The third annual Impact Awards will be held at the Memorial Hall in Toronto on Sunday October 19. Ten persons will be presented with awards at this year’s event.

The Caribbean Camera and the Black Indigenous Business Development Association (BIBDA) have organized the Impact Awards to celebrate the achievement of outstanding Caribbean people.

Among this year’s awardees are Dr. Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research at the University of Waterloo who will receive the award for her role in education and Dr. Everton Gooden, President and CEO of North York General Hospital, for his achievements in the field of health.

Trinidad-born Dr. Dean provides strategic leadership in the areas of research and innovation, commercialization, and internationalization and is a key driver for equity and diversity in research and internationalization. 

Before joining the University of Waterloo, she served as the Dean of Science at Western University from 2011 to 2017. She also played a major role in establishing the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, as the Associate Dean of that Faculty, and was the founding Chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University.

She has been awarded numerous honours for her work including Fellowships with the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Fields Institute, the American Statistical Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2023, she was awarded the Statistical Society of Canada Gold Medal.

Earlier this year she was bestowed the rank of Chevalier in the prestigious Ordre des Palmes académiques by the French government for her work advancing research connections between Canada and France.

She is currently Chair of Council for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Jamaica-born Dr. Gooden has held a variety of progressive leadership roles, including serving as Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, President of the Medical Staff Association, Division Chief of Head and Neck Surgery, Governor of the North York General Hospital Foundation Board of Governors and Chair of its Governance and Inclusion Committee.

He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department  Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

In addition to being an active surgeon and physician leader, Dr. Gooden’s compassion and concern for the well-being of others extends well beyond his clinical work to his involvement in local, national, and global humanitarian organizations driving progressive change.

Currently, he sits on the Board of Face the Future Foundation, volunteers with the Kenya Relief Organization, and is a member of the Black Opportunity Fund’s Healthcare Working Group.

Dr. Gooden, a trailblazer for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), has long viewed health equity as integral to excellent quality of care.