With a background in psychology and a PhD in neuroscience, management didn't initially figure among Nashwa Irfan's career goals.

“I would have never gone into management if it were not for my father's encouragement,” says Dr. Irfan.

Her father the late Dr. Muhammad Irfan, a professor in physics at St. John's University was certainly right about Dr. Irfan's talent as a manager. This year she received not one, but two prestigious awards for her work as Health Canada's Associate Director of its Marketed Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau.