‘Science pioneers’ recognized in annual highly cited researchers list

An annual list of the world’s most highly cited researchers included three Institute members among the ranks for 2020.

Web of Science released its annual list of researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.

Researchers named to this list are recognized as pioneers in their fields, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top one per cent by citations for field and year in the Web of Science.

The three Institute members named are Dr. Marcello Tonelli, MD, Dr. Gilaad Kaplan, MD, and Dr. Michael Hill, MD.  

“The O’Brien Institute for Public Health is proud to have exceptional researchers like Drs. Tonelli, Kaplan and Hill leading ground breaking research to improve the health and care of Calgarians, Canadians and people around the world,” says Institute scientific director Dr. Tom Stelfox, MD.

Tonelli is a co-lead for the Alberta-based Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration. He is chair emeritus of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and a past president of the Canadian Society of Nephrology. He is a member of the governing council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and of the executive committee of the governing council, as well as the chair of the CIHR’s standing committee on ethics. He has been named a highly cited researcher every year since 2015. 

Kaplan is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist with a clinical and research interest in the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). He is a professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. 

Dr. Kaplan is internationally renowned for studying the global epidemiology of IBD. He received the Classic Citation Award for a single paper cited over 1,000 times. He is the chair of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) international subcommittee and was inducted as a fellow of the AGA.  He is the past-chair of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Counsel of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada (CCC), as well as the co-chair of CCC’s National COVID-IBD Task Force.

Dr. Hill is a stroke neurologist and clinical trialist who has led or co-led multiple clinical trials in acute stroke. The most impactful was the ESCAPE trial which resulted in a dramatic change in stroke treatment globally. He is the former associate dean for clinical research at the University of Calgary and his research interests include stroke thrombolysis, stroke epidemiology, and surveillance and clinical trials.

He is funded by the CIHR and holds the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta/NWT/Nunavut professorship in stroke research and has also received a number of awards, including the Barnett, The Pessin Award and the ARP merit award and the Performance Recognition award for his role in research and his outstanding publication record.

Tonelli, Hill and Kaplan are among 6,167 researchers from more than 60 countries and regions that have been recognized this year.  

See the full list of highly cited researchers.