| Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship
The Montreal Chest Institute Fund is proud to honour Dr. Becklake’s legacy and immense contribution in developing generations of respiratory clinicians and researchers by launching the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship. This fellowship will be awarded to at least one trainee in respiratory research every year and will pay her or his salary as s/he conducts research under the supervision of scientists at the Montreal Chest Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
Recipients will be chosen from low- and middle-income countries as well as from Canadian Indigenous communities. Over the course of her career, Dr. Becklake had a major interest in respiratory health in lower-income countries, including in childhood asthma and occupational lung disease. She conducted research in this area for many years. She also trained and hosted students in respiratory research from lower-income countries, who then became leaders in research and care in those countries.
About the Fellowship
- The first winner of the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship will be chosen to start his or her fellowship in July 2019.
- Once launched, information will be circulated widely and posted on relevant websites (including this one), and also sent to contacts in other countries.
- Selection of recipients will be made by a committee consisting of the directors of the MUHC respiratory division, the Meakins-Christie Laboratories and the Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Unit.
Help us train the next generation of researchers and specialists in areas of the world where the need is greatest. Help us share the expertise we have at the Montreal Chest Institute around the globe.
Help us continue Dr. Becklake’s legacy.
DR. MARGARET BECKLAKE
A PIONEERING LEADER IN RESPIRATORY MEDICINE
Dr. Margaret Becklake immigrated to Montreal in 1957 from South Africa. Her impact on respiratory care, research and teaching was profound. With other members of the McGill faculty, she worked on occupational lung disease, an interest she maintained from her early medical career in South Africa. She established the now well-known Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Unit at McGill and at the Montreal Chest Institute, that has graduated so many current Canadian leaders in respiratory medicine, including her former graduate students Drs. Pierre Ernst, Dick Menzies and Jean Bourbeau.
Dr. Becklake was renowned for her insistence upon the importance of a clearly stated, relevant research question and more generally for her clarity and insight. She was also unfailingly devoted to her patients and their families. The research unit she founded flourishes today, as it continues to emphasize respiratory research of direct relevance to patients and communities. Dr. Becklake was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1991. In 1997, she received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Thoracic Society. She was named to the Order of Canada in 2007 and became a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2011. She passed away on October 17, 2018 in Montreal surrounded by her family.
Dr. Maragret Becklake
Recipient of the 2020-2021 Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship in Respiratory Research: Dr. Mikashmi Kohli
Dr. Mikashmi Kohli obtained her PhD in molecular medicine from the AII India Institute of Medical Sciences. Her research focuses on tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics, and she was involved in an international project to assess the availability and accessibility of diagnostics at primary health care centres in India. To date, Dr. Kohli has contributed to 18 publications, four as first author, including a paper in Lancet Infectious Diseases. She is also lead author on two Cochrane systematic reviews and has been a part of two WHO guideline meetings at which she presented her systematic reviews and meta-analyses on TB diagnostic tests.
Dr. Kohli aspires to continue working in the field of global health and to pursue research that can be used to inform important policy decisions. With support from the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship, Dr. Kohli will be able to continue her training at McGill University. This will allow her to continue her active involvement in the Indian healthcare system. We are proud to honour Dr. Becklake’s legacy and immense contributions through this Fellowship, and we wish Dr. Kohli every success in her research career.