The Board of Directors of the NanoMedicines Innovation Network (NMIN), a national Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) funded by the Government of Canada, has appointed Professor Gilbert Walker as Scientific Director & CEO, effective 14 September 2022.
Walker, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been involved in NMIN since its initial planning stage and has been an NMIN Principal Investigator, co-leader of the Network’s Diagnostics research theme, and NMIN’s Associate Scientific Director since the Network’s founding. He has served as Interim Scientific Director & CEO since July 2022.
"I am eager to continue working with all the tremendously talented and capable people in this Network toward achieving the most impactful social and economic outcomes possible in the time remaining to us as a funded NCE," states Dr. Walker. "Solidifying our legacy strategies and launching their implementation will also be a major focus for me. Preserving the major components of NMIN's nationally networked structure is a key objective for all our stakeholders."
"The Network has generated significant new opportunities for research and collaboration, as well as other benefits in the context of the Canadian nanomedicine innovation ecosystem. It is important that the Network be maintained as a national research and innovation asset.”
"Many NMIN projects have created promising outputs that we aim to position for optimal translation into new therapeutics and diagnostic technologies with commercial potential," he adds. "Meanwhile, NMIN's new multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research teams will be facilitated to ensure cross-network fertilization that will position them for a wide array of future funding opportunities. In doing so, we will continue to emphasise inclusivity and the promotion of opportunities for members of equity-deserving groups to access the full potential of all Network members.”