CALGARY -- The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) Board of Trustees has announced that Dr. Freda Miller will be honoured with its Legacy Award.
Miller attended CBE schools in both Montgomery and Bowness during her formative years and benefitted from the gifted program at Queen Elizabeth High School.
She currently lives in Toronto where she is a cell and molecular developmental neurobiologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Miller has made several extraordinary discoveries over the course of her career including the discovery of stem cells in the skin that are critical for the repair of injured skin. She has also made significant contributions to understanding how stem cells build the brain during normal development. This research helps to explain how stem cell building can go awry in disorders such as autism.
“I wanted to contribute to humanity but I never really did think of a career and to actually look back on it now and to see how trying to make a contribution and starting from rather humble origins here in Calgary has really lead to what my career has turned into, really it’s a dream,” said Dr. Miller.
Dr. Miller works and shares a lab with her husband David Kaplan. Kaplan is from New York and is proud of his wife’s achievements.
“My goal is really in life to support my wife because there are so few women who attain the position she has,” said Kaplan. “She also loves teaching, loves being a mentor and a role model and this is the best opportunity and as she said before this is the best award she’s ever gotten and she’s gotten many.”
The alumna is proud to have trained many young scientists. More than 20 of the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who trained in Miller’s laboratory now hold faculty positions at universities around the world.
The CBE Legacy Award celebrates public education in Calgary and the individuals who have contributed to our communities.
“We took a look at her many accomplishments, the work she has done in science and stem cell research, the impact that is having and will continue to have moving forward and so it’s a long lasting legacy and she’s a perfect fit for our legacy award,” said CBE Board of Trustees Chair Marilyn Dennis.
Since 2002, CBE Board of Trustees have recognized significant CBE alumni through the Distinguished Alumni Program administered by Education Matters, the CBE's charitable trust.
Previous recipients have included Olympians, philanthropists, politicians, doctors and others who have made an impact on the lives of Albertans.
Miller will receive the Legacy Award at the CBE public board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
To nominate someone for the award visit CBE Legacy Award
