News Release
The Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Eliot A. Phillipson as Chair of the Expert Panel on the State of Science and Technology in Canada. The Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Toronto and former President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Dr. Phillipson brings a wealth of expertise to the Council and to this assessment.
Having received his M.D. with Distinction (1963) and his M.Sc. (1965) from the University of Alberta, Dr. Phillipson was appointed to the University of Toronto in 1971 as a clinician-scientist with a research focus in the regulation of respiration. His basic research formed the basis for understanding several sleep-related breathing disorders, and in 1978 allowed him to develop the first human sleep laboratory in Canada with a focus on breathing disturbances. In addition to his appointments at the University of Toronto and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Dr. Phillipson has served as Co-Chair of the Medical Review Panel of the Gairdner Foundation, and as President of both the Canadian Association of Professors of Medicine, and the Canadian Institute of Academic Medicine (CIAM). In the latter position, he played an important role in creation of the Council of Canadian Academies and the evolution of the CIAM into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
As Chair of the Expert Panel, Dr. Phillipson will work with the Panel to address the question posed to the Council by the Minister of Industry: What is the current state of science and technology in Canada?
The Council completed its first assessment on the state of science and technology in 2006. The report is well known for its identification of four areas or “clusters” of Canadian strength – natural resources, information and communications technologies, health and related life sciences and technologies, and environmental technologies. These four areas of strength were adopted by the Government of Canada in 2007 as part of its science and technology strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage. This new Expert Panel will once again assess the state of science and technology in Canada, providing a much needed, and much anticipated, update.
The Council, under the guidance of its Scientific Advisory Committee, is now beginning to assemble an expert panel to complete this assessment.
For continued updates on the status of the assessment visit the State of Science and Technology in Canada page.