CIHR appoints new chief scientific officer/VP of research

Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has announced the appointment of Dr Jane Aubin to the position of chief scientific officer/vice-president, research effective Monday, July 4, 2011.

As chief scientific officer, Dr Aubin will assume responsibility for the oversight of all scientific affairs at CIHR and will provide CIHR with expert advice on matters relevant to science and technology, potential opportunities and emerging orientations and trends in the national and international health research community.

As vice-president, research, she will also be responsible for all aspects of adjudication of grants and awards at CIHR and finally, as a member of the scientific council, she will participate in the development, implementation, and reporting on CIHR’s research and knowledge translation strategy.

Dr Aubin’s career path has included several senior academic administrative positions, including chair of the Graduate Department of Dentistry and director of postgraduate dental education and chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto. She is currently a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto where she is a professor of molecular genetics and the director of the bone program in the Centre for Modeling Human Disease.

Dr Aubin has been scientific director and CEO of the Canadian Arthritis Network of Centres of Excellence and, for the past 4 years, scientific director of CIHR’s Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA).

Dr Aubin completed her PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Toronto. She later did her postdoctoral training in molecular biology and biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany.