At McMaster’s fall convocation ceremonies next week, three extraordinary individuals will receive honorary degrees: A renowned activist and advocated for equity; a clinician-scientist whose breakthrough work transformed the treatment of type 2 diabetes; and a nuclear engineer who is one of the world’s leading experts on nuclear safety.
Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals who have distinguished themselves through outstanding scholarship, artistry, public service and contributions to their communities.
In order of presentation, these are the remarkable people receiving honorary degrees this fall.
Evelyn Myrie
Faculty of Social Sciences | Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2:30 p.m.
Evelyn Myrie, the founder and principal of the EMpower Strategy Group, emigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1974 and settled in Windsor. She completed her BA at the University of Windsor, and began her long career in social activism with a position with Windsor Women Working for Immigrant Women.
After a role as volunteer chair of the Visible Minority Women’s Committee, Myrie moved to Hamilton in 1989 and served as social development consultant with Status of Women Canada, where she worked for almost two decades.
Myrie was the first Black woman to serve as chair of the City of Hamilton Status of Women Subcommittee and was a founding member of the Elect More Women organization.
She became the inaugural director of the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group before returning to Hamilton as executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.
Myrie cofounded the John C. Holland Awards and led the development of the John Holland Institute for Leadership. The organization’s annual Evelyn Myrie Award for Political Action was created in recognition of her considerable contributions.
She founded the Women Who Rock Awards, co-founded the Greater Golden Horseshoe Diversity Awards and has served on the Hamilton Arts Advisory Committee.
Myrie served as chair of the African Canadian Legal Clinic and the African Black History Committee (now Hamilton Black History Council), was president of the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association, and a board member for organizations including the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, the United Way of Burlington/Hamilton, the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, First Ontario Credit Union, the Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council, and the Hamilton Future Fund.
Her efforts have been recognized with the Windsor Diversity Award, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the Afro Global Award for Community Service, the Hamilton Spectator’s Portrait of Success Award, the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Award, the Order of Hamilton, and induction into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction.
Daniel Drucker
Faculty of Health Sciences | Thursday Nov. 20, 9:30 a.m.
Daniel Drucker is an endocrinologist and scientist whose discoveries continue to influence molecular biology, physiology, drug discovery and clinical investigation.
After completing postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Toronto General Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, Drucker earned appointments as a staff physician at Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto’s departments of Medicine, Clinical Biochemistry, Medical Genetics, and Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology.
In 1991, he was cross-appointed to the staff at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he served as deputy director of the division of Endocrinology and currently serves as senior scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.
At the University of Toronto, Drucker has been director of the division of Endocrinology and director of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre.
Drucker’s research on a family of hormones called glucagons has revolutionized treatment for people with conditions including Type 2 diabetes and obesity by laying the biological foundations for the pharmacological revolution of medicines based on the glucagon-like peptide hormone GLP-1.
His discovery of the role of GLP-2 in intestinal barrier function also led to a life-changing treatment for patients with short-bowel syndrome.
Drucker has published his research in 410 articles and 18 book chapters, and has contributed to 33 patents registered in the United States.
A fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Drucker has been recognized with dozens of honours in Canada and internationally. He has received the Canada Gairdner International Award for Biomedical Science, the VinFuture Prize, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, the Harold Hamm International Prize for Diabetes Research, the Novo Nordisk Foundation EASD Prize for Excellence in Diabetes Research, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, and the Helmholtz Diabetes Centre Lifetime Achievement Award.
He has been inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, elected to the US National Academy of Medicine and been named by Time Magazine as one the world’s 100 most influential people in healthcare and as one of the 100 most influential people.
Rumina Velshi
Faculty of Engineering | Thursday, Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m.
Rumina Velshi has degrees in civil and chemical engineering, as well as an MBA from the University of Toronto. She began her career at Ontario Power Generation and Ontario Hydro, where she worked for more than three decades, ultimately serving in senior executive positions related to nuclear energy.
After that, Velshi became chair of the Employment Insurance Board of Referees, then returned to the nuclear sector as a member of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
In 2017, she joined the Ontario Energy Board. A year later, she became president and chief executive officer of the CNSC. In her half decade as its CEO, she launched the Women in STEM initiative, was founding co-chair of the International Gender Champions Impact Group on Gender Equality in Nuclear Regulatory Agencies, and chaired both the Commission of Safety Standards for the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Nuclear Regulators Association.
Since leaving CNSC, Velshi has been a board member for Hydro Ottawa and SaskPower, a member of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, and chair of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency High-Level Group of Stakeholder Engagement and Trust.
She is an expert advisor to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority and to the Canadian law firm Torys LLP. She also co-founded ZettaJoule, a nuclear energy startup based in Japan.
Velshi co-chaired Canada’s first Nuclear Energy Agency International Mentoring Workshop for Indigenous young women and was a founding co-chair of Canada’s Driving the Advancement of Women in Nuclear.
She is a board member with the Canadian Institute of Women in Engineering and Sciences and has also played key volunteer leadership roles with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, the Toronto Board of Health, Scientists in School, and Women in Nuclear Canada.
A non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative and a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Velshi was the inaugural recipient of the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation’s “Icon of Nuclear” award.