As well, USask is recognizing two outstanding community-engaged social scientists with New Researcher awards: Dr. Yang Yang (PhD) is an applied microeconomist and associate professor at the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy (JSGS); and Dr. Jennifer Lang (PhD) is interim vice-dean academic in the College of Arts and Science and associate professor of choral/music education. The awards will be presented June 26 at USask’s Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony.

The awards, announced annually by USask Vice-President Research Baljit Singh, honour significant contributions to research, scholarly and artistic work (RSAW) at USask.

Dr. Valerie Verge (PhD)

“It’s unexpected, and I am truly humbled and grateful. This award is recognition of 45 years of having the best job—asking why for a living,” said Verge.

“Being surrounded by highly intelligent and inquisitive people, and working with collaborators who are the best in the world, allowed me to push the envelope and keep the research moving forward.”

The joint nomination letter by her department head Dr. Thomas Fisher (PhD), and Dr. Marek Radomski (MD), vice-dean research of the College of Medicine, lauded Verge’s pivotal work in elucidating mechanisms and therapies to enhance the body’s intrinsic repair capacity in peripheral nerve injury and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) preclinical models. As well, they cited her exceptional qualities as a leader, mentor, and advocate for neuroscience research funding.

Verge, who joined USask in 1992, began her innovative research career in 1980 at McGill University as a research technician. Mentored by renowned neurosurgeon/neuroscientist Dr. Peter Richardson (MD), she earned a PhD in 1990. Their research showed that the central nervous system’s intrinsic repair could be significantly increased given the right stressors or environment. Her doctoral work focused on the role of a key molecule driving nervous system plasticity—nerve growth factor.

Verge helped to create the Cameco MS Neuroscience Research Centre at Saskatoon City Hospital in 1994 and has served as its director since 2006. Her focus on identifying therapies to enhance intrinsic nervous system repair includes seminal collaborative research that shows direct nerve electrical stimulation (ES) following peripheral nerve repair significantly improves regeneration. However, ES is difficult to use for MS patients, where nerve cell degeneration and loss of myelin can be widespread.

Consequently, in collaboration with Dr. Gillian Muir (DVM, PhD), dean of USask’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Verge began investigating the efficacy of an exciting non-invasive therapy, acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH), to trigger an enhanced intrinsic repair response. AIH consists of a low number of cycles of breathing regular air alternating with brief exposure to reduced oxygen air. AIH therapy tested on mice with MS-like disease, and rat peripheral nerve regeneration showed remarkable results on every repair parameter examined, Verge said.

Based on these studies, the use of AIH in peripheral nerve injury and MS is moving toward clinical trials. Approvals are in place for a Phase 1 trial led by the co-principal investigator on her Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant, Dr. Ming Chan (MD), University of Alberta’s Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Their trial will compare the efficacy of AIH versus ES in treating patients scheduled for severe carpal tunnel surgery. On the MS front, Verge is a co-investigator on a proposed AIH MS safety and efficacy Phase 1 trial led by USask clinicians Dr. Katherine Knox (MD), Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Dr. Sarah Donkers (PhD), School of Rehabilitation Science.

Verge is a strong mentor, supporting more than 67 trainees. Her neuroscience research advocacy efforts included provincial, national and international initiatives, and involvement in the Medical Research Council of Canada, and CIHR policy-forming committees. In a national leadership role, she served as president (only the second woman to hold this position) of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience from 2003 to 2005, broadening its reach to Canadian neuroscientists and increasing advocacy efforts.

She has secured more than $12 million in funding from federal and local sources, published 82 peer-reviewed papers, 13 book chapters, and co-edited three books, with her work cited over 10,900 times.

“I have been fortunate to have had consistent research funding and a multidisciplinary team with the curiosity, drive and perseverance to discover the unknown. We are making tremendous progress,” Verge said. “It’s been very fulfilling.”

Dr. Jennifer Lang (PhD)

“I am very honoured to receive this award because of the lineage of the people who have received it in the past. It’s a real privilege to be recognized among all the great researchers we have at USask,” Lang said of her recognition as a top New Researcher.

Her nominators from the College of Arts and Science, Dr. Steven Rayan (PhD), director of the Centre for Quantum Topology and its Applications, and Dean McNeill, professor of music in the School for the Arts, describe Lang as an “extremely well-respected interdisciplinary scholar working at the interface of music, health and wellness studies, and other disciplines.”

“I really endeavour to have the arts recognized as a form of research, in addition to an esthetic form of beauty and expression. Music is indeed about individual and collective well-being and connection, but it is also research creation, research translation, and mobilization,” Lang said.

She is heavily involved in community-engaged performances with choirs and orchestras, and has taken a leadership role across several major initiatives and programs: conductor of the Greystone Singers; founder and artistic director of Aurora Voce, a Greystone Singers alumni choir; founder of Timeless Voices, an intergenerational choir with students, people living with dementia, and their caregivers; leader of a pillar in music, arts, and well-being in USask’s Health and Wellness Signature Area; and the Newcomer Youth Engagement music program.

The impacts go well beyond USask and Saskatchewan as Lang is a sought-after choral conductor, adjudicator, conference presenter, and choral clinician.

A highlight was an invitation to perform in June 2024 at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York, where she conducted over 100 Greystone and Aurora Voce choir members, and other Saskatchewan singers performing the work Illuminare by Elaine Hagenberg. That Lang was invited for a return engagement speaks volumes.

She is known for her innovative programming and commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration. A great example was her partnership with composers, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Greystone Singers, Aurora Voce, and USask’s Quantum Innovation signature area to produce a concert theme of Illuminare; a multi-sensory choral treatment of the concept of light that combined musical performance, lecture, interpretive movement, and a Quantum Light Projection visual experience.

“As a researcher, artist, and teacher, I am passionate about quality music education programs and ensuring that all people have access to musical experiences that can enrich their quality of life. I am committed to a breadth of research perspectives that transcend and combine all aspects of performance, research, pedagogy, curriculum, and music and well-being practices,” said Lang.

“There’s a lot of momentum in the projects that I have been doing, so that’s been very rewarding. The more you engage in research that opens doors to other areas, the more you want to explore all of those areas; wherever it takes you and wherever it may lead.”

Dr. Yang Yang (PhD)

Yang, who earned a PhD from USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources in June 2018 before joining the JSGS faculty a year later, said it is a tremendous honour to be awarded the designation of New Researcher.

“It is both encouraging and affirming that the research I have been building at the intersection of economics, consumer behaviour, and public policy—work that explores how people make decisions about food, agriculture, public services, and broader policy issues—is making a meaningful contribution,” Yang said.

Dr. Loleen Berdahl (PhD), JSGS executive director and professor of political studies, and Dr. Jill Hobbs (PhD), professor in USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources, who nominated her, wrote:

“As a highly productive researcher, Yang has developed a vibrant, well-funded research program and moved her successful research agenda to the next level by publishing peer-reviewed articles in top agricultural economics and policy journals, and securing research funds from highly competitive sources.”

Yang is passionate about her research on public acceptance of novel food technologies and exploration of what drives public support or resistance to innovations in science around food and agriculture, such as biotechnology and bioinoculants. Her analysis considers such factors as human values, trust, and communication strategies, as well as regulatory frameworks and governance models.

“It started from my curiosity about the gap between what traditional economic theory predicts and how people actually behave in the real world,” she said. “Our brains are story processors, not logic processors. Stories in social media and mass media are more appealing than what we see in journal articles or government reports that are technical, and often hard to understand. So, communication strategies matter, and the format can shape people’s acceptance.”

Her seminal research findings in this area have been cited nearly 200 times since 2020 and prompted other academic studies.

Yang’s research is growing in the area of public finance and behavioural policy, particularly through Research Junction, a collaboration between USask and the City of Saskatoon. Delving into such issues as property taxation and business incentives is rewarding, Yang said, because these issues directly impact people and affect local policy development to serve the public better.

Mentoring grad students is a privilege, said Yang, who is supervising three master’s students, two PhD students, a post-doctoral fellow, and serves on numerous graduate students’ thesis supervisory committees.

“The supportive research environment at USask, and the strong mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and encouragement from many colleagues, mentors, and students helped my growth as a researcher and a faculty member. I want to pass what I have learned, and what has nourished me, to the next generation of grad students.”

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