Our Alumni Award Winners

Beginning in 2017, the Department of Chemistry has solicited nominations for two UBC Chemistry alumni awards: the Alumni Award of Distinction Award and the Young Alumnus Award. Nominations are requested between September and October of each year and reviewed by the Alumni Awards Adjudication Committee in advance of our fall Alumni Event. Alumni Award winners are announced at our Fall Alumni event and the awards are presented at our Spring Alumni event.

All living UBC alumni are eligible. Posthumous nominations will not be considered.

Alumni Award of Distinction

This award recognizes an alumnus with an extended track-record of accomplishments that are of such excellence that they provide inspiration and leadership to students and other alumni. The recipient has shown significant leadership either in their professional career and/or community service.

Young Alumnus Award

This award recognizes a young alumnus whose accomplishments provide inspiration and leadership to students and other young alumni. The recipient has shown significant leadership either in their professional career and/or community service. To be eligible for this award, the nominee should be have received their BSc ≤ 15 years, their MSc ≤ 12 years, their PhD ≤ 10 years, or ≤ 5 years as a PDF (not including leaves).

UBC Alumni Builder Award

Created in 2017 as part of the 100th year of alumni UBC, the Alumni Builder Awards recognize a cross-section of alumni representing both campuses who have significantly contributed to the university and enriched the lives of others, and in doing so, have supported alumni UBC’s vision of a global alumni community for an exceptional UBC and a better world. The recipient has made significant contributions to the university; demonstrated leadership in the areas of volunteerism, philanthropy, advocacy, or community service beyond the performance of the individual’s normal duties or the exercise of the responsibilities of a profession to which that individual belongs; and in doing so, helped build stronger, more resilient UBC community through their contribution. The Department of Chemistry is proud to have two alumni members receive this award to date.

2024 Alumni Award Winners

Dr. Erika Siren, PhD '19
Young Alumnus Award

Dr. Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay, PhD '89
Alumni Award of Distinction

Alumni Award of Distinction

Dr. Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay received his B.S. degree from the University of Michoacan, Mexico and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia working with Prof. John Scheffer. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University he joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA where he is now a Distinguished Professor. After various leadership positions he was appointed Dean of Physical Sciences and Senior Dean of the UCLA College. He has served in editorial boards of several ACS and RSC Journals and was as associate editor of JACS. Garcia-Garibay achieved international reputation for work in reactive intermediates, solid-state chemistry, photochemistry, and for the development of amphidynamic crystals as a platform for molecular machines. He has authored over 250 articles and delivered over 350 lectures across the globe. Among other honors, he received the Inter-American Photochemical Society Award, the Cope Scholar Award, and the 2025 ACS Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry. He was elected fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, fellow of the American Chemical Society, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and in 2023 he was elected to the USA National Academy of Sciences.

Young Alumnus Award

Dr. Erika Siren comes with 10+ years of experience spanning industry, entrepreneurship and academia. As the CEO of SeraGene Therapeutics, Erika leads an all-female management team developing RNA therapies for patients with rare coagulation disorders. Leveraging a deep understanding of clotting biology, SeraGene envisions a future where patients requiring life-long treatments can have a life well-lived through highly effective therapies with low treatment burden. SeraGene is actively pursuing uses for its technology that specifically address Women, who are disproportionately burdened by bleeding disorders. Since 2022, Erika's team has raised over $7 M in dilutive and non-dilutive funding to further the therapeutic development of this promising technology.

Erika received her PhD from the Centre for Blood Research in 2018 under the supervision of Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu where her thesis work was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. Following her Doctoral studies, Erika pursued a postdoctoral fellowship as a Friedman Scholar under the supervision of Jeff Karp at Harvard Medical School. Erika then joined Takeda’s Medical Affairs team where she was involved in several initiatives that worked toward increasing access to life-changing therapies for patients with rare diseases across Canada. Erika is also an advocate for Women’s Health and has raised over $100,000 for the BC Womens Health Foundation as a member of their Health Equity Leaders committee.