Temerty Faculty of Medicine appoints new MBP Chair

The following is a communication from Dr. Trevor Young, Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

I’m pleased to announce that the Agenda Committee of the Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Laurie Ailles as Chair of the Department of Medical Biophysics for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2023. She succeeds Professor Thomas Kislinger who completes his term as Chair on June 30, 2023.

Dr. Laurie Ailles is Associate Professor and Chair of Admissions in the Department of Medical Biophysics.  She is a Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), UHN where she chairs the Princess Margaret Cancer Biobank steering committee and is a member of the PMCC Senior Advisory Group. Prior to joining U of T, she was Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Biology at Stanford University.

Dr. Ailles obtained a BSc in biology at Carleton University, an MSc in pathology at Queen’s University and a PhD in genetics at the University of British Columbia before completing postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and at the Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Turin. 

Her cross-disciplinary cancer research program centres around patient-derived tissues and models, which have led to the establishment of resources that are now shared with laboratories around the world.  Dr. Ailles has received funding from numerous granting agencies such as CIHR, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Ovarian Cancer Canada and the Cancer Research Society. She has (co)authored peer-reviewed research manuscripts, review articles and book chapters in internationally recognized journals such as J of Experimental Medicine, Cell, Nature, Cell Reports, Clinical Cancer Research and Nature Reviews Urology. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association for Cancer Research, Dr. Ailles has served on the Stanford University Stinehart Reed Grants and Israeli Cancer Research Foundation review panels in addition to numerous CIHR and Canadian Cancer Society review panels.

Please join me in congratulating Professor Ailles on her appointment. I would also like to offer my most sincere thanks to Professor Kislinger for his excellent leadership of the department since 2017 and wish him the very best in the future.

Sincerely, 

Trevor Young, MD PhD FRCPC
Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine