Professors Claim University's Top Research Prize

London - Leading research careers delving into clinical trials and global economics have garnered Dr. Brian Feagan and John Whalley The University of Western Ontario’s highest honour for research excellence: the 2009 Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research.

Awarded annually, the Hellmuth Prize was established in 1996 to recognize Western’s most distinguished researchers for achievement over a substantial body of work. The prize is named for Bishop Isaac Hellmuth, one of Western’s founders and a pioneer of higher education in Canada.

Dr. Brian Feagan is a specialist in Internal Medicine, with training in clinical epidemiology and gastroenterology. His research interests focus on the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials of therapy for inflammatory bowel disease, and he has been the principal investigator on numerous multi-centre trials evaluating new treatments for the disease. Recently, Feagan has also begun to investigate the application of cluster randomization in the evaluation of health policies. This methodology is well-suited to the assessment of the effectiveness of treatment programs, such as a care path for disease management.

Feagan is a professor of medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, a gastroenterologist at London Health Sciences Centre and Director of Robarts Clinical Trials at Robarts Research Institute. Throughout his career, Dr. Feagan has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and he is currently a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology and the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Economics professor John Whalley is internationally known for his seminal work related to computational methods; however, his interests over a 32-year career at Western have covered such broad areas as tax, trade, the environment and development policies. He has expanded his area of focus to examine issues related to globalization, the World Trade Organization, strategies for the developing world, global environmental issues and psychology and economics. Specifically, he has recently begun to examine China’s role in the global economy and issues pertaining to climate change policy.

Whalley is the William David Professor in International Trade at Western and a Distinguished Fellow at The Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, where he spends half his time. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Foreign Fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“These researchers have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and a global outlook that profoundly benefits Western's research community, its students and its international reputation,” says Ted Hewitt, Western’s Vice-President (Research & International Relations). “Through their contributions to the advancement of knowledge, and by helping shape the direction of tomorrow’s leaders, they are also enhancing our standing as a research-intensive university.”