Mohsen Omrani

Christina Guzzo and Mohsen Omrani each received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for their demonstrated leadership skills and high standard of scholarly achievement.

The Vanier is one of Canada’s most prestigious scholarships for doctoral students. Each student will receive $50,000 per year for three years.

Ms. Guzzo’s research is focused on trying to characterize how HIV affects the normal cell-to-cell communication in the immune system.

“I feel very honoured to be supported with this scholarship and incredibly grateful for the opportunity and freedom to pursue my PhD studies without financial constraints,” says Ms Guzzo. “The scholarship also motivates me to find my research niche and career within Canada so that I can contribute long term to furthering research excellence within this country.”

Christina Guzzo

Mr. Omrani’s research focuses on how the nervous system controls multi-joint movements. He was thrilled to receive the scholarship.

"I have dedicated a big part of my activities to promoting advancement of neuroscience back in my home country of Iran. I feel this scholarship acknowledges all the efforts I have put in and encourages me to continue on the scientific path I have been traveling so far,” says Mr. Omrani. “The scholarship arrived just in time after my son was born. It was such a relief to know that now I could support my family while I was doing the things I liked the most.”

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program is designed to attract and retain world-class doctoral students to Canada by offering them a significant financial award to assist them during their studies at Canadian universities.

The program honours the Right Honourable Georges Philias Vanier (1888-1967), who served as Governor General of Canada from 1959 to 1967.