Indomitable Spirit
Child prodigies can emerge from the unlikeliest sources. Nothing taken for granted; the most stimulating environment and deliberate exposure to stimulating educational opportunities cannot make up for inherent brilliance. Not all incipient geniuses are slated to emerge triumphantly from the chrysalis of their initiation into life, but some, on the evidence of their rare emergences, do manage to meet their manifest destiny.
Dr. Tofy Mussivand, chair and director of the Cardiovascular Devices Program of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, professor of surgery and engineering at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and long-time member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council, clearly is one of those rare cerebral eminences that do manage to find their way from obscurity to brilliant discovery.
Who might have imagined that this distinguished 67-year-old, a medical-mechanical-visionary of earned renown - a child of poverty who grew up in the highlands of Iranian Kurdistan and Turkey's Mount Ararat - would become Canada's leading medical engineering theorist and producer of vitally important medical patents. He describes himself as a child eager to know everything about the world around him, with questions his father could not answer.
Simple, everyday items for a child growing up in Canada, a prosperous and advanced country, but wonderful gifts of opportunity for a child born to impoverishment and a fundamental agricultural existence.
But this was a child inspired to learn, to fill his experience with new ideas, to absorb information and to become what he today represents.
And today he is to receive a major national "Knowledge Translation" award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for his inspired innovations. This is by no means his first nor his last professional honour; many previous such have been bestowed upon him.
"Only in Canada some shepherd boy like me could come and get this opportunity. I never give up. The tougher it becomes, the more exciting it becomes to me." Challenges inspire him to greater achievements. And we are the beneficiaries.
Dr. Mussivand, along with the engineers, doctors and others associated with him are in the process of developing prototype medical devices, many related to the heart, but by no means all. Other have applications for genetics, neurobiology, surgical safety, blood testing and the reduction of hospital infections.
A remarkable man, a credit to himself and his colleagues, and a gift to Canada and the world.
Dr. Tofy Mussivand, chair and director of the Cardiovascular Devices Program of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, professor of surgery and engineering at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and long-time member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council, clearly is one of those rare cerebral eminences that do manage to find their way from obscurity to brilliant discovery.
Who might have imagined that this distinguished 67-year-old, a medical-mechanical-visionary of earned renown - a child of poverty who grew up in the highlands of Iranian Kurdistan and Turkey's Mount Ararat - would become Canada's leading medical engineering theorist and producer of vitally important medical patents. He describes himself as a child eager to know everything about the world around him, with questions his father could not answer.
"I remember the first pencil I got. And I remember the first page of paper I got to write on. It was exciting for me."
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But this was a child inspired to learn, to fill his experience with new ideas, to absorb information and to become what he today represents.
And today he is to receive a major national "Knowledge Translation" award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for his inspired innovations. This is by no means his first nor his last professional honour; many previous such have been bestowed upon him.
"Only in Canada some shepherd boy like me could come and get this opportunity. I never give up. The tougher it becomes, the more exciting it becomes to me." Challenges inspire him to greater achievements. And we are the beneficiaries.
Dr. Mussivand, along with the engineers, doctors and others associated with him are in the process of developing prototype medical devices, many related to the heart, but by no means all. Other have applications for genetics, neurobiology, surgical safety, blood testing and the reduction of hospital infections.
A remarkable man, a credit to himself and his colleagues, and a gift to Canada and the world.
Labels: Canada, Health, Technology
posted by Pieface | 6:36 PM
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