Melanie Woodin | |
---|---|
![]() Woodin in 2021 | |
17th President of the University of Toronto | |
Assumed office July 1, 2025 | |
Preceded by | Meric Gertler |
Personal details | |
Born | Montreal,Canada |
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 who is serving as the 17th president of the University of Toronto. [1] [2] [3] She is the university's first female president. [4] Woodin previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts &Science at University of Toronto,a position she began in 2019. [5]
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. [6] 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. [7]
Woodin joined the University of Toronto as assistant professor in the Department of Zoology in 2004. [8] She established the Woodin Lab which she continues to lead. [9]
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). [6] [10]
She serves on the board of directors at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. [11] 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. [12]
She was elected the 17th president of the University of Toronto in 2025 and has held the role since July 1,2025. [3]
In 2014,Woodin was named Neuroscience Alumnus of the Year by the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. [13] In 2022,she received the Alumni of Distinction Award from the Cumming School of Medicine. [14]
She has been a Senior Fellow of the University of Toronto's Massey College since 2019. [15]