Distinguished Career Award in Pediatric Pain
This award honors an individual with a long-standing, productive career in pediatric pain research. The awardee must have a track record of innovative research as evidenced by publications, sustained research support, national and international presentations, with participation or leadership of scientific research review groups or scientific organizations. The recipient should have demonstrated outstanding mentorship of research trainees and/or junior faculty, service to the professional community, with some contributions to the wider scientific community within a country nationally (or at an international level), and have a reputation of scientific integrity and academic collegiality within the field.
2022 Winner: Céleste Johnston
Céleste Johnston, OC, RN, DEd, FCAHS, is Emerita Professor of McGill University, where she held a James McGill Chair. Her research, spanning four decades, has focused primarily on pain in neonates, particularly those born preterm. She was among the first to systematically describe a multidimensional pain response in healthy infants. Thereafter, all her neonatal studies generated new data from the pain experiences of preterm neonates which included providing data for a composite measure of acute pain, conducting a cross-Canada survey of pain management in the NICU with a 12 year follow-up, determining the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions to relieve acute procedural pain in neonates as well as examining factors related to pain response. Her most recent research examined the effectiveness of skin-to-skin contact, or Kangaroo Care, for reduction of acute pain response. She has held key leadership roles including being Secretary of SIG for Pain in Childhood, Council Member of IASP and President of the Canadian Pain Society. She has received numerous awards for her research including Honorary Member of IASP, Distinguished Career Award and Mentorship Award of the Canadian Pain Society, Jeffrey Lawson Award for pain advocacy in children from the American Pain Society, and the Canadian Nurses Association Centennial Award. Most recently Céleste was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in honour of her lifelong accomplishments in the area of pain in neonates. Her pride and joy has been the outstanding students with whom she was privileged to work.
Previous Distinguished Career Award recipients:
2019: Ruth Grunau
2017 Maria Fitzgerald
2015 Charles Berde
2013 Kenneth Craig
2010 Patrick McGrath