CSEP Mentorship Award in Honour of Enzo Cafarelli

• The applicant will submit a one-page (~300 words) formal letter of nomination that includes a minimum of three CSEP Student Members that have studied under the applicant. 
• The formal letter will also include rationale in support of the nomination.
• Apply between April 1 – May 1, 2025, to be recognized for your contributions to exercise science and kinesiology.

• The CSEP Member Services Committee will review the submissions and select the award recipient. 
• Please note that incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
• The award recipient will be named at the CSEP Annual Conference during the Gala and will be presented with a framed citation.

• The award recipient will be presented with a framed citation at the CSEP Annual Conference during the Gala. 
• The award recipient will receive a complimentary registration for the CSEP Annual Conference for themselves and a graduate student.

2024 Dr. Jennifer Reed, Ph.D., University of Ottawa

2023 Dr. Kristi Adamo, Ph.D., University of Ottawa

2022 Kevin Shoemaker, University of Western Ontario 

2021 William Sheel, University of British Columbia

2019 Charles Rice, University of Western Ontario  

2018 Maureen MacDonald, McMaster University

2017 Stuart Phillips, McMaster University

Enzo Cafarelli, York University Professor Emeritus/Senior Scholar passed away following a courageous battle with cancer in February 2016, at the age of 74. Over the course of his career, Enzo has investigated neuromuscular adaptations to fatigue, resistance training, endurance training, caffeine, and pathologies such as diabetes and muscular dystrophy and has contributed significantly to our understanding of the central and peripheral inputs that alter motor unit behavior and the voluntary activation of muscle. This work has resulted in over 55 research articles that demonstrate the acute and chronic adaptations of the neuromuscular system. Enzo has shared this knowledge with undergraduate students in physiology courses at York University, graduate students in his laboratory, and with his colleagues.

As a graduate student advisor, Enzo went well beyond providing technical skills, knowledge, encouragement, and motivation to complete a degree. His lab was the model of an ideal research environment. It was organized, productive, and structured without being inflexible. Students in Enzo’s lab were expected to work hard and to function like a team and not a hierarchy. Just as importantly, Enzo demonstrated the importance of balancing research and hard work with family, friends, and life outside the lab. He was a mentor in every sense of the word, acting as both an advisor and an advocate to his students and to young investigators beginning their careers. At CSEP conferences, Enzo could be found talking to students and new investigators at posters, in presentation halls, and over a drink at the end of the day. Always willing to listen to a problem, offer advice, and discuss new ideas, it was obvious that Enzo was a dedicated mentor to the future scientists and educators of CSEP.