of the committee in 2005.

Dr. Schrobilgen has also collected many of the most prestigious awards in his field. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he has received the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry, the Alcan Lecture Award, the International Award for Pure or Applied Chemistry, the E.W.R. Steacie Award in Chemistry, a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship.

McMaster is pleased to present the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Sciences to Dr. Gary Schrobilgen.

Sciences – Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky

Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky’s groundbreaking research and clinical work in neuromuscular and neurometabolic disorders has earned him respect and accolades on an international scale, but most importantly, he has improved the lives of children and adults suffering from a wide array of chronic illnesses.

A three–time McMaster University graduate, Dr. Tarnopolsky completed his Bachelor of Physical Education in 1985, his medical degree in 1988 and a PhD focusing on cell biology and metabolism in 1991. Following a residency period that saw him train in internal medicine, neurology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation, he joined the McMaster faculty as an assistant professor in medicine and kinesiology in 1996. He is now the clinical and research director of the Corkins/Lammert Family Neuromuscular and Neurometabolic Clinic at McMaster, the first holder of the McMaster Children’s Hospital/Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation Chair in Neuromuscular Diseases, and a professor of neurology, pediatrics and medicine, as well as the division head of neuromuscular and neurometabolic disorders in the Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Tarnopolsky is the only physician in Canada to focus the majority of his practice on mitochondrial diseases, an area where he has developed innovative treatments and approaches to neuromuscular disease and aging. His work, which is also unique in its involvement of both children and adults, strives to find cures for chronic diseases like muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrig’s disease, but also to provide the best treatment possible in the absence of a cure. His lab regularly publishes more than 25 scholarly papers annually and is also involved in clinical trials related to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Friedrich’s ataxia and Pompe disease.

Dr. Tarnopolsky has received the Premier’s Award of Excellence and the Dr. David Green Award as the top clinician–scientist in Canada, an award given by the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Interestingly, Dr. Tarnopolsky’s scholarly work on exercise is not merely an academic pursuit. He has competed internationally in adventure racing, winter triathlon and ski–orienteering. He also won three consecutive Ontario Trail Running series.

McMaster is proud to recognize Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of the classes of ’85, ’88 and ’91 with the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Sciences.

Visit the Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Archive to see past recipients of the award.