RTDNA Canada announces Avis Favaro as a recipient of a 2022 National Lifetime Achievement Award 

Toronto, ON (June 7, 2022) RTDNA Canada is pleased to recognize Avis Favaro who has distinguished herself through outstanding service and continued excellence during the course of her career in journalism and news broadcasting. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award is one of the highest honours bestowed by RTDNA Canada. The award is for lifetime achievement rather than for a single contribution. 

RTDNA President Fiona Conway said, “I remember in the early days when Avis was creating the medical beat at CTV News and thinking this could really be great…well, here we are many years and Avis did create and develop the gold standard of medical reporting in Canada. She has always leaned on the science while being able to make complicated medical issues understandable and relatable to our audiences. I believe her impact has been immeasurable. I am so proud to be able to present my former colleague with this prestigious award and recognition. Congratulations Avis!” 

As the country’s longest serving television health correspondent Avis Favaro has always had one mission – telling stories that help Canadians.

Favaro began as a news writer at Global Television in 1982, under the tutelage of veteran journalist Peter Trueman. After moving into general news and business reporting, a feature story on a novel brain cancer therapy using light, sparked her interest in health journalism and set her on a path that would become her passion. 

In 1992, she was recruited by CTV News and in the three decades since has worked with Lloyd Robertson and Lisa LaFlamme in reporting a vast array of important health issues, from new treatments for once untreatable diseases, to shortages of essential medications, medical errors, infectious diseases, and most recently, medically assisted death.

Favaro has been recognized with a Gemini Award and 13 nominations, along with multiple awards from the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Ontario Registered Nurses Association, and the RTDNA. 

Favaro holds an honourary PhD from McMaster University where this fall, she will serve as the first Journalist in Residence at the Faculty of Science. She is a graduate of Western University in London, Ont., where she earned a Master’s Degree in Journalism. Her favourite role, however, is as grandmother of three (with one more on the way.) 

She is deeply grateful to the RTDNA for this Lifetime Achievement Award, as she begins a new chapter in her career as a freelance health journalist. 

About RTDNA Canada 

RTDNA Canada is the voice of electronic and digital journalists and news managers in Canada. The members of RTDNA Canada recognize the responsibility of broadcast and digital journalists to promote and to protect the freedom to report independently about matters of public interest and to present a wide range of expressions, opinions, and ideas. The RTDNA Canada Journalistic Code of Ethics, adopted by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, is used to measure fairness and accuracy in our profession. 

Click HERE to become a member. 

Contact Information 

Fiona Conway 
President, RTDNA Canada 
president@rtdnacanada.com    

Karen Mitchell 
Award Chair, RTDNA Canada 
karen.mitchell@bellmedia.ca 

Mieke Anderson 
Awards Committee, RTDNA Canada 
mieka.anderson@globalnews.ca 

Colleen Schmidt 
Awards Committee, RTDNA Canada 
colleen.schmidt@bellmedia.ca 

RTDNA Canada    
awards@rtdnacanada.com 
http://www.rtdnacanada.com 

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