This year’s Armour Lecture Series student-invited speaker was Dr. Molly Shoichet. She paid a visit to our campus on February 24 & 25, giving two seminars and taking the time to meet with numerous students, chemistry faculty, and the Dean of Science. It was a pleasure to meet with Dr. Shoichet and discuss the exciting developments in hydrogels as well as her journey to a fulfilling career in academia.
Dr. Shoichet received her SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1992. She then began her academic career at the University of Toronto, where she currently holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering. Her research is focused on drug and cell delivery strategies in the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, retina) and 3D hydrogel culture systems to model cancer.
Dr. Shoichet served as Ontario’s first Chief Scientist in 2018 where she worked to enhance the culture of science. She has co-founded three spin-off companies, is actively engaged in translational research and science outreach, and is a founder of Research2Reality. She has received numerous awards such as the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate for North America (2015) and the Killam Prize in Engineering (2017). She has been inducted into all three of Canada’s National Academies – of Science, Engineering, and Health Sciences – and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to all our volunteers in organizing a great visit and to our sponsors, University of Alberta Department of Chemistry and CCWEST, for their financial support.
