This message is being sent to the Department of Biochemistry on behalf of Dr. Trevor Young, Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Vice Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions.   

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that the Agenda Committee of the Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Liliana Attisano as Interim Chair and Graduate Chair, Department of Biochemistry, effective May 1, 2021. She takes over from Professor Justin Nodwell who becomes Temerty Medicine’s Vice Dean, Research & Graduate Education as of May 1.

A U of T faculty member since 1996, Liliana Attisano is a Full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and holds cross appointments in the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Donnelly Centre.  She obtained her BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from U of T, followed by post doctoral research in cell biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City.

Professor Attisano’s research focuses on understanding how intracellular signalling cascades receive and then transmit extracellular signals and thereby modulate complex biological responses. Current areas of particular interest are the TGFbeta, Wnt and Hippo signalling pathways, whose disruption is associated with numerous human cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders.  She was recently awarded a Platform Grant from Brain Canada, and also holds research funding from CIHR, NSERC (CHRP), CCSRI, and Terry Fox Institute Program Project Grant, among others.  She has authored or co-authored more than 70 peer reviewed publications.  Professor Attisano currently supervises five PhD students, serves on 14 graduate student supervisory committee, and teaches two courses in Biochemistry.

Please join me in thanking Professor Nodwell for his excellent leadership of the Department of Biochemistry since 2013, and Professor Attisano for assuming this important role.   Further information concerning the search for the next chair will be forthcoming.

Sincerely,

Trevor Young, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions