Call for Nominations
The Jane Gillett award will be bestowed on a professional from any discipline that assesses, treats or is involved in research that directly enhances the lives of children and young adults with ABI and their families. This professional will be recognized for their outstanding contribution and dedication to serving these individuals and towards making improvements to the lives of children and youth living with the effects of brain injury. This individual should demonstrate a documented history of working in the field of paediatric ABI and be able to demonstrate one or more of the following attributes:
- Contributions to long-term, client and family-centered, community-based interventions that make a difference for young people with ABI and their families
- Participation in team building and inter-professional work in the field of ABI
- Creative thinking in working with clients and their families
- Understanding and use of research that provides a basis for treatment representing best practice in the field
- Recognition within his/her home country as an individual who has promoted prevention and advocacy for persons with ABI and their families
- We particularly welcome applications from candidates who are mid-career and actively building their work in the field
Details on submission: Please upload a copy of the applicant’s CV/resume, an outline of her/his contributions, and any additional supporting documentation to the IPBIS Administrative Office’s Dropbox site found here.
Due Date: Nominations must be submitted by the end of the day, 8 July, 2024
Location of Presentation: The Jane Gillett award will be presented on the occasion of the Fifth International Conference of Paediatric Brain Injury in Glasgow, UK in September 2024.
Awards Presented at Previous IPBIS Conferences
The four previous recipients of the Jane Gillett Award are Dr Shari Wade, 2015 (USA); Dr. Ingrid van’t Hooft, 2017 (Sweden); Dr Mathilde Chevignard, 2019 (France); and Dr Arend de Kloet, 2022 (Netherlands).
About Dr. Jane Gillett
Dr. Jane Gillett was a paediatric and adult neurologist who was at the forefront of acquired brain injury treatment. She was the medical director of the Acquired Brain Injury Program at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and an Associate Professor at McMaster University. Prior to this appointment, she was the Medical Director of the Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury Community Outreach Program (PABICOP) and a consultant paediatric neurologist at Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.
Dr. Gillett was known as a caring physician who worked closely together with patients, families, teachers and other caregivers. She was a strong supporter of an inclusive team approach to rehabilitation and was renowned for her ability to bring people together. Dr. Gillett was one of the first to recognize that the impact of an acquired brain injury in young people may continue to emerge for many years post-injury, often arising or changing with developmental stages. She stressed that long-term rehabilitation and care of the child or youth with a brain injury must occur within his or her own community. She believed that care has to be comprehensive because brain injury affects so many different developing functions and the effects of the injury can vary throughout the lifespan. Embracing these beliefs, Dr. Gillett developed the Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury Community Outreach Program (PABICOP) in London Ontario, serving five counties throughout southwestern Ontario. PABICOP continues today as an international model for serving children and youth with acquired brain injury and their families.
Dr. Gillett was always willing to share her expertise with others, both within Canada as well as elsewhere. It was her dream to establish an international consortium of brain injury experts in various disciplines in order to spread awareness and enhance treatment of paediatric brain injury world-wide. She made that dream come true by founding the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society (IPBIS) at a meeting of like-minded professionals in Magnetewan, Ontario in 2009. Jane Gillett served as the first and only President of IPBIS until she died on February 16, 2011 in Brantford, Ontario at the age of 55 from a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
In order to honour and always remember this outstanding woman and to stimulate others to provide services using her philosophies, the Board of Governors of the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society created the Jane Gillett Award.