Distinguished UK researcher joins Genome Canada

Genome Canada has secured the services of a distinguished British researcher as its new chief scientific officer (CSO). Dr Michael Morgan comes to the agency from the UK where he has held a number of high-profile positions, including director of research partnerships and ventures with the Wellcome Trust, chief executive of the Wellcome trust Genome Campus in Cambridge and a major role in the international coordination of the Human Genome Project. He is also chairman of the Structural Genomics Consortium, a major international collaborative project between the UK and Canada.

As CSO, Morgan will be responsible for supervising and coordinating future national and international projects. Morgan heard about the position through Genome Canada president and CEO, Dr Martin Godbout, and was successful in a nomination and review process led by Genome Canada's board of directors.

STRONG INTERNATIONAL TIES

Morgan retired from the Wellcome Trust in 2002 after a 20-year career. Since that time he has served at the organization as a consultant for special projects. He has also worked with Genome Canada as chairman of the scientific review process for its third major competition and chairman of the sub-panel scientific review for the Applied Genomics and Proteomics Research in Human Health competition (both 2005).

"I've known Genome Canada for a significant period of time ... It's a money raising and money disbursing organization and it's been very successful at both," says Morgan. "I want to get to know the community. I'm interested in ground-up proposals to enable us to develop a strategic plan that we can take forward and have a reasonable chance at getting funds for future competitions."

The CSO position is effective June 1 and Morgan has already been busy meeting with scientists, including a visit to Genome Alberta earlier this week.

Morgan fills a position that has been vacant since the departure of Dr Alex MacKenzie last year (R$, December 9/05). MacKenzie returned to his lab as director of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute after serving as CSO for about one year.

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