“Dr Enger’s career trajectory is a testament to resilience and excellence,” says Dr Eduardo Franco, a cancer epidemiologist at McGill University who nominated Dr Shirin Abbasinejad Enger, a Professor in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology and Canada Research Chair in Medical Physics, for the 2025 Inclusive Excellence Prize. “As the first woman to lead McGill’s Medical Physics Unit and Graduate Program, she has shattered glass ceilings and created pathways for others to follow.”
Dr Enger’s story is one of overcoming obstacles – from her early days as a Kurdish refugee to becoming a global leader in medical physics and a champion for inclusive representation in cancer research.
While still a student, she realized that her lectures and textbooks contained few stories of women in science. “This absence did not embitter her; it galvanized her,” says Yujing Zou, a PhD candidate currently studying under Dr Enger. “Rather than accepting a system that failed to see her, she devoted her career to building a system where others would be seen.”
Now, Dr Enger mentors over 30 trainees at every level from undergraduate to postdoctoral. Her lab welcomes people from groups that are historically underrepresented in physics, engineering and computer science. Students not only appear as first authors on papers but also attend conferences and develop independence and leadership skills to prepare them for successful science careers.
Dr Enger’s impact extends beyond the students and trainees in her lab. She is deeply committed to expanding access to education and training in artificial intelligence (AI), medical imaging and health. Through her lab, she has supported McMedHacks, a free international summer program that introduces students, researchers and clinicians to medical image analysis and deep learning. She also helped support the launch of SPARK (Sprint AI Training for African Medical Imaging Knowledge Translation), an initiative led by Dr Udunna Anazodo. Together with her graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, Dr Enger contributed to this train-the-trainer program, which aims to empower research leaders across Africa to teach and advance AI for medical imaging and cancer-related applications.
Her commitment to accessibility is also reflected in her own medical physics research, where her team develops advanced tools and technologies that can be shared, adapted and built upon by the broader research community.
“Dr Enger is an extraordinary scientist and a tireless advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion in cancer research,” says Dr Franco. “Her leadership, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to advancing opportunities for women and underrepresented groups in science exemplify the very essence of this prestigious award.”