Sponsored by the CSC Organic Chemistry Subject Division
The Alfred Bader award is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition for excellence in research in organic chemistry by a scientist who is currently working in Canada. The scientist shall not have reached the age of 60 years by January 1 of the year in which the nomination becomes effective.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2026 winner of the Alfred Bader Award is:
Ralf Schirrmacher, MCIC
University of Alberta
Ralf Schirrmacher earned his doctorate in 1999 at Mainz University (Germany), working at the TRIGA research reactor. After a postdoctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Mainz as a civil servant and later became Head of Radiochemistry at University Hospital Mainz. In 2007, he joined McGill University as Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair Tier II, later heading the Cyclotron at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre. After tenure in 2012, he moved to the University of Alberta (Oncology) in 2014, becoming Full Professor in 2018 and adjunct professor in the Chemistry Department. He serves on the editorial board of EJNMMI Radiopharmacy and Chemistry.
The Schirrmacher lab pioneered silicon-based fluorine-18 labeling (SiFA), enabling highly efficient PET tracer synthesis. SiFA chemistry progressed from bench to bedside, leading to clinical trials of SiFA-PSMA for prostate cancer imaging and 18F-SiTATE for neuroendocrine tumor diagnosis, with thousands of patients scanned globally. Besides silicon-18F radiochemistry, Schirrmacher introduced 18F-TRACK, targeting tropomyosin receptor kinase for neurodegeneration and cancer imaging. His ongoing work focuses on advancing theranostic platforms by integrating SiFA with radiometal chelators, creating hybrid PET tracers for personalized medicine.