Two Indo-Canadian academics, working on research to advance the betterment of mankind, have been honoured with one of the country’s most prestigious awards, the Order of Canada.
Their names were in the list published by the office of the governor-general of Canada Mary Simon. Both have been invested (as the bestowal of the awards is described) into the Order as a Member.
They are professors Ajay Agrawal and Parminder Raina. In a release from her office, Simon said that those being appointed “come from a variety of sectors, have achieved national and international success, and have shown ingenuity, innovation and generosity”.
The Order of Canada was created in 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s Head of State, to honour people “whose service shapes our society, whose innovations ignite our imaginations, and whose compassion unites our communities”.
The citation for Agrawal notes he was selected for “his visionary leadership as an educator and entrepreneur, and for his mentorship of students and aspiring business owners”.
That for Raina reads it was for “his leading research in ageing and population health in Canada and for his impact on national policymaking in geriatric care services”.
Professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Agrawal is also the founder of the Creative Destruction Lab, which as emerged as a leading incubator for innovators, focusing on cutting edge areas including artificial intelligence and space technology.
In a letter to the CDL community in late June, Agrawal wrote, “We are rapidly approaching the kick-off to our eleventh year of operations. Our mission today is exactly the same as when we launched CDL in the fall of 2012: to enhance the commercialisation of science for the betterment of humankind.”
Raina is a professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His university biography says that he “specialises in the epidemiology of ageing with emphasis on developing the interdisciplinary field of geroscience to understand the processes of ageing from cell to society”.
The list had 85 new appointments to the Order of Canada. Among the prominent names were Donovan Bailey, who won the 100 metres gold at the 1996 Olympic Games, and actor Sandra Oh.
