Denis Protti, the inaugural recipient of the M&T Award, is recognized for his establishment of Canada's first School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria in the early 1980's. This program has produced hundreds of health informatics professionals, many who work within Canada's health system. Mr. Protti was Director of the School from 1981 to 1993 and has continued his affiliation with the school as a Professor and researcher. More recently, he has worked to establish graduate level programs for both early and mid-career professionals. He is currently the Director of the Certificate Program in Health Informatics, Director of the Graduate Program and Director, and Director of the Government Informatics Program. The expansion of the Health Information Science program will help address a growing need within the health system. Mr. Protti has provided significant mentorship to the student population within Canada and internationally and has acted in various roles as supervisor, panel review member or Chair of the review committees for over seventy graduate students from various faculties.

Over the past 30 years, Mr. Protti has been, and continues to be, active in providing his leadership and knowledge to the development, implementation and evaluation of data standards and information systems throughout Canada and internationally. Some of his more prominent leadership activities include:

• Founder of Partnerships for Productivity, which for 20 years has brought together health sector leaders from around the world
• Inaugural chair of CIHI's Partnership for Health Informatics/Telematics which brought together health industry stakeholders to set the course for health data and information systems in Canada
• Founding member of the Canadian Organization for the Advancement of Computers in Healthcare (COACH)