KITE’s commitment to leadership and innovation reflected in selection of annual Community Service Award winners

Dr. Cathy Craven and Dr. Tilak Dutta recognized for significant and lasting contributions to the KITE community

KITE senior scientist Dr. Cathy Craven and scientist Dr. Tilak Dutta are being recognized with the KITE Community Service Award for their outstanding contributions to the institute in 2022.

The annual honour is bestowed on one senior scientist and one scientist who have made significant and lasting contributions to the KITE community. These contributions could involve serving on committees, providing peer support, assisting with fundraising/foundation activities, attending events and community activities, or engaging with partners and stakeholders. 

The institute’s Annual Activity Report Committee selects winners each year based on reviews of the annual activity reports of more 40 scientists.

Dr. Craven was acknowledged by the committee for her work as Chair of the Canadian Spinal Cord injury Rehabilitation Association; Evaluation Lead for the Spinal Cord Injury Implementation and Quality Care Consortium; providing leadership and oversight for the KITE Central Recruitment Process and Research Volunteer Pool; promoting patient engagement; and acting as a liaison between the Spinal Cord Injury Program and KITE. 

“I am genuinely surprised and truly honored to receive this award – knowing this award nomination comes from talented peers was the icing on the cake!” said Dr. Craven who is a clinician scientist in the Neural Engineering and Therapeutics Team at KITE and the Medical Director of the Spinal Cord Rehab Program at Toronto Rehab. 

Dr. Dutta was recognized for his involvement in the KITE Annual Review Committee; the UHN Interprofessional Skin Health Steering Committee; his role as a Technical Committee member for Accessibility Standards Canada; and his team’s success in organizing the inaugural Parks Accessibility Conference. This three day event attracted over 600 attendees to discussion and collaborate on ways to improve the accessibility of provincial and national parks. 

“This community service award means a lot to me and the members of our team because it underscores the importance of contributions that may not be traditionally valued in academia, but helps make KITE the type of place we all want to work and ensures our work has real-world impact,” said Dr. Dutta who leads the Engineering Health team and holds cross appointments at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute.

“We are grateful to the members of the KITE Activity Report Committee for their hard work. Most of all, the members of our team are proud to be part of an environment at KITE that we feel proud to represent and contribute to!”