Sarah Lampson's professional designation is Research Administration. Positions in RA range from managing research projects, managing research sponsors, applying for grants, managing clinical trials, and research ethics. The role is found in universities, colleges, academic hospitals, government and non-profit organizations.

From 1997-2005, Sarah was a Research Contracts Officer and Grants Officer at McMaster. From 2005-2013 she managed clinical trials for both Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University specializing in oncology research contracts from 2009-2013. During this time she also volunteered in her field. She authored dozens of articles, presented at conferences, moderated and created webinars, started two national mentoring programmes and co-authored two books that are used at over 500 institutions globally. From 2013 until now, Sarah has been the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Research Administrators.

 

Some of her achievements in this role have been to turn the group’s operating deficit into a surplus within the first year and then increase the revenue for the association by 43% over the next four years. Capitalizing on her volunteer work, she continued to create mentorship programmes, and webinars and she established an awards programme for the group. Under her leadership, CARA has entered into a partnership with Mohawk College to offer Canada’s first Research Administration Certificate. CARA now has a bursary programme for students who are enrolled in this course and to date has awarded over $100,000 to worthy recipients. Since 2017, Sarah has been a part-time instructor of contracts, reporting, and research finance at Mohawk College’s McKeil School of Business.

 

Dr. Bansal is a fellow Rotarian from the RC of Buffalo. After a successful career as an entrepreneur Ravi had a dream to “fly around the world” And while he didn’t have a lot of experience flying solo in his state of the art single engine Cessna, and his family thought this idea was very risky, he found a purpose to drive his passion and the rest of the story came together.

A native of Ambala India, Ravi visited family in 2005, and realized the local Charity Hospital which had treated his ailing sister-in-law, did not have the resources needed to successfully diagnose cancer. Furthermore, he learned that no one from India had ever completed RTW flight. The challenge was set! And Ravi chose to rise to that challenge. He would dedicate his flight to raising funds for a MRI machine for the Ambala Charity Hospital, raise awareness in the Ambala region of the importance of early cancer detection and treatment and finally by being the first Indian to complete a RTW solo flight in a single engine plane acquire recognition and publicity for the causes.

Scott Vance is member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. He is also the most recent cook of the lobsters at our annual Lobster Rib Fest. Scott is a long time resident of Dundas, growing up and going to school here. At age 13, he no longer was interested in hockey as he once was. He watched his sister at her figure skating lessons and thought “that was easy”. His Dad, in turn, challenged him to try and the rest as they say is history. As a hockey player, Scott had skating basics, but figures were a completely different thing. Undaunted, Scott took the challenge.

For the next decade, Scott devoted himself to figure skating, practicing at least 4 hours per day, every day. He sought out instruction from Kerry Leitch, of the Preston Skating Club, a renowned Canadian coach. At Preston, Scott was exposed to world class competitors and this served to motivate him further. As a pair’s skater, Scott thrust his partners high above his head while balancing on a thin blade of steel. Strength, energy, fearlessness, hard work, trust – these are the attributes Scott honed during those years. When he retired from competition in 1990 at 24 years of age, he and his partner were ranked 5th at Nationals.