Pair honoured with 2022 UHN Global Impact Award

Cardiac surgeon Dr. Hugh Scully, (L), and the late Dr. Hans Messner, a leukemia clinician-researcher, are the latest to join a long list of distinguished members of TeamUHN to be honoured with the UHN Global Impact Award. (Photos: Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame/UHN)

A leukemia clinician-researcher who was a leader in stem cell transplantation and a cardiac surgeon renowned for medical leadership and his work on advancing international safety standards for motorsports, are the recipients of the 2022 UHN Global Impact Award.

The late Dr. Hans Messner of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Dr. Hugh Scully of Toronto General Hospital are the latest to join a long list of distinguished members of TeamUHN to be recognized for changing health and health care both here and around the world.

Dr. Messner “contributed significantly to our understanding of acute leukemia and influenced the treatment of leukemia worldwide,” the award selection committee said.

Dr. Scully is being recognized “for advancing the field of cardiac surgery, for medical leadership and for the development of international safety standards in motorsport,” they said.

Awarded since 2004, the UHN Global Impact Award recognizes the incredible contributions of TeamUHN members. Their names, photos and citations are posted in UHN hospital lobbies.

Dr. Messner, who died in 2018, was regarded as the founding father of allogeneic transplantation at the Princess Margaret, performing the first bone marrow transplant there in 1976. Over a career spanning more than 40 years at the cancer centre, he served as Director of the Orsino Cell Therapy Laboratory and the Director of the Allogenic Transplant Program, which now bears his name.

In 2015, Dr. Messner was named to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest civilian honour. In 2017, he received the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals who have made continuous clinical and scientific contributions to the field.

“Dr. Messner’s leadership in stem cells changed the face of medicine,” Dr. Kevin Smith, President & CEO of UHN, wrote on Twitter at the time of his passing. “He was a great physician and scientist, dedicated to every patient he was privileged to care for.”

Dr. Scully, a cardiovascular surgeon who was Chief of Staff and Deputy Surgeon-in-Chief at Toronto General, was founding President of the Professional Association of Interns and Residents of Ontario. He was also President of both the Ontario Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association.

Dr. Scully is also recognized for an immense contribution to auto racing medically and in terms of safety. In 2000, he was the first physician appointed to the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame and has been a leader in safety for everything from drivers and spectators to race car and circuit design. He co-founded the World Medical Commission of the FIA, the Paris-based global governing body for motorsport.

“The result of the research and related policy implementation in motorsport has been spectacular,” Dr. Patrick Guillane, a surgeon in UHN’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, wrote in a nomination letter for Dr. Scully. “This would not have occurred if it were not for Hugh’s leadership.”

Dr. Charles Tator, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital and longtime advocate for safety in minor hockey, wrote he has “great admiration” for Dr. Scully’s work “to save lives and help the injured.”

“Seldom has an individual embraced so many fields locally, nationally and internationally,” added Dr. Tator, who was himself recognized with a UHN Global Impact Award in 2011.

Previous recipients of the UHN Global Impact Award are: