Entomological Society of Canada – Gold Medal

2020 Gold Medal

Gail Anderson

The ESC Gold Medal recognizes outstanding achievement in Canadian entomology. The recipient of the 2021 ESC Gold Medal is Dr Gail S. Anderson of Simon Fraser University (SFU).

In 1992, by special arrangement with the BC Coroner’s Office and SFU, Dr Gail Anderson was appointed as Canada’s first academic Forensic Entomologist. Over three decades, she built a high-profile research program, conducted entomological investigations of 250 homicides and other criminal cases, and played a key role in establishing SFU’s Centre for Forensic Research. Since 2002 she has held a prestigious Burnaby Mountain Endowed Professorship.

After graduating from Manchester University in 1983, Dr Anderson earned a Master of Pest Management Degree in 1986 from SFU and her PhD in 1992. Her research on hypersensitivity to Culicoides (no-see-ums) bites in horses earned her the Canadian Wild Horse Society Award and culminated in the world’s first successful demonstration of immunotherapy in horses.

Then opportunity came knocking. One of her PhD supervisors, Dr John H. Borden, was asked by the BC Coroners Service if he could find a student interested in forensic entomology. After interning in 14 homicide investigations, she had a job! Since 1988, she has submitted an average of eight yearly Forensic Entomology Case Reports to numerous police agencies. As a Board-Certified Forensic Entomologist she has appeared in court 36 times as an expert witness. She has taught forensic entomology workshops at the Canadian Police College 24 times, to an estimated cumulative audience of approximately 1,200 senior police officers. She has also taught the principles of her science to wildlife officers, rangers and wardens in four provinces, the Yukon, eight US states and Mexico.

Dr Anderson’s laboratory was the first in Canada devoted solely to Forensic Entomology and Carrion Ecology. With $11,670,421 in external funding, she has shown that constant and fluctuating temperatures have different effects on insect development and survival. Her work has revealed that both arrival on and departure from corpses is earlier in northern than in southern regions of North America, and that burial with even the lightest covering alters colonizing insects from calliphorids to muscids. She developed a standard protocol used across Canada to disclose major differences in carrion communities and insect succession. She has investigated the effects of fire on insect activity in bodies found in buildings or vehicles that have been set ablaze, compared insect colonization of corpses in enclosed structure versus in the open and worked with Ocean Networks Canada using remotely operated submarines to investigate decomposition of corpses submerged in fresh and salt water.

Dr Anderson has published 2 books (both in 2nd edition), 54 peer-reviewed papers, 26 invited refereed chapters and 3 sections in books, 10 non-refereed journal articles, 2 edited booklets, 13 technical reports, 21 invited chapter and book reviews and an instructional video on techniques in forensic entomology. She has given 36 keynote plenary talks and 349 additional invited talks in 8 countries. Dr. Anderson has been featured in 316 media appearances, several of which reported on her testimony for high-profile cases including the Whistler sled dog massacre, the mysterious human feet washing up on BC’s beaches, the Robert Pickton trial and the Kirsten Blaize Lobato wrongful conviction case.

Dr Anderson has mentored many graduate and undergraduate students and has participated generously in science outreach to high-school students, aboriginal youth and even seniors. She has taught six undergraduate courses in Criminology, including a highly enrolled course that she developed in Forensic Entomology. Externally her extraordinary service includes many posts with the Entomological Society of Canada (President 2019-2020), the American Board of Forensic Entomology (Chair 2013-2015), the North American Forensic Entomology Association (President 2009-2010), the Canadian Society of Forensic Sciences (President 2008), and the Entomological Society of B.C. (President 1995-1996 and 2002-2003).

Dr Anderson received the Outstanding Alumni Award for Academic Achievement from SFU in 1995. In 1998, she was selected as one of the Top 40 under 40 in Canada. In 1999 she received the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Science and Technology and was listed by Time Magazine as one of the Leaders for the 21st Century. The Vancouver Sun honoured her as 1 of the 100 Most Influential Women in BC in 2010 and 1 of 6 most influential scientists in BC in 2015. Her research on a national forensic entomology database was selected in 2000 by the Canadian Police Research Centre as one of their top 10 funded projects. Dr Anderson was made a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 1991. The Canadian Society of Forensic Sciences elected her as a Fellow in 1991 and granted her the prestigious Derome Award in 2001. Finally, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Pathology and Biology presented Dr Anderson with their 2017 Achievement Award in the Life Sciences.

Dr Gail S. Anderson stands out for her pioneering professional and research accomplishments, her outreach contributions to scientific bodies and communities, her teaching and mentorship, and her service as a leader at the highest level in scientific and professional associations. The Entomological Society of Canada is proud to celebrate her as the 2021 Gold Medalist.