Colin MacKay wins MNGSS Leadership Award

The annual MNGSS Leadership award is given to a graduate student who has demonstrated meritorious extra-curricular service within the Dalhousie community and city of Halifax while a graduate student in the department of Medical Neuroscience. The award is funded by the Medical Neuroscience Graduate Student Society (MNGSS) and the 2025 award was presented to Colin MacKay, a PhD trainee in the Zhang Lab.

Colin MacKay - winner of the 2025 MNGSS leadership award

A few words from Colin:

It was an honour to be selected as this year’s recipient for the MNGSS Graduate Student Leadership Award. Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of holding the position of President in our student society, was appointed to the Brain Repair Centre Executive Committee, and was entrusted with managing and directing neuroanatomy teaching labs to some of Dalhousie’s brightest undergraduate and graduate students.

In these positions, I was provided with the unique privilege to be an active advocate for graduate students both within our department as well as across Dalhousie. I have long believed that it is important to be involved in your community, and to do what you can to lift others up when their own voices may be stifled or disregarded.

As Albert Einstein once said: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile”.

Colin is a PhD trainee in Ying Zhang’s lab, studying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and its effects on interneurons. Colin completed an undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Dalhousie. and before he began his graduate studies, he worked in Dr. Zhang’s lab as a technician.

Colin has been involved in many BRC activities over the years, including Brain Fairs, Research Days and AMAP meetings; and he currently holds the position of Trainee Representative on the BRC Executive Committee.