A 2005 Gairdner Award recently went to Brenda Milner, Ph.D., an internationally known researcher and Dorothy J. Killam Professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), where she founded the Department of Neuropsychology. Brenda. Milner, who teaches in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery of McGill's Faculty of Medicine, holds a bachelor's degree (1939) and a master's degree in experimental psychology (1949) from the University of Cambridge, a Ph.D. in physiological psychology from McGill (1952) and a Ph.D. in science (1972) from the University of Cambridge.

Her studies within MNI's Cognitive Neuroscience research unit are at the crossroads of neurophysiology, neuropharmacology and neuroanatomy, being concerned chiefly with functional specialization of the two brain hemispheres. Brenda Milner and her coworkers are using state-of-the-art brain imaging technology to explore the differences between the right and left hemispheres. They are seeking to elucidate what role the right hemisphere plays in remembering the location of objects.

The prestigious Gairdner Awards, posted by the International Gairdner Foundation, are intended to honour research and major breakthroughs in medical science. To date, 64 of the 274 Gairdner award winners have won a Nobel prize.