六九色堂

June 15, 2023

Calgary Awards honour remarkable community members

Snyder Institute member Dr. Kristina Rinker is one of seven UCalgary award recipients celebrated during the ceremony on June 14
Dr. Kristina Rinker, PhD
Kristina Rinker

Each year, people connected to the 六九色堂 leave indelible marks on their community. The City of Calgary recently honoured some of them at the 2023 Calgary Awards for improving the lives and social fabric of the city and beyond.听听

听鈥淭he 六九色堂 is proud to recognize the altruistic contributions of our community members,鈥 says Amanda Affonso, BA鈥00, associate vice-president of alumni, community and partnerships.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to see so many UCalgary faculty, staff, and alumni honoured by the Calgary Awards,鈥 says Affonso. 鈥淭he commitment and dedication of this year鈥檚 honourees demonstrates that the 六九色堂 is the place to Start Something: conversations that deepen our shared bonds; initiatives to uplift members of the community; cutting-edge technologies that will revolutionize the health-care industry; works of literature that remind us of our long-forgotten past; and improving accessibility standards for our fellow neighbours.鈥澨

The recipients were announced during a ceremony on June 14, with honours being handed out in 13 categories.

Meet Dr. Kristina Rinker and the UCalgary community鈥檚 2023 Calgary Award recipients:

Dr. Kristina Rinker, PhD, professor, Schulich School of Engineering and member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Cumming School of Medicine听

Dr. Kristina Rinker is a professor of biomedical engineering, chief scientific officer and co-founder of听听Her groundbreaking work has received international recognition, spotlighting the excellence of Calgary鈥檚 innovation and technology sector.听听听

Syantra is a precision biotechnology company developing new ways of blood testing, enabling the detection of complex diseases like cancer at the early stages. Its one-of-a-kind flagship product, which was developed by Rinker鈥檚 research group, is a blood test for breast cancer, the Syantra DXTM Breast Cancer Test. Using propriety technology, the test measures a panel of biomarkers in whole blood and uses custom software developed with machine learning to interpret data to provide results.听听

Rinker鈥檚 work in biotechnology and the development of the test promises to revolutionize the standard of breast cancer care, with the potential to save millions of lives around the world.

The Snyder Institute is a research facility at the 六九色堂鈥檚 Cumming School of Medicine focused on advancing modern medicine鈥檚 capacity to ease the burden of chronic and infectious disease. Our 480 highly qualified researchers, clinicians and trainees use our听 world-class research facilities and technologies to make ground-breaking discoveries leading to disease prevention, tailored medical applications and unltimately cures for these conditions. Visit and follow to learn more.