Director’s Message

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE T he start of a new year is a time to reflect on improving ourselves and reaching our goals. Here at IMS, we are always aiming for excellency, and we are looking for ways to improve. This past year we reflected on what we are doing well, and what we can do to improve over the next five years. This past November, The Potential Group facilitated collaborative and engaging planning sessions among our staff, faculty, and students to develop a new strategic plan.

Together with our Director of International Development at IMS, Dr. Zhong-Ping Feng, who is featured in this issue, we are opening our doors to more international students. The IMS has identified diversity as a strategic priority, and key to success. There is no better example of this than the cultural mosaic that is Canada itself. We are committed to raising the next generation of doctorates, and therefore we have been working toward improving scholarships that are solely dedicated to our PhD candidates.

The theme of this issue, Nephrology, showcases the innovative work of IMS faculty Drs. Richard Gilbert, Norman Rosenblum, Christoph Licht and Lisa Robinson. They are focusing on understanding the pathogenesis of kidney disease from the genes up, and finding novel therapeutic solutions to issues, such as inflammatory injury after kidney transplantation, kidney fibrosis in diabetic populations, and congenital kidney disease in children and adolescents.

This current issue also highlights one of our popular yearly events: the Ori Rotstein lecture. For the first time, the panel discussion featured one of our student leaders, Laura Best, who joined in on the conversation alongside IMS alumnus Dr. David Hackam, Dr. Ori Rotstein, Dr. Shelley Boyd, Dr. Samantha Anthony, and Dr. Sunit Das. This year’s theme centered on our panelists’ diverse journeys into science and provided stimulating conversation!

I am taking this opportunity to remind IMS Magazine readers of the most important event of the year: IMS Scientific Day 2020. This year’s event will be held on Tuesday, May 26th at the Rotman School of Management and coincides with the release of the magazine’s spring issue. I encourage all students to participate in one of the numerous initiatives to present your data and to leverage this opportunity to gain valuable skills in scientific communication! For important information and deadlines, please refer to the website, or download our memo. I look forward to seeing your excellent work on display at this year’s Scientific Day 2020!

New students were warmly welcomed to the IMS at this year’s orientation, fully coordinated and executed by current IMS student leaders. Once again, welcome to our January 2020 recruits– I sincerely hope your first few months have been rewarding and memorable thus far.

Finally, I would like to thank IMS Magazine’s Editors-in-Chief, Beatrice and Natalie, all the editors, journalists, photographers, social media team, and design team for their excellent production this semester. Join us as we enter a fresh start, toward the creation of new knowledge and innovation. I hope you all learn something new and inspiring in this Winter 2020 issue!

Sincerely,

Dr. Mingyao Liu, MD, MSc Director, Institute of Medical Sciencev