Seven U of A standouts named to Royal Society of Canada

Seven leading University of Alberta researchers in diverse fields are among the newest members of the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s oldest and most prestigious scholarly institute.

Joining the 2026 class of Royal Society fellows are modern languages professor Dr. Iman Mersal, pathology professor Dr. Jason Acker, chemist Dr. Lara Mahal, economist Dr. Randall Morck and environmental scientist Dr. Scott Chang.

In addition, recognizing high levels of achievement early in their academic careers, radiology professor Dr. Amber Simpson and history professor Dr. Valérie Lapointe-Gagnon have been named to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

“These researchers recognized today by the Royal Society of Canada are remarkable not only for their outstanding accomplishments in their respective fields individually, but for the breadth of interdisciplinary achievement they represent collectively,” says Dr. Aminah Robinson Fayek, U of A vice-president of research. “With world-leading expertise across the social sciences and humanities, health sciences and natural and applied sciences, they are contributing significantly to making our world healthier, more sustainable and more just.”

A groundbreaking poet, translator and scholar in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, Iman Mersal has expanded the horizons of contemporary literature.

Through formally inventive and emotionally unflinching writing, Mersal explores themes of motherhood, memory and displacement in ways that have profoundly shaped a new generation of writers. An internationally award-winning author, public intellectual and mentor, she roots her widely translated work in Arabic literary traditions while forging bold new conversations across languages, cultures and disciplines.

A professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and associate vice-president of research integrity support, Jason Acker is an internationally recognized leader in transfusion sciences and cryobiology.

His paradigm-shifting research into the mechanisms of low-temperature injury has significantly advanced the preservation of cell-based therapeutics and expanded the potential applications of cryopreservation. His exemplary contributions continue to improve the safety and quality of blood products around the world, and enhance practices, policies and standards across the transfusion medicine, cell therapy and biobanking industries.

Acclaimed for her pioneering work in glycomics and chemical biology, Lara Mahal, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, director of the Glycomics Institute of Alberta and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Glycomics, has opened up new avenues in biomedical research.

Her studies have revealed unexpected roles played by sugars known as glycans in cancer and influenza. By examining glycan control mechanisms, Mahal’s research is overturning long-standing dogmas surrounding microRNA and identifying critical new mechanisms and targets for this non-coding form of RNA.

Ranked as Canada’s most cited economist, Randall Morck, a professor in the Department of Finance at the Alberta School of Business, provides data-driven insights into how wealth and power in corporations shape national and global economies.

Morck’s research has profoundly changed how academics, governments and global institutions such as the World Bank think about who controls and governs corporations and how economies grow. His work answers crucial questions about what constitutes good governance and demonstrates why corporate accountability matters not only for investors, but for everyone.

Scott Chang, a professor in the Department of Renewable Resources, is Canada’s leading soil biogeochemist and a world-renowned environmental scientist and ecologist.

Chang pioneered research on continental-scale relationships between tree diversity and carbon storage in soil, while advancing our understanding of how atmospheric nitrogen deposition affects soils locally and globally. His leading research on carbon sequestration, climate change mitigation and microbial diversity conservation in terrestrial ecosystems has directly influenced policy development and land management practices nationally and worldwide.

As a Canada CIFAR AI Chair in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, Amber Simpson is advancing the frontiers of applying artificial intelligence to improve human health.

Formerly the Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Computing and founding director of the Centre for Health Innovation at Queen’s University, Simpson leads interdisciplinary, multi-institutional initiatives that remove barriers to research and enable data-driven precision medicine. As the inaugural director of the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Institute at the U of A, she remains committed to training students, engaging the public and developing next-generation AI technologies to benefit human health.

Valérie Lapointe-Gagnon, a professor of history at Campus Saint-Jean, is recognized internationally for her interdisciplinary research in political and intellectual history and for her role as an engaged public intellectual.

She serves as director of the Institut Marcelle et Louis Desrochers pour le Patrimoine et les recherches transdisciplinaires en francophonies canadiennes et internationales (IMELDA), where her work deepens scholarly and public understanding of Canadian and international francophone communities.