| The Tees Distinguished Leadership Award The Executive Committee of BBCS serves as the Tees Award Committee.
In making its determination, the committee will consider the following
criteria and other factors pertinent to leadership and service to the
BBCS community:
- Advancement and administration of the Canadian Society for Brain,
Behavior, and Cognitive Science.
- Contributions to the training of students and technical staff
in psychology both at one's own institution and nation-wide.
- Advancement of research and scholarship by involvement with granting
agencies that fund research concerning brain, behaviour, and cognition.
- Contributions to Canadian journals of psychology.
- Advancement of research and scholarship by basic and applied scientific
contributions to the discipline.
- Promotion of interaction between BBCS and other psychology organizations
and direct service to the latter organizations.
Promotion of scientific and administrative collaborations that advance
the causes of the scientific study of brain, behaviour, and cognition.
2005
Richard C. Tees Distinguished Leadership Award from
the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Sciences
Presented
to
Dr.
Franco Lepore
Dr. Franco Lepore |
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Professor Lepore’s research has contributed
exceptionally to the advancement of knowledge in psychology by its
originality and the effects it had on the development of experimental
and clinical research in Canada. Throughout his career, Professor Lepore
has promoted scientific research in psychology in Canada through his
sustained work, his leadership, and by acting as a spokesperson for
the field in numerous contexts. His efforts have contributed to the
development of psychology as a science in Canada, and a small subset
of his achievements are described below.
Dr. Lepore’s research focused on three major themes, all linked
to the study of the relation between the brain and behaviour. A first
series of studies examined the communication systems between the two
hemispheres of the brain. The second theme of Dr. Lepore’s research
involved the organisation and the development of sensory systems, especially
the visual system. The third research theme in Professor Lepore's prolific
research program concerns the study of cerebral plasticity in humans
suffering from diverse sensory deficiencies. This has led to publications
in the most prestigious journals, including Nature, Science and PNAS.
The exceptional research achievements of Professor Lepore result from
thirty years of total dedication. With the help of his students and
collaborators, he mounted a sensory neuropsychology laboratory that
enabled a wide variety of different types of research ranging from
work on cellular electrophysiology (single-cell recordings) to studies
of perceptual development in children, and the analysis of neurologically
impaired individuals. For the last 10 years, Professor Lepore has been
the co-founder and Director of the Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychology
et Cognition (CERNEC), a research center officially recognized and
funded by the FRSQ (Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec)
and the University of Montreal.
It is worth emphasizing that this remarkable research activity has
not prevented Dr. Lepore from attending to other tasks related to his
teaching responsibilities with excellence. A large number of students
have obtained their Master’s or Ph.D. degree under his supervision.
Fourteen of them have themselves become professors at colleges (3)
or at universities (11) highlighting his important contribution to
the training of future researchers and teachers in our discipline.
His other students have all obtained positions either in the private
or health sector as neuropsychology clinicians or researchers.
His contributions toward the development of neuropsychological training
at the University of Montreal and more generally in Quebec equally
deserve to be highlighted. Professor Lepore has been the chair of a
multi-departmental committee that elaborated the so-called “Protocol
of Agreement in Neuropsychology.” It is noteworthy that this
procedure constituted the first attempt to establish an integrated
education program for this discipline in francophone Quebec. It is
without any doubt thanks to the mobilizing effects of his work that
experimental and clinical neuropsychology has developed to the point
of becoming one of psychology’s most dynamic sub-disciplines
in Quebec. Moreover, while Professor Lepore was Chair of the Department
of Psychology at the University of Montreal (1994-1998), the clinical
neuropsychology program was accredited by the Canadian Psychological
Association.
Dr. Lepore’s qualifications have been recognized at the national
level by his election as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1991.
He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA,
1991). In 1994 CPA awarded him their “D.O. Hebb Distinguished
Scientific Award” for his research excellence and more recently,
he was awarded the Adrien Pinard’s prize by the Société québécoise
de Recherche en psychologie, again in recognition of his contribution
to the development of psychology as a science in Quebec. His research
excellence and leadership was recognized once more when he was appointed
as a Canada Research Chair (in Cognitive Neuroscience).
In summary, Professor Lepore has contributed, through sustained, meritorious,
and selfless leadership, to the development of research and education
in experimental psychology through his personal supervision and research
work, but also through his active involvement in the development of
psychology at the University of Montreal, through the creation of graduate
programs, through the development of laboratories and of operations
and material infrastructure for research. He has led by example and
by active involvement in activities that have had a major impact on
research and training in experimental psychology. His leadership has
been a key factor in the recent development of cognitive neuroscience
at the University of Montreal.
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