By: Jennifer LeBlanc, Global Health Office Outreach Coordinator

The Dr. John Savage Memorial Award for Faculty Leadership in Global Health was established in 2003 in memory of Dr. John Savage, a friend and colleague of the Dalhousie Medical School and a tireless champion of the need to promote healthy communities worldwide. A former physician, Premier of Nova Scotia and Mayor of Dartmouth, Dr. Savage had a long-standing commitment to global health projects in Africa with the Nova Scotia Gambia Association and other organizations. The Dr. Savage Memorial Award for Faculty leadership in Global Health recognizes an outstanding humanitarian contribution to global health by a Dalhousie Medical School faculty member.

Today Dr. John Savage Memorial Award is presented to Dr. Noni MacDonald. Dr. MacDonald is well known for multiple accomplishments whether it is her clinical expertise in infectious disease and vaccinology, her passion to advocate for science and research, her knowledge on the issues impacting the health care systems (locally and globally) or her extensive work in East Africa – she has touched the lives of many inside and outside of medicine.

Dr. MacDonald has been involved with MicroResearch for many years. Since 2008, MicroResearch has been improving local community focused research capacity and maternal child health in Eastern Africa through small locally driven multidisciplinary health research teams developing research projects to improve health outcomes. In 2016, what has been learned in Africa has been adapted and applied in Nova Scotia so local multidisciplinary health professional and community research teams can find local solutions to their community health problems that can work and fit the local resources, the context and culture.

Dr. Ryan Sommers, Medical Officer of Health in the Nothern Zone, assisted Dr. MacDonald with the first MicroResearch NS course held in Truro and said: “During this time I also had the opportunity to see Dr. MacDonald in action. Just after the first day, it became very evident of her passion for teaching, research and desire to help others address community health issues. I was impressed at the content of the course. Very quickly I realized how much work Noni and her colleagues put into the program and why it was successful in East Africa for so many years.  I believe the MicroResearch program demonstrates the contributions and work of Dr. MacDonald, attests her leadership in global health and shows her commitments to provide research training to those in Nova Scotia and East Africa. I’m continuously impressed with Dr. MacDonald’s dedication to her important work”.

Congratulations Dr. MacDonald and thank you for your many contributions locally and globally.

For more information please visit our Global Health Awards webpage.