Alberta Innovates- Health Solutions

You never know where a volunteer experience might take you. For 1999 McLeod Scholarship winner Candace Hofmann, work with the Canadian Mental Health Association's Saturday children's program has lead to research on certain effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) on children. FAS occurs in children born to mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy. Candace studies how stress-hormone levels and neurotransmitters (chemical signals in the brain) are affected by this type of exposure.

The University of British Columbia Ph.D. student is the 1999 recipient of the Lionel E. McLeod Health Research Scholarship. She received the award in Vancouver last November from Dr. McLeod's widow, Barbara. The award honours the memory of Dr. Lionel McLeod, physician, educator, a member of the Medical Faculty at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary, second president of the Heritage Foundation, and president and chief executive officer at the University Hospital, Vancouver. It's intended to assist academically superior students undertaking full-time research training in a discipline relevant to health research. The scholarship provides, through the sponsoring institution, funding for a one-year stipend.

Candace has received numerous other awards and honors during her academic career, including a scholarship from the British Columbia Medical Services Foundation. While her future career plans are uncertain, the Alberta native would like to continue alcohol-related research. "After I complete my Ph.D., I'll pursue a post-doctoral research position and perhaps a career in an academic environment. I'd like a career that will allow me to focus on research."

Candace Hofmann is a Ph.D. student in Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and a student of Anatomy in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. In addition to the McLeod scholarship, Candace is the recipient of a partial University Graduate Fellowship (UGF), a Women's Addiction Foundation Geoffrey Lane Nanson scholarship, a B.C. Medical Services Foundation scholarship, and several awards from the Research Society on Alcoholism, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation and the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology.

AHFMR has offered up to $100,000 to match donations to the Lionel E. McLeod Health Research Scholarship Fund. For more information on how to donate, please call the Foundation at (780) 423-5727.