SRI scientist appointed department head

Dr. Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, senior scientist and interim director of biological sciences at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI), has been named chair of the department of immunology in the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto. “I cannot think of a more deserving appointee to the post,” said Dr. Michael Julius, vice-president of research at SRI and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. “Dr. Zúñiga-Pflücker is internationally recognized as a leading expert in his field of T cell development, and has made seminal contributions to that field. He sits on numerous editorial boards, has mentored some of the brightest graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to come out of the department, and has served senior administrative roles at the university, as well as here at SRI.”

The five-year term will start July 1, 2012. Zúñiga-Pflücker has been a faculty member in immunology since 1994, and a senior scientist at SRI since 2001. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Immunology, which was recently renewed.

The incumbent chair, Dr. Michael Ratcliffe, is also a senior scientist at SRI. He has led the department of immunology for two terms, since 2001.