Mount Sinai Hospital names new research director

Toronto, ON – Dr Jim Woodgett, an internationally recognized molecular biologist known for research breakthroughs in understanding the molecular mechanisms contributing to breast and colon cancers, has been named the new director of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.

“The Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute is home to many of Canada’s high impact medical researchers,” says Dr Woodgett. “Its past achievements are globally recognized and I look forward to building on its talent and reputation for scientific excellence.”

Dr Woodgett says there has never been a more exciting time in discovery and the bench to bedside translation of medical research into treatments and cures. He describes the scientists at the SLRI as “pioneers” in stem cell research, systems biology, molecular genetics and genomic medicine.

“My job is simply to ‘best enable’ these exceptional researchers to realize their ideas and to help promote a culture of research-based medicine both within the institute and Mount Sinai Hospital,” he says.

Since 2000, he has served as director of the University Health Network’s (UHN) Microarray Centre. He has also been division head of experimental therapeutics at the Ontario Cancer Institute at UHN’s Princess Margaret Hospital. His research interests span dissection of the signaling pathways that are subverted in breast and colon cancer, understanding the cell fate decisions of stem cells and the development of DNA microarray technologies that permit genome-wide analysis of gene activity.