Image credit- univcan.ca
Based on public consultations, Molly Shoichet, a professor at the University of Toronto, has been appointed as Ontario’s first Chief Scientist.
Shoichet, a researcher and award-winning expert in the study of polymers for drug delivery and tissue regeneration and a member of the Order of Ontario, will report to Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science and will advise Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne in promoting the country's world-class science both at home and to international audiences.
Recruiting a Chief Scientist is part of Ontario’s five-year, $650-million Business Growth Initiative, which is helping to grow the economy and create jobs by promoting an innovation-based economy, helping small companies scale up and modernizing regulations for businesses.
Shoichet studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1987. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst for her doctoral studies and earned her PhD in polymer science and engineering in 1992.
The University of Toronto designated her a University Professor in 2014. She is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada. The University of Toronto also honored her in 2013 as an Inventor of the Year. She is the 2017 winner of the Kalev Pugi Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada. In 2017 she was also awarded the Killam Prize for engineering.
Shoichet was the North American recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2015 for her work on regeneration of nerve tissue, and in developing direct drug delivery methods for the spinal cord and brain using novel materials.
