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Dr. Maureen Topps Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Assessment of Clinical Competence

Recognizing an individual or group who demonstrated sustained excellence in Canadian health care or health care research.
About usAwards and research grantsDr. Maureen Topps Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Assessment of Clinical Competence

About the award

This prestigious distinction recognizes an individual or group who demonstrates sustained excellence in Canadian health care and/or health care research. Its recipients are the people who ensure our health care professionals meet the high standards that Canadians enjoy and expect. This award is unique in that its nominees and recipients come from a broad range of health disciplines, such as dentistry, physical therapy, and medical practice.

The award has been renamed after Dr. Maureen Topps, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) from 2018 to 2023. Throughout her career, Dr. Topps has accumulated a wealth of experience in numerous positions related to the assessment of competence – from roles in program accreditation and her time as a postgraduate dean to extensive committee work, most notably as Chair of the MCC National Assessment Central Coordinating Committee (NAC3) – demonstrating an unwavering commitment in this area.

Nomination process

Nominations may be made by an individual or organization knowledgeable in assessment procedures within the health care professions and faculties of medicine/health sciences in Canada.

A nomination letter must be submitted electronically to [email protected] no later than April 30 of the current year.

In addition, the supporting documents listed below must be either included with the nomination letter or submitted later:

  • A minimum of one additional letter of support from a person or organization, other than the principal nominator, familiar with the work of the nominee
  • The nominee’s current curriculum vitae

2023 recipient

Decorative image of Dr. Christina St-Onge

Christina St-Onge, PhD

Dr. Christina St-Onge is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec. She completed her PhD at Université Laval in measurement and assessment in 2007 and she did her post-doctorate fellowship at the Medical Council of Canada.

Since 2008, Dr. St-Onge has been a scientist at the CPSS – Centre for Health Sciences Education.

Her research program stems from a psychometric perspective, wanting to quantify measurement error and distinguish it from the “true score”, but has evolved to draw outside the traditional psychometric lines when tackling issues of validity. She combines her expertise in psychometrics with a perspective stemming from social sciences to address issues of validity and validation.

Past recipients

Year

Recipient

2022
Glendon Tait, MD, MSc, FRCP, FCPA
2021
Kelly Burak, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Lara Cooke, MD, MSc, FRCPC, and the Physician Learning Program team
2020
Kulamakan (Mahan) Kulasegaram, PhD, BHSc
2019
Rose Hatala, MD, MSc
2018
Shiphra Ginsburg, MD, PhD, MEd, FRCPC
2017
Richard K. Reznick, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FRCSEd (Hon), FRCSI (Hon), CFRS (Hon)
2015
Robyn Tamblyn, BScN, MSc, PhD, CM
2012
Kevin Eva, PhD (Hon.), FAcadMEd
2010
Daniel Klass, MDCM, FRCP(C), FACP
2009
André Jacques, MD
2008
Glenn Regehr, PhD
2007
Richard Cruess, MD, BA, and Sylvia Cruess, MD, BA
2006
Carlos Brailovsky, MD
2005
Gordon Page, PhD
2004
Physician Achievement Review Instrument Development and Assessment Team
2003
Arthur Rothman, MD, PhD
2001
Geoff Norman, PhD, BSc, MA