Dr John Challis is stepping down as VP research and associate provost at the Univ of Toronto after a four-year term, effective June 30. Challis will take an administrative leave before returning to a teaching and research position in the U of T's department of physiology. He came to the U of T in 2003 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research where he was the founding scientific director of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, replacing Dr Heather Monroe-Blum in 2003 after she was appointed president and vice-chancellor of McGill Univ. Challis received his undergraduate education at the Univ of Nottingham and a PhD from the Univ of Cambridge. Post-doctoral work was conducted at the Univ of California and Harvard Medical School. His area of research expertise focuses on hormone mechanisms during pregnancy and fetal developmentā¦.