(L-R) David Bullock, Laureen Hachem and Robyn Maynard (supplied images)

Recent University of Toronto alumni David Bullock, Laureen Hachem and Robyn Maynard have received the 2025 Governor General’s Gold Medal in recognition of academic excellence at the graduate level. The gold medal, awarded each year to three U of T students determined to have the highest academic standing, is one of the most prestigious honours reserved for graduate students in Canada. Candidates are evaluated based on their performance in degree courses, the merit of their thesis and its defense, and the originality and importance of their research.

2024–25 Governor General’s Gold Medal Winners

Dr. David Bullock
SJD 2024, Faculty of Law

Dr. David Bullock is a scholar and practicing lawyer whose doctoral research resulted in a ground-breaking interdisciplinary dissertation bringing together tort law analysis, legal philosophy, and environmental law. He completed his Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) at the University of Toronto in 2024. Bullock holds an LLM from Yale Law School and an LLB (First Class Honours) and BCA in Economics from Victoria University of Wellington. He is a partner at LeeSalmonLong in Auckland and a former clerk to the Chief Justice of New Zealand. Bullock’s work has been published in leading journals, and he is co-author of The Law of Costs in New Zealand (LexisNexis, 2022).

Dr. Laureen Hachem
PhD 2024, Institute of Medical Science and Department of Surgery, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Dr. Laureen Hachem completed her PhD in 2024 at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, where she has been a resident physician in the division of neurosurgery since 2017. Hachem’s research, focusing on spinal cord injury and neurotrauma, has been featured in numerous prestigious journals including Nature Neuroscience and Stem Cell Reports. A CIHR Vanier Scholar and multiple grant-recipient, Hachem has received several awards including the Charles Tator Spinal Cord Injury Resident Research Award. A dedicated scholar, researcher and scientist, Hachem has held multiple leadership roles at the university and is a mentor to both students and researchers.

Dr. Robyn Maynard
PhD 2024, Women and Gender Studies Institute

Dr. Robyn Maynard is an Assistant Professor of Black Feminisms in Canada at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She holds a graduate appointment in the Women and Gender Studies Institute, where she successfully defended her dissertation in 2024. She is the author of the award-winning Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present (Fernwood, 2017) and its revised and expanded edition (Fernwood, Duke University Press, In Press), and co-author of Rehearsals for Living (Knopf/Haymarket, 2022). Maynard’s research and teaching focus on transnational Black feminist thought, Black social movements, policing, borders and carceral studies, Black-Indigenous histories and praxis, Black Canadian studies, as well as abolitionist and anti-colonial methodologies.

About the Governor General’s Academic Medal

The Academic Medals were created in 1873 and are presented on behalf of the Governor General by participating educational institutions, along with personalized certificates signed by the Governor General. 

Read more about the Governor General’s Academic Medal.