Newswise — Dr. Alan Bernstein, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), along with CIHR's Governing Council, announced today the appointment of Dr. Jane Aubin as incoming Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA). This appointment is effective January 1, 2007.
"Dr. Jane Aubin is a welcome addition to the CIHR executive leadership team," said Dr. Bernstein. "Her outstanding accomplishments in musculoskeletal health and arthritis will build upon the solid foundation created by IMHA over its first phase of development."
Dr. Aubin is Professor of Molecular and Medical Genetics in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto where she directs the bone program in the Centre for Modeling Human Disease. She is also currently Scientific Director and CEO of the Canadian Arthritis Network of Centres of Excellence, a national not-for-profit research consortium.
She received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Mathematics and the Gold Medal in Chemistry at Queen's University, and went on to do her PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, before returning to Toronto as an Assistant Professor in Oral Biology and member of the Medical Research Council Group in Periodontal Physiology. In 1988, she became Professor and Chair of the Graduate Department of Dentistry and Director of Postgraduate Dental Education, positions she held until 1994, when she became Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, a position she held until 2002.
" I am honoured and delighted to have this opportunity to serve the musculoskeletal, skin, oral health and rehabilitation research communities," said Dr. Aubin. "I look forward with great enthusiasm to working with Dr. Bernstein, the other Scientific Directors, the CIHR-IMHA team, and all IMHA stakeholders and partners to drive forward with programs that will allow Canada to advance its innovative research agenda. By working together, we can build upon the outstanding foundations set by Dr. Cy Frank, IMHA's inaugural Scientific Director, and meet the challenges impeding amelioration of the huge burden of illness under IMHA's trust in Canada and worldwide."
Dr. Aubin currently sits on the Research Advisory Board of the University of Toronto, is the University of Toronto Delegate to CIHR, and serves as Vice-Chair of CIHR-IMHA's Advisory Board. She is also a member of numerous other scientific advisory boards in academia and industry. She is a frequent reviewer for US, Canadian and international research granting agencies and holds positions on several editorial boards of research journals. In 1998-1999, she was the first non-American to serve as President of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the premiere society devoted to basic and clinical bone research in the world.
Dr. Aubin's research focuses on understanding mesenchymal stem cells — multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types — and the regulation of the development of osteoblasts — a type of cell that produces and mineralizes the protein scaffold for bone — in health and disease. She is also an international leader in developing mouse models for human bone disease.
"I would also like to thank Dr. Cyril Frank for his extraordinary leadership and vision in establishing IMHA," said Dr. Bernstein. "Over the past five years, he has created innovative research and training programs that have demonstrated the importance of skin, oral and musculoskeletal health research in improving the health of Canadians."
According to Dr. Bernstein, the work of Dr. Frank and IMHA has contributed to the development of unique models which engage the Institute's stakeholders in knowledge translation and exchange. In addition, IMHA's support of various national and international initiatives such as the Bone and Joint Decade during Dr. Frank's tenure provided a unique opportunity to feature excellent Canadian health research to the rest of the world.
" I am very grateful to CIHR and to everyone in the IMHA community for their support and for this opportunity of a lifetime" , said Dr. Frank. "With the appointment of Dr. Aubin, I remain as optimistic about CIHR and the future of health research today as I was when I started."
CIHR is comprised of 13 Institutes, each led by an internationally renowned Scientific Director, responsible for championing health research at the highest levels of international excellence, establishing and nurturing partnerships, as well as fostering effective communication and knowledge dissemination.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 10,000 health researchers and trainees in every province of Canada.
RSS