Stephen Jones

Winnipeg, MB | @youthbiolab

Director, Youth BIOlab
St. Boniface Hospital Research
Winnipeg, MB | @youthbiolab

CWHHA member since 2023

Biography  

Steve Jones is the Director of the RBC Youth BIOlab at the St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre and the driving force connecting youthful minds to scientific discovery in North America’s only state-of-the-art student lab located inside a world class medical research institution. Born and raised in Ontario, Steve moved to Winnipeg after graduating from Queen’s University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science. Steve began his career at St. Boniface in 1999 as a technician in Dr. Ian Dixon’s lab at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, and he followed an interest in education to earn a B.Ed. from the University of Manitoba in 2005. It was during this time that scientific and health literacy became a passion for Steve, and with a like-minded colleague, Dr. Mark Torchia, a partnership with the Louis Riel School Division(LRSD) was established in 2004 to develop a school outreach program. Participation in this unique partnership grew exponentially in just a few years, seeing more than four thousand students in schools in 2011-12, and attracting interest from other school divisions at the same time. In 2011, Manitoba Education invested $450K to enhance the program, and RBC was secured as a corporate sponsor by the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation with a matching injection of funds that went towards the construction of the onsite RBC Youth BIOlab attheAlbrechsten Research Centre. Opening in 2013, the RBC Youth BIOlab has since hosted over 35,000 students from across Manitoba–and Steve and his team have worked with a total of 70,000 students since the LRSD program first began as a way to engage schools, teachers and students in authentic science experiences. The program has attracted funding from several Manitoba School Divisions, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and many donors through the support of the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Youth BIOlab shifted to an online model of interacting with students, creating YouTube videos that showcase modern medical science, online ‘field trips’ and live streamed interviews with other Research Centre scientists, along with the publication of a children's magazine early in the pandemic and a children’s activity book that highlights the work of the Albrechtsen Research Centre. In May 2018, Steve was awarded a Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Certificate of Achievement, presented by the Prime Minister of Canada to recognize exceptional Canadian elementary and secondary school teachers.