Inventor of the Year 2009

Dr. Mohammad Islam and Dr. Michael Sharpe as 2009 Inventors of the Year

Announced April 21st, 2010

UHN and UHN’s Technology Development and Commercialization (TDC) office were delighted to present Dr. Mohammad Islam and Dr. Michael Sharpe with UHN’s Inventor of the Year award for 2009.  This award, presented at the recent Board of Trustees retreat on April 21 recognizes the UHN inventor or team that exemplify the spirit of inventiveness, entrepreneurial culture and commercialization.

During the award ceremony, Mark Taylor, Senior Business Development Officer at TDC, noted that “the tag-team duo of Mohammad Islam and Michael Sharpe from the Radiation Medicine Program have dedicated their careers to making radiation therapy safer, more effective and more efficient”.  He also emphasized that “In my world, namely the medical device and software area, Achieving Global Impact is not just about patients and papers. It’s about what I call the 4P’s of commercialization – it’s about Patients, Papers, Patents and most importantly Products. The radiation therapy world listens to UHN, and companies act.”

Since 2004 Drs. Islam and Sharpe have added sixteen inventions to their portfolio, half of which are from last year alone.  Building on a platform of radiation safety and quality assurance technologies, 40 percent of their inventions are already licensed to multinational companies, as well as fueling the success of Ontario companies.

While accepting the award Drs. Islam and Sharpe noted that “this award recognizes an accumulation of ideas implemented and shared by physicists and radiation therapists within the RMP. We thank the leadership of UHN, the PMH Foundation, the RMP and most importantly UHN’s TDC office for fostering an environment that supports innovation.”

Passionate about making a difference to healthcare, locally and globally, the TDC team continues to work with the research community at UHN to drive inventions from basic research to tangible products.  Previous Inventor of the Year award winners include Dr. Ming-Sound Tsao, Dr. Frances A. Shepherd and Dr. Igor Jurisica (2008), Dr. David Jaffray (2007), Drs Andres Lozano (2006), Joe Fisher (2005), Dan Drucker (2004) and Kevin Kain (2003).

Past Announcements: 2008 Inventor of the Year