MIE professor and U of T Engineering Dean Emerita Cristina Amon has been elected a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). One of Canada’s three national academies, the CAHS leverages the expertise of leading health sciences researchers to evaluate our most urgent health challenges and recommend solutions. To be named a CAHS Fellow is one of the highest distinctions for Canadian scholars in the health sciences.
Amon is a University Professor and an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering. During her tenure as Dean (2006-2019), Amon advanced the health sciences through her leadership in creating interdisciplinary education and research pathways that connect engineering innovation with clinical impact. She led the development of joint academic programming that expanded biomedical and health technology training across programs, creating pipelines for students and trainees to translate engineering approaches into improved health care.
A recognized leader in computational fluid dynamics, multiscale and multiphysics modelling, and simulation and optimization for mechanical and biomedical engineering, Amon’s expertise has enabled longstanding collaborations with cardiovascular, thoracic and pediatric surgeons, bringing medical and engineering perspectives together to tackle complex challenges in healthcare. In one example, Amon’s group uncovered the cause of spontaneous stent-graft rotation or misalignment immediately after otherwise successful endovascular procedures. To address this issue, they developed a simulation-based pre-surgical planning tool that accurately predicts how patient-specific anatomical features affect endovascular surgical outcomes.
Amon’s team has also developed computational methodologies for tissue engineering of tracheas, lungs and hearts, enabling the design and optimization of experimental protocols and associated bioreactor geometrical and operating parameters. Her models predict how the localized bio-chemo-mechanical environment affects biologically relevant outcomes such as cell deposition, attachment, proliferation and differentiation in dynamic perfusion cell cultures.
In partnership with Fort William First Nation, an Indigenous community in northern Ontario experiencing a high incidence of blood cancer, Amon investigated how contaminants in nearby soil and groundwater migrate toward residential areas, creating potential pathways for human exposure. Her team showed that prolonged rainy periods accelerate contaminant migration from a pulp-and-paper industrial landfill into groundwater, increasing exposure risks. These results strengthen the community’s capacity to develop climate-resilient strategies and implement effective protections for water safety and community health.
Amon has been appointed to the Order of Canada and elected a fellow of all the major professional societies in her fields. She has received the Engineers Canada Gold Medal and the Ontario Professional Engineers Gold Medal in recognition of her outstanding public service, technical excellence and professional leadership. Currently a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Amon’s election to CAHS makes her one of very few academics to become a member of all of Canada’s national academies, including U of T University Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, BME) and Professors Milica Radisic (ChemE, BME) and Yu Sun (MIE).
“Cristina Amon has advanced the health sciences in Canada through her scholarship, her leadership, and her commitment to making the field more equitable and diverse,” says U of T Engineering Dean Christopher Yip.
“On behalf of the faculty, I congratulate her on this well-deserved honour, and on the rare achievement of being elected to all three national academies.”
