The scientific community mourns the loss of Dr. Pawan K. Singal, Principal Investigator
Cell Pathophysiology and one of the original founders who played a pivotal role in establishing St. Boniface Hospital Research almost four decades ago. Dr. Singal passed away after a short illness surrounded by his family.
With a career spanning several decades, Dr. Singal was a distinguished professor in the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba and the former Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (2007-2017). His ground-breaking research on oxidative stress and heart failure has left an indelible mark on the medical community, leading to advancements in patient care and treatment.
“While we mourn the passing of Dr Singal and commiserate with his family, we also warmly remember the tremendous impact he made here at St Boniface Hospital Research and internationally as a researcher, educator, mentor, and leader,” said Dr. Michael Czubryt, Executive Director, Research, St. Boniface Hospital. “Over his impressive scientific career, he was a champion for students, working tirelessly to ensure they were supported and received excellent training opportunities.”
Dr. Singal began his academic journey at Punjab University in India, where he earned his BSc and MSc degrees in Biophysics. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity about the human body, he went on to complete his PhD in Physiology at the University of Alberta in 1974. In 1982, Dr. Singal joined the University of Manitoba, leaving a lasting legacy through his research, teaching, and mentorship.
With over 300 publications, Dr. Singal’s extensive body of work solidified his reputation as a global authority in the field. His laboratory at the Albrechtsen Research Centre was a hub of innovation, unraveling the complex mechanisms of heart failure. Over the years, Dr. Singal and his team gained invaluable insights into the cellular and molecular changes underlying heart failure. His research revealed the involvement of free radicals and their impact on myocardial cells, as well as the weakening of natural defense mechanisms following a heart attack.
Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Director Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences remembers Singal as a compassionate and deeply caring man who loved his family and lived life to its fullest. “His warm welcoming smile was infectious and his outlook on life was always positive even at times of adversity. Pawan touched the lives of many people and made the world a better place,” he said. “I have very fond memories of Pawan as a mentor, teacher and most importantly as my friend and he will be sadly missed. I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, Rohit, Mona and grandchildren.”
Dr. Singal’s dedication to mentoring the next generation of researchers is exemplified by his role as a mentor to more than 100 trainees, many of whom have achieved success in their own health and research-related careers.
“He has always held my admiration as a scientist, a teacher and mentor, an administrator, a family man, and a member of the community at large. He excelled in all these domains,” said Dr. Elissavet Kardami, Principal Investigator, Muscle Cell Biochemistry, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, “I send my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family.”
“We have lost a great leader, an internationally recognized scientist, a proud Canadian, and a wonderful soul. He will be missed,” offered another long-time colleague, Dr. Grant Pierce, President, International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences.
Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Singal received numerous accolades and honors in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field. In 2018, the University of Winnipeg awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, acknowledging his remarkable scientific research and educational career. He was also named a Distinguished Cardiovascular Scientist by the Cuban Society of Cardiology in the same year and received the prestigious Distinguished Physiologist award from the American Physiological Society in 2016. These accolades, along with the Commemorative Medal of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and University of Manitoba Merit Awards, underscore Dr. Singal’s unwavering commitment to excellence in research and teaching.
Beyond his academic achievements, Dr. Singal was a visionary leader, teacher, and dedicated community advocate for cross-cultural understanding. His commitment to the India Centre for Academic, Business, and Community Excellence—an initiative between the University of Winnipeg and the India Association of Manitoba—demonstrated his commitment to fostering a democratic and culturally diverse society.
Dr. Singal was a generous and longstanding donor to the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation, and he established the Dr. Pawan K. Singal, ICS Director Fund to support the ongoing needs of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences. He also ably served as a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors for six years beginning in 2016.
“Dr. Singal was a true champion of medical research and the power it has to change lives. He generously gave St. Boniface Hospital Foundation time, talent, and treasure to ensure future generations of medical scientists will have the resources they need to make game-changing discoveries. The Board of Directors and staff at the Foundation are deeply saddened by his passing and have his loved ones in our thoughts,” said Karen Fowler, President & CEO of St. Boniface Hospital Foundation.
On behalf of St. Boniface Hospital, the Research Centre and the Foundation, we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and the countless lives touched by his significant scientific contributions.
A memorial service for Dr. Singal will be held on Sunday, June 11 at 2 pm at Thompson in the Park. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation or CancerCare Manitoba.
I am deeply saddened by the passing of my colleague and friend Pawan Singal, and I send my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family. I met Pawan as one of the original five to come to SBRC. He was always courteous, respectful. hospitable and helpful. I believe that over the many years we knew each other we developed mutual respect, appreciation and friendship. He has always held my admiration as a scientist, a teacher and mentor, an administrator, a family man, and a member of the community at large. He excelled in all these domains. He was a world famous pioneer due to his numerous studies on the role of oxidative stress, and cancer-fighting drugs, on cardiac pathology; his many recognitions and awards speak to that. He was devoted to his trainees, and many went on to follow his stellar example. During his tenure as the Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences he exhibited wisdom, fairness, diligence, care and respect for all members. In my interactions with him he was always straightforward and cordial, and I knew I could rely on him as a colleague and a fellow human being; I hope that he knew that I held him in very high esteem. Also, I deeply admired his work and contributions to the Indian community in Winnipeg and elsewhere. Pawan carried a quiet but powerful dignity in all his interactions. He met adversity with fortitude and resilience. A hard act to follow indeed. I will miss him.
We are deeply saddened and shocked to hear the passing of our dearest friend and colleague, Prof. Pawan Singal. No words can express our sadness. We will never forget our friend Pawan and his outstanding contribution to cardiovascular research at all levels. He was a star, and he is now among them forever. Dear Pawan, we are holding our tears which is difficult to do… God bless you… You will always be among us.
A warm ingratiating personality who made all around him feel welcome in his presence, in addition to exhibiting the best of professionalism.
My sincerest condolences to the whole family. May he rest in peace.
This is very sad new! He was my mentor as a visiting scientist from Brazil. His support and guidance was very important for me and my students in Porto Alegre, Brazil. We will miss him a lot…
It is very shocking and unbelievable news about Dr. Singal .we send our deepest condolences . It is great loss to scientific community. Dr.pawan singal was great mentor and an academician. I feel fortunate that I got opportunity to spend time in institute as visiting scientist with him.He was true gentleman always ready to help . I can not forget his visits to M.SUniversity and to our house in India
We pray God to give enough strength to family members to bear his loss.
It has been extremly shoking to hear about the sad news about Dr.Pawan singal. I had joined as an international ph.D student in U of M . Where initialltly I faced some challenges and I was very fortunate that I met Dr. Singal. He mentored and guided me during my difficult times and inspired me to do great work. It is a great loss for the scinetific community. I wish strenght to the family members.
Dr Singal, pleasure to meet Dr Singal in Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Winnipeg. Great times together and unique opportunities that he offered to me and my colleagues from the lab of Prof Adriane Bello-Klein. Rest in peace Dr Singal. My condolences to whole family and his research team and colleagues at SBRC.
My brother-in-law, Dr. Pawan Singal was a pillar of both family and community. He will be sorely missed. We are all heart broken and saddened by the passing of this great man.
I am deeply saddened by the news of Pawan Singal. It is something, I am unable to accept that he is not with us.
There are many examples of his great mentorship but in spite of one the greatest contributions in the field of cardiovascular research, he never posed to be great. Some research is recognised very late. His work on oxidative stress in cancer will give answers to cancer treatment, may be little later. In my last dialogue when he was in India, we were to take it further. My tribute will be if I or someone else does it to help Society overcoming problems of cancer.
The Hindu Culture Center in Winnipeg, is a creation of Pawan Singal. Although, many were involved and a large sum of donations came from personalities like Raj Pandeyji and Dr Raman Patel ji and many others, networking, physical involvement and hidden donations from Pawan were unparalleled. He will be remembered for it. Again, to keep away from any special recognition or publicity but continue to work with selfless motive is rare to very rare and that is why to me, Pawan Singal is one of the greatest souls on the earth.
I’m Shanti
It is indeed a great loss. Dr Singal was truly an exceptional individual, and his contributions as a researcher and mentor will be remembered by many. May his memory serve as a guiding light for all those who strive for excellence and seek to make a positive impact on the world.
Our deepest sympathy and condolences to Dr .Singal family. His contributions to science is remarkable. He will be missed .
I am so shocked by this sad news. He was truly a world class scientist with pioneering work in the area of cancer drugs cardiotoxicity, oxidative stress heart failure. During my 4 decades of career, I learned so much from his intellect and wisdom. Dr. Singal was a great family person and an amazing friend. I have so many fond memories of spending time with him during our travel to scientific meetings and visiting his home at Winnipeg. Going to these meetings without him will never be the same. He will always be missed. My heart goes out to his wonderful children, Mona, Rohit and the entire family.
Dear friends and colleagues,
We are shocked by the completely unexpected loss of our special friend Pawan. Please accept our sincere condolences with his loss. Everything will be different from now on. We will never forget him.
Jan and Olga Slezak
Deeply Saddened to hear the news. It feels very personal that Dr. Singal is not with us, I could not sleep yesterday after I heard the news, and still unable to come to understand the change. Dr. Singal impacted everyone he met and I have fond memories and learnt great things from him.
I am shocked to hear the passing away of our dearest friend Pawan. I am deeply saddened and I will miss him always. He had very warm hospitality and always very gentelman. I send my condolences to his family and all friends. I will remember him always with his warm friendship.
Dear Mona & Rohit
We are so sorry to hear about dear Pawan. The news this morning came as an utter shock & disbelief. You and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers. We will miss both your mom & dad, they both touched our life in so many ways. May God give you the courage to bear this loss and the departed RIP. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Anju & Anil Jindal
Dear Mona & Rohit
We are so sorry to hear about dear Pawan. The news this morning came as an utter shock & disbelief. You and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers. We will miss both your mom & dad, they both touched our life in so many ways. May God give you the courage to bear this loss and the departed RIP. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Anju & Anil Jindal
I am shocked to hear the sad news that Dr. Pawan Singal is no longer with us. We have lost a pioneer and world class cardiovascular researcher. I have many fond memories of spending time with him during the science conferences and visit to Winnipeg. I am deeply touched by his generosity, wisdom, and compassion for all. My heartfelt condolences to Dr. Singal family.
Indeed, we are saddened with the news on the departure of the Holy Soul of our beloved Pawan Singal ji to heavenly abode.
May the Holy Soul rest in peace!
May the Almighty Lord give peace and strength to the family and friends at this time of sorrow and grief.
Dr. Singal was a distinguished, one-of-a-kind scientist. Those who had the pleasure to meet him were blessed to know his true personality. A humble, thoughtful, and charitable human soul. He will be deeply missed by the scientific community and by all the lives he touched. He was one of the very first mentors who truly believed in my potential. I will be forever grateful for his guidance and example. Sending love and peace to the family
I am still not able to believe that Dr. Singal is not with us. I have so many good memories with him, I worked with him, we travelled together, had discussions on different topics apart from science. Since yesterday morning I have received so many phone calls from friends and colleagues from different parts of the world talking about Dr. Singal, his contributions to science, and community at large. He was an excellent scientist, teacher, and a mentor. He was a great human being, community builder and a problem solver, very kind and always willing to help those who were in need. He was a family man, every time he would come back from Vancouver and Victoria, he would bring lot of good memories to share about Rohit, Mona and his grandchildren. I have learned a lot from him. Dr. Singal I will miss you; I will miss those occasional Friday afternoon informal discussions with you in your office or in my office on science, life, history and politics. My prayers are with Rohit, Mona, Ashok Ji and other members of his family. May GOD give them the strength to bear this loss.
Dear Mona and Rohit, we are so saddened by the passing of your dad. He was like an elder brother, mentor and a role model. We always looked up to him. We’ll miss him dearly. Community has lost a great leader. May God give you all the strength and courage to bear this unbearable loss. Om Shanti!
Hanna and I are shocked to hear about Pawan passing, a dear friend and colleague. A very, very sad news and a huge loss to our cardiovascular community. We have fond memories of travelling with Pawan in India, his friendship and passion for science. With our deepest condolences to the family. Pawan, we will miss you.
With tears I cannot believe the loss of my mentor, a member of my second family in Winnipeg. It is shocking and sad news to me. My sincere and deep condolences to his family members. I can not express how much he was so kind with me, very helpful during supervising my PhD thesis, I learned from him a lot. He was giving me and my colleagues every possible chance to develop our career from conferences, meeting visiting scientists, and publishing in well reputable journals. He was treating me and my colleagues as his family, he invited us many times in his home and out his home for social gathering. Canada lost a distinguished scientist and very humble and helpful person. I hope that god will help his family to withstand this great loss
I am shocked to know that Dr. Singal passed away. He was a great friend, who contributed a significant research at St. Boniface Reseach Centre. I remember him since 1982 when I joined the Department of Physiology as a postdoctoral fellow. He invited me to his house on many occassions in social gatherings. I came to know his family very closely including his two wonderful kids, Mona and Rohit. As one of the members and a past faculty of this great Instituition, I have had many publications with him. Although Dr. Singal, you are no more with us, I will remember you as a fine academic person who helped me in every step of the way for my career. It is a loss to the cardiovascular society in large and he will be missed for a long time to come.
Pawan was closest family friend. Our children grew up together.we visited each other’s family every weekend. Pawan had very likeable personality. He always had the right words for everyone.we did not loose a friend, we lost a community leader a great scientist & a great human being.
Our sincere condolences to Rohit,Mona & singal family. Let the legacy live on.
Om shanti shanti .
Kiran &Pawas Verma&family.
We are both very sorry to hear of the death of our good friend and excellent scientist Pawan Singal. Please, express our sincerest sympathy to the family and colleagues from the Institute.
Ivana and Boja Ostadal
Sad News indeed! Dr Pawan was a renouned researcher, but also had a special sparkling personality. It was my pleasure to work with him on the St Boniface Hospital Foundation Board. Condolences to his family & friends.
I was shocked to hear of the passing of Pawan. He was a giant in the Canadian Cardiovascular field. I enjoyed our many interactions at Scientific meetings around the world. I remember fondly him looking after me during a recent meeting in India, where we met the Indian Prine Minister, Mohammat Singh. He was a very caring individual.
Gary
Mona, thinking of you and your family during this time of grieving. You have my thoughts and prayers.
I am in schock and saddened over the horrible news that Prof. Singal has passed away. I interacted with Prof. Singal on several occasions (mainly during conferences and over the phone) and found him to be an exceptionaly knowledgeable, brilliant, gentle and warm person. My sincerest condolences to his family and his many friends all over the world. What a big loss for all of us! He will be deeply missed.
Dear Mona and Rohit, We are saddened to hear of the passing away of your father and our dear friend from Biophysics years in Chandigarh.
May his soul rest in peace!
It was with incredible shock and sadness learning of Pawan’s passing. His dedication to excellence in scientific research is well known and his outstanding reputation among the research community is firmly established and fully deserved. I have known Pawan for over 40 years and have considered him as a good friend. He was caring and compassionate and truly a fine human being.
My sincere condolences to his family as well as to his friends and colleagues throughout the world. He will be sorely missed. May his memory be a blessing.
I am saddened by the unexpected passing of Pawan. He was a long-time friend and colleague. I remember his kindness, warmth, hospitality during my several visits to Winnipeg and his visit to Louisville as an invited lecturer in 1998. His sudden passing reminds us of the brevity and fragility of this earthly life, which is a blink of an eye and can be taken from us at any time. My condolences to his family. I will always remember Pawan with affection as a genuine, pleasant, engaging, and warm friend.
We both (I and Madhu) are shocked to hear that Pawan is no more, in bone and flesh with us. We both knew him since past 35 plus years when I joined as postdoc in the department of Physiology, and my wife joined as first PhD student under his guidance in the University of Manitoba. In the beginning of our training in this part of the world, we, of course, had difficulties adjusting with new climate and surroundings. I remember many occasions when Pawan went out of way to help us feel comfortable and get adjusted to our new chosen surroundings. We both developed so much trust with him that we always felt at ease discussing our personal problems with him. When, we decided to move to University of Chicago for further training, he was the one person who encouraged us (like a big brother) to take this difficult step. Pawan was a highly accomplished scientist, who lived life to its fullest and touched many lives. Life is mortal, but we never expected that you will leave us at this early age. We will always miss you.
I am very shocked to hear the sad news that Dr. Pawan Singal !. He was a pioneer, world class cardiovascular researcher and an excellent mentor to many. I have many fond memories of spending time with him during the science conferences and remembered his great sense of humor. My heartfelt condolences to Dr. Singal family and may he rest in peace!
I am terribly sorry to hear the sad news about Dr Singal. Dr. Singal had an illustrious career spanning many decades and this is a huge loss to the Canadian scientific community. Dr. Singal was one of the initial members of the Canadian Oxidative Stress Consortium, founded by Dr Ashok Grover in 1999. I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Singal for many years on the COSC Executive committee. His years of experience, wisdom and mentoring of numerous trainees have been invaluable for guiding the mission of COSC, which puts a major emphasis on the development of the future generation of young scientists in redox biology and medicine. Dr Singal and his colleagues organised an excellent 6th COSC biennial conference at St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre, University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 2009. We will all miss Dr Singal.
May he rest in peace.
My sincere condoleances to Dr Singal’s family, friends and colleagues
Diana Averill-Bates, COSC group leader
Montreal
I am terribly sorry to learn the sad news regarding Dr. Singal. He had a sterling career and was a stalwart of oxidative stress in Canada. He made substantial contributions to Redox Biology and was one of the first members of the Canadian Oxidative Stress Consortium. He spent many years in the field of Redox Biology mentoring and guiding many students and trainees who have since gone on to establish their own careers in the many branches of biomedicine and the life sciences.
My deepest condolences to his family, friends, trainees, and colleagues
Ryan J. Mailloux
Director of Human Nutrition
McGill University