Dr David Dolphin

Dr David Dolphin is the recipient of the 2005 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. Dolphin, a Killam Research Professor at the Univ of British Columbia's department of chemistry, won the medal and $1 million in research funding over five years for his work with porphyrins. He is an international expert in organic and inorganic chemistry and co-founded QLT Inc, a biopharmaceutical firm specializing in treatments for eye diseases, dermatological and urological conditions. QLT was founded to commercialize Visudyne, a light-activated porphyrin molecule developed by Dolphin and Dr Julia Levy used to treat age-related macular degeneration. He is also the holder of the NSERC-QLT Industrial Research Chair on Photodynamic Technologies and CEO of the BC Innovation Council. The other finalists for the Herzberg medal were Dr Richard Bond and Dr Stephen Cook, both of the Univ of Toronto. They will each receive a $50,000 research grant....