World Experts in Health and Medical Sciences: Janet Rossant

The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen is launching a new seminar series aimed at featuring scientists who have made exceptional contributions to the field of biomedical sciences: World Experts in Health and Medical Sciences. This series is for all at SUND and DASCS Members alike – from students, molecular and cell biologists to medical doctors.

The main objectives of these seminars are to broaden our horizons, and to inspire and spread enthusiasm especially among young people interested in pursuing an academic career.

PDF-version of the upcoming seminar: Janet Rossant

Janet Rossant is the president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and is a leading figure of the community leading scientific and ethical discussion on public issues related to stem cell research.

Janet Rossant is Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She studies the genetic control of normal and abnormal development in the early mouse embryo which led her to the discovery of a novel placental stem cell type, the trophoblast stem cell (Tanaka et al., Science 1998). Rossant also directs the Centre for Modeling Human Disease, which is a major collaborative effort to undertake genome-wide mutagenesis in the mouse (Cox et al., Genome Res. 2010) and she uses stem cells to model lung diseases (Wong et al., Nature Biotech. 2012).

Dr. Rossant has been recognized for her contributions to science with many awards, including the Killam Prize for Health Sciences, the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, the Conklin Medal from the Society for Developmental Biology, and the CIHR Michael Smith Prize in Health Research, Canada’s most prestigious health research award. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Societies of London and Canada, and is a foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Science. She was most recently recognized in June, 2013, with the Ross G. Harrison Medal (lifetime achievement award) from the International Society of Developmental Biologists.