Recent Appointments

Executive Assistant to the Dean

Marcella Fiordimondo will join the Office of the Dean, Temerty Medicine, as the Executive Assistant to the Dean starting February 1, 2024.

With close to two decades of experience at Temerty Medicine, Marcella brings a wealth of administrative expertise and operational proficiency to our team.  She has held key roles supporting several decanal portfolios including PGME, Post MD Education, Inclusion & Diversity, and most recently, the Vice Dean, Strategy & Operations.

 

Interim Chair and Graduate Chair, Department of Physical Therapy

Professor Kara Patterson has been appointed Interim Chair and Graduate Chair, Department of Physical Therapy, from January 1 to June 30, 2024, or until a new chair is appointed. She takes over from Professor Susan Jaglal, who concluded her term as Chair on December 31, 2023.

Professor Patterson received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Toronto in 2010, having earned her master’s degree in 2006. She joined U of T in 2013 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. She is also a Senior Scientist at KITE – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at UHN.

 

Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Professor Kellie Murphy has been appointed Chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2024.

Murphy is a Professor and Vice Chair of Research & Innovation in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Temerty Medicine and is cross-appointed to the Institute of Health Policy Management & Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is Head of Clinical Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Mount Sinai Hospital and a Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.

Dr. Murphy obtained an MD at the University of Wisconsin - Madison before completing her residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed a fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and an MSc in epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health of Columbia University. She completed additional maternal-fetal medicine residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Murphy is internationally recognized for her life-saving antenatal corticosteroid therapy research.

 

Director, Integrated Physician Scientist Training Program

Professor Nicola Jones has been re-appointed Director, Integrated Physician Scientist Training Program for a second five-year term.

Jones was first appointed to the role in 2018, with responsibility for recruiting, training, retaining, and sustaining the next generation of physician scientists across the continuum of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. The Director of IPSTP leads the MD/PhD program and the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada Clinician Investigator Program and provides academic oversight for the Comprehensive Research Experience for Medical Students (CREMS) program and the Graduate Diploma program. 

She is a Professor of Paediatrics and Physiology at the University of Toronto, Senior Scientist in the Cell Biology Program and staff physician in the Division of GI/Hepatology and Nutrition at SickKids. Jones is also the Director of Education for the McLaughlin Centre whose goal is to advance genomic medicine through research and education, and is the inaugural Founder and Director, of the CIHR-funded Training the Next Generation of Researchers in GI and Liver (TRIANGLE). 

 

Chair, Decanal Promotions Committee

Professor Upton Allen has been appointed Chair of the Decanal Promotions Committee effective September 1, 2023. Allen is a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), where he is also a Senior Associate Scientist in the Research Institute. In addition to being a general infectious diseases specialist, he is actively involved in clinical and research activities relating to immunocompromised patients, notably those who have undergone organ and stem cell transplantation. He leads research studies addressing different aspects of COVID-19 including vaccine responses and the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among African Canadians.

 

Vice-President and Provost

The Governing Council has approved the appointment of Trevor Young as Vice-President and Provost for a five-year term, effective January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2028. Professor Young — an internationally recognized scholar on bipolar disorder and the molecular basis of mood disorders — is currently the Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions at the University of Toronto.

 

Interim Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Professor Patricia Houston has been appointed Interim Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine from September 1 to December 31, 2023, while Professor Trevor Young is on administrative leave prior to taking up the role of Vice-President & Provost as of January 1, 2024. Houston is currently the Vice Dean, Medical Education and a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine. She has served in a number of leadership roles both in the University and at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto).

 

University Professor 

University Professor Daniel Drucker is one of three new University Professors  appointed for 2023. The title is the University’s highest and most distinguished academic rank. The University recognizes unusual scholarly achievement and pre-eminence in a particular field of knowledge through this designation. The number of such appointments does not generally exceed two per cent of the tenured faculty. Its very exclusivity stands to underline the highly prestigious nature of the University Professor designation.

 

Chair, Department of Medical Imaging

Professor Michael N. Patlas has been appointed Chair of the Department of Medical Imaging for a five -year term beginning July 1, 2023. He succeeds Professor Alan Moody who completes his second term as Chair on June 30, 2023. 

Patlas joins the University of Toronto from McMaster University, where he currently serves as Professor and inaugural Director of the Division of Emergency / Trauma Radiology in the Department of Radiology. He is also a radiologist for the Ontario Breast Screening Program and a staff radiologist at Hamilton General Hospital. An emergency and abdominal radiologist, Patlas is internationally recognized for his research.

 

Chair, Department of Medical Biophysics

Professor Laurie Ailles has been appointed Chair of the Department of Medical Biophysics for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2023. She succeeds Professor Thomas Kislinger who completes his term as Chair on June 30, 2023. 

Ailles is an Associate Professor and Chair of Admissions in the Department of Medical Biophysics.  She is a Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), UHN where she chairs the Princess Margaret Cancer Biobank steering committee and is a member of the PMCC Senior Advisory Group. Her cross-disciplinary cancer research program centres around patient-derived tissues and models, which have led to the establishment of resources that are now shared with laboratories around the world.  

 

Chair, Dept. of Immunology

Professor Jen Gommerman has been appointed Chair of the Department of Immunology for a 5-year term beginning October 1, 2023. She succeeds Professor JC Zúñiga-Pflücker who completes his second term as Chair on September 30, 2023.

Gommerman received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto in 1998 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 2000. She worked as a staff scientist in industry at Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before joining the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor in 2003. She was promoted to Professor in 2015, and has previously served as the department’s Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, and Acting Chair.

Professor Gommerman, who currently holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Tissue-Specific Immunity, has (co)authored more than 110 journal articles and has received grants from CFI, CIHR and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, among others. Her research is in the field of Neuroimmunology - how the nervous and immune systems interact in both health and disease.

 

Acting Chair, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences

Professor Richard Bazinet has been appointed Acting Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, while Professor Deborah O’Connor is on administrative leave.

Bazinet received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto in 2003 and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (Brain Physiology and Metabolism Section).  He joined the Department of Nutritional Sciences as Assistant Professor in 2006, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and Professor in 2020. He currently serves as the Department’s Associate Chair, Research and Innovation, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism.

 

Director, SAMIH Expansion

Dr. Molly Zirkle has been appointed as the Director, SAMIH Medical Education Expansion as of June 1, 2023

The Director, SAMIH Medical Education Expansion will work collaboratively with internal U of T partners and with hub hospital leadership in developing and implementing plans for all academic and administrative matters regarding the medical educational programs (MD/PGME) associated with SAMIH.

Dr. Zirkle graduated cum laude from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her residency at the Harvard Combined Otolaryngology Training Program.  She is a staff surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto.  Dr. Zirkle holds a Master’s in Education from OISE and served as Director of the FitzGerald Academy from 2010-2021.  Currently, she is the Acting Director of Career Advising Services for the MD program.  Dr. Zirkle has an appreciation of the shaping influences of medical education on future doctors and strives to create a constructive and welcoming space for all learners, patients, and colleagues.

 

Chair, Dept. of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences

Professor Peter Kertes has been appointed Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2023.

Kertes is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences and an Associate member in the Institute of Medical Science at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. He is an affiliate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and served as Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at the John and Liz Tory Eye Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre from 2010 to 2021. He also holds appointments at The Hospital for Sick Children and Kensington Health. Kertes obtained his MD at McGill University before completing residency at the University of Ottawa and a 2-year vitreo-retinal surgical fellowship at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. He also holds an AB in molecular biology from Princeton University.

 

Chair, Dept. of Pharmacology & Toxicology

Professor Ali Salahpour has been appointed Chair and Graduate Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, for a five-year term, effective May 1, 2023.

Salahpour is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and has served as Interim Chair since July 1, 2022. He previously served as both Associate Chair and Acting Chair. He completed his BSc and PhD in Biochemistry at University of Montreal, and a post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University.

 

Medical Education Black Health Theme Lead,

Professor Mireille Norris has a been appointed Medical Education Black Health Theme Lead effective March 1

Norris is an Internist and Geriatrician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the Education Director for the Sunnybrook Hospitalist Training program which she created and implemented at Sunnybrook in 2005. She was appointed Faculty Lead for Black and Indigenous medical learners by the department of medicine and is also the site lead for postgraduate geriatric medicine at Sunnybrook.

Associate Dean, Learner Affairs

Professor Tony Pignatiello has been reappointed Associate Dean, Learner Affairs for a five-year term effective February 1, 2023.

Pignatiello was appointed as Associate Dean, Health Professions Student Affairs in in 2018. In 2021, in his expanded role as Associate Dean, Learner Affairs, Pignatiello assumed responsibility for oversight of an integrated Office of Learner Affairs (OLA). Pignatiello is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. For the last 20 years, Pignatiello has also been the Medical Director of the Provincial Pediatric Tele-Mental Health Services with the Ministry of Health, administered out of the Hospital for Sick Children where he is on staff. 

 

Executive Director, Advancement, Temerty Medicine and AVP, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions

Darina Landa, Executive Director, Advancement at Temerty Medicine, has been named the inaugural Assistant Vice President, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions for the University.

As Executive Director, Advancement for Temerty Medicine and AVP, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions, Landa will continue to lead Temerty Medicine’s ambitious advancement programs, while taking on increasing responsibility for management of the University’s relations with TAHSN partner foundations, providing leadership and professional advice to senior advancement and other University leaders with respect to hospital foundation relationships and engagement strategies.

 

Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology

Professor Laura Dawson has been appointed Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, effective January 1, 2023.

Dawson is a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Institute of Medical Science.  She is a radiation oncologist and upper gastrointestinal cancer multi-disciplinary site lead at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN. She is a member of the palliative radiation oncology program. She previously served as a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  Dawson obtained her MD at the University of Toronto before completing a fellowship in conformal radiation at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and previously served as the society’s President.