Vancouver, BC – Dr. Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. “We are honoured that two esteemed leaders in BC’s life sciences have agreed to join us,” says Dr. Winter. The new directors are:

• Janet Halliwell, DSc, DLaws, Principal, J.E. Halliwell Associates Inc. 

Janet Halliwell is the Principal of J.E. Halliwell Associates Inc, a company established to offer value-added services in policy and management consultancy relating to post-secondary education and science and technology, particularly publicly-funded R&D. In April 2007 Janet retired from many years of public service – serving in her final years  as Executive Vice-President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Janet currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Fields Institute for Mathematics and the Advisory Council of the Cluster on Population Change and Lifecourse. She is Chair of CASRAI (Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration) and the International Oversight Committee for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging on behalf of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). Janet was also Chair of the Nova Scotia Council on Higher Education, Chair of the Science Council of Canada and an officer of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Janet holds degrees from Queen's University in Kingston and the University of British Columbia.  She has received honorary doctorates from seven Canadian universities and is a recipient of the Walter Hitschfeld Prize for university research administration.

• Victor Ling, OC, OBC, PhD, President and Scientific Director, Terry Fox Research Institute

Victor Ling is President and Scientific Director of the Canada-wide Terry Fox Research Institute. He is a distinguished scientist at the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is also Director of the Interdisciplinary Oncology graduate training program, a partnership between BCCA and UBC.

Previously he was Vice-President of Research at the BC Cancer Agency and Assistant Dean at UBC.
He has served on a number of boards including: Governing Council of CIHR, Board of NCI Canada, Medical Advisory Committee of the Gairdner Foundation, Board of Scientific Counselors at NCI/NIH, and Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

Dr. Ling is best known for his discovery of P-glycoprotein (MDR), a major mechanism of resistance to anticancer drugs. He has been honoured by the General Motors Kettering Prize, the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, a Michael Smith Foundation Distinguished Scholar Award and many others. He has received honorary degrees from four Canadian universities, the Order of British Columbia, the Order of Canada and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

More info at: www.genomebc.ca/profile/people/board-of-directors

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About Genome British Columbia:
Genome British Columbia is a catalyst for the life sciences cluster on Canada’s West Coast, and manages a cumulative portfolio of over $450M in technology platforms and research projects. Working with governments, academia and industry across sectors such as forestry, fisheries, agriculture, environment, bioenergy, mining and human health, the goal of the organization is to generate social and economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada.

Contact:
Sally Greenwood  
Director, Communications & Education
Tel: (604) 637-4373
Email:  sgreenwood@genomebc.ca