Melanie Woodin | |
|---|---|
| Woodin in 2021 | |
| 17th President of the University of Toronto | |
| Assumed office July 1, 2025 | |
| Chancellor | |
| Preceded by | Meric Gertler |
| Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science,University of Toronto | |
| In office July 1,2019 –July 1,2025 | |
| Preceded by | David Cameron [1] |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Wright (interim) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Education | University of Toronto (BSc,MSc) University of Calgary (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
| Institutions | University of Toronto |
| Thesis | The Role of Trophic Factors in Synapse Formation and Plasticity between Identified Lymnaea Neurons (2001) |
Melanie Woodin is a Canadian neuroscientist and academic administrator who is serving as the 17th president of the University of Toronto. [2] [3] [4] She is the university's first female president. [5] Woodin previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto,a position she began in 2019. [6]
Woodin graduated from the University of Toronto in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Science in zoology in 1997. [7] In 2001,she completed her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Calgary,then completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of California,Berkeley. [8]
Woodin joined the University of Toronto as assistant professor in the Department of Zoology in 2004. [9] She established the Woodin Lab which she continues to lead. [10]
She has served as the Associate Chair,Undergraduate Studies (Cell &Systems Biology 2014–15),Director of the Human Biology Program (2015–17),Associate Dean,Undergraduate Studies and Academic Planning (2018),and the Vice-Dean,Interdivisional Partnerships in the Faculty of Arts &Science (2019). [7] [11]
She serves on the board of directors at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. [12] She is a member of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy leadership and was the President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience,an association dedicated to advancing brain research. [13]
She was elected the 17th president of the University of Toronto in 2025 and has held the role since July 1,2025. [4]
In 2014,Woodin was named Neuroscience Alumnus of the Year by the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. [14] In 2022,she received the Alumni of Distinction Award from the Cumming School of Medicine. [15]
She has been a Senior Fellow of the University of Toronto's Massey College since 2019. [16]