Diana Schatz and Dr. E. Douglas Wigle
Dr. Diana Schatz and the late Dr. E. Douglas Wigle received the 2019 UHN Global Impact Award, which recognizes TeamUHN members “who have changed health and healthcare both here and around the world.”

Dr. Diana Schatz, the founder of The Michener Institute of Education at UHN, and Dr. E. Douglas Wigle, the "father of Canadian cardiology," are recipients of the 2019 UHN Global Impact Award.  

With a PhD in Biochemistry under her belt from the University of Toronto (U of T), Dr. Schatz began her career as an Assistant Chemist at Toronto General Hospital in 1958. She quickly revolutionized the lab's education model by starting the Medical Laboratory Technology pilot program, which would eventually become The Michener Institute, named for her late father, The Right Honourable Roland Michener, a former Governor General of Canada. 

"She blazed a trail not only for healthcare education nationally and globally, but as one of the first female directors of a major educational institution, she paved the way for women in leadership roles in Canada," Dr. Brian Hodges, UHN's Executive Vice President Education and Chief Medical Officer, wrote in a nomination letter.  

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Dr. Wigle has been dubbed the "father of Canadian cardiology."  

After seven years of postgraduate studies in England, the United States and Canada, Dr. Wigle joined the Department of Medicine at U of T as a cardiologist in 1960. He would make his mark by researching and describing a largely unknown heart condition at the time — hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which put Toronto General on the international stage for research, education and treatment of the heart disease. 

"He was one of the only two or three cardiologists who put HCM on the map," Dr. Paul Dorian, Director of the Division of Cardiology at U of T, told the Globe and Mail  for Dr. Wigle's obituary in 2013. "There are a number of cardiologists from around the world who came to learn what he was doing and took back that knowledge to their own countries." 

Awarded since 2004, the UHN Global Impact Award recognizes the incredible contributions of TeamUHN members, such as Dr. Schatz and Dr. Wigle, who have changed health and healthcare both here and around the world.  

The names, photos and citations of the Global Impact Award recipients are posted in UHN hospital lobbies. Previous winners are: 

2004 – Frederick Banting, Vera Peters, Harold Johns 

2005 – William Bigelow, Ernest McCulloch, Jim Till 

2006 – William Gallie 

2007 – Joel Cooper, Griff Pearson 

2008 – Charles Hollenberg, Bernard Langer, 

2009 – Mary Agnes Snively 

2010 – Robert Jackson 

2011 – Charles Tator 

2012 – Dimitrios Oreopoulos, Robert Uldall 

2013 – Victor Ling 

2014 – Alan Hudson 

2015 – Jenny Heathcote 

2016 – Karel terBrugge 

2017 – Gordon Whitmore, Jack Cunningham 

2018 – Louis Siminovitch  


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