CIHR appoints Dr Roderick McInnes as acting head of CIHR

Dr Roderick McInnes has been appointed acting president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in advance of a much-anticipated report on federal support for fundamental science.  McInnes previously served as the inaugural scientific director of the CIHR’s Institute of Genetics from 2000-2010. Recognized as a champion of collaborative research, his research began at the Hospital for Sick Children at the University of Toronto where he  focused on using mice models to identify the molecular mechanisms that contribute to, or protect against the death photoreceptors in inherited retinal degenerations. He is the director of the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital at McGill Univ, holds the Alva Chair in Human Genetics and is the Canada Research Chair in Neurogenetics, in addition to being a professor of human genetics and a professor of biochemistry at McGill. McInnes replaces Dr Alain Beaudet who announced last year that he was stepping down from the position — which he held since 2008 — at the end of March. He will head CIHR until the search for a permanent replacement – now underway – is concluded in several months’ time.