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Winner of the 2022 Harry C. Rowsell Award
The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) is pleased to announce that Dr. Patricia V. Turner is this year's winner of the Harry C. Rowsell Award for Outstanding Service to the CCAC. Dr. Turner is the Vice-President, Global Animal Welfare and Training, at Charles River Laboratories, and is also an applied animal welfare scientist, professor emerita at the University of Guelph, associate faculty member at the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, and an adjunct associate professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.
Dr. Turner has devoted countless hours as a volunteer promoting the ethical treatment of animals in science not only in Canada, but around the world. Her passion for animal welfare education and training runs deep, and she has delivered lectures, seminars, and workshops to a range of veterinary and scientific audiences, on a variety of topics related to laboratory animal science and animal welfare and ethics. A rigorous but compassionate teacher, she has trained hundreds of veterinary peers and students, and has put in place three well-regarded post-graduate programs for veterinarians specializing in laboratory animal science. Dr. Turner is now developing an online certificate program in animal welfare for laboratory animal technicians.
Despite her busy schedule, Dr. Turner ensures that she is always available to her students and peers for career guidance and advice, and constantly seeks growth opportunities for them in terms of committee involvement and practicums. She also fosters a sense of community among local laboratory animal welfare trainees by offering training sessions, often hosting dinners for the attendees at her home on the eve of the event.
Dr. Turner has certainly made an indelible impression within the CCAC community, her institutions, across the country, and around the world. Her years of work with the CCAC have seen her in a variety of roles, such as the chair and a member of the Standards Committee, a member of the guidelines subcommittees on mice, rats, and animal welfare assessment, and a member of the CCAC Board of Directors. Selfless and driven, Dr. Turner is both passionate about, and effective in, advancing laboratory animal welfare, and the CCAC would like to thank her for all of her exceptional work over the course of her career.
The Harry C. Rowsell Award for Outstanding Service to the CCAC was named for the CCAC's founding executive director who devoted his life to promoting optimal care for animals in Canadian science. Dr. Rowsell's deep personal commitment to the humane treatment of animals, and his belief in our ethical responsibility for their well-being, are evidenced through the many significant contributions he made during his career. In 1988, Dr. Rowsell was recognized as an Officer of the Order of Canada for his incalculable contribution to the establishment of ethically based animal research, spearheaded by the CCAC.
This year, the CCAC received a significant number of nominations for this award. We would like to acknowledge all of the nominees for their extraordinary contributions to the CCAC and for their steadfast commitment to the ethical care and use of animals in science.