David Naylor

Bernard Langer, a Canadian surgery pioneer, remembered in the Globe and Mail

mattimar — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 19:20:15 +0000

Bernard Langer, a Canadian surgery pioneer, remembered in the Globe and Mail

mattimar Fri, 04/01/2022 - 15:20

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(Photo courtesy of Mr Dodge Baena )

Topic

Our Community

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

David Naylor

Dr. Bernard Langer, known as an icon of Canadian surgery and as an outstanding leader as chair of the University of Toronto’s department of surgery in what is now the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, is being remembered as a visionary physician, scholar and educator.

In an obit published in the Globe and Mail, fellow physician John H. Dirks writes that Langer – who died on Feb. 23 at age 89 – was a pioneer in liver, biliary and pancreatic surgery, performing the first liver transplant in Toronto at University of Health Network in 1986.

Langer, who received his medical degree from U of T in 1956, was appointed R.S. McLaughlin Chair of the department of surgery as well chair of the division of general surgery in 1982. His leadership “made a huge mark on surgery in Toronto and Canada,” writes Dirks. In 1985, Langer started U of T’s Surgeon Scientist Training Program (SSTP) in the department of surgery. The program provides research training for surgical residents who wish to pursue a career in academic surgery.

“This training model was widely emulated in clinical departments across Canada and worldwide,” Dr. David Naylor, a U of T president emeritus, is quoted as saying in the article. “It took vision and courage to see this through, but Bernie Langer had both traits in abundance. A brilliant and gifted leader, the Department of Surgery he helped build is, today, one of the best in the world.”

Student-built dashboard aims to more accurately track global COVID-19 infections

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:15:59 +0000

Student-built dashboard aims to more accurately track global COVID-19 infections

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 09/24/2021 - 16:15

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SeroTracker, co-created by U of T graduate student Tingting Yan, is an online tool that aims to more accurately depict global COVID-19 infections by relying on data from antibody tests (image courtesy of Serotracker)

Alisa Kim

Topic

Our Community

Coronavirus

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

David Naylor

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been tracked closely throughout the pandemic – but they represent only a fraction of the total number of people who have been infected by SARS-CoV-2.

That’s why Tingting Yan, a master’s student at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, decided to create SeroTracker with Rahul Arora, a Rhodes Scholar and PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at the University of Oxford.

The online tool aims to more accurately depicts global COVID-19 infections by tracking serology tests that look for COVID-19 antibodies in a person’s blood, which indicates a prior infection or vaccination.

“Diagnostic testing is like the tip of the iceberg,” says Yan, who is in IHPME’s system leadership and innovation program. “Serosurveys show what is underneath the surface – COVID infections that weren’t severe enough for testing, people with COVID-19 who didn’t have access to testing and asymptomatic infections where people didn’t even know they had an immune response to COVID.”

The dashboard monitors and synthesizes studies from governments and research organizations to track seroprevalence data – the percentage of people in a population who have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The platform visualizes antibody estimates on a map and allows users to compare differences in past exposure between countries, demographic groups and occupations.

The idea for SeroTracker was born out of Yan and Arora’s desire to contribute to Canada’s long-term pandemic response. The pair reached out to U of T Professor and President Emeritus David Naylor, who in turn connected them with Tim Evans, executive director of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. They were advised what was needed was a repository of global antibody testing information that was accessible and searchable to monitor the evolution of the pandemic.

Yan and Arora mobilized a team with diverse backgrounds including data science, engineering, medicine, epidemiology and management consulting.

“SeroTracker is mostly driven by graduate and professional students, and keen and talented undergrad students. We are coast-to-coast very proudly Canadian-founded and Canadian-led,” says Yan, noting the contributions of Niklas Bobrovitz, a U of T medical student whose expertise in epidemiology – he has a PhD in clinical epidemiology from Oxford –has advanced the team’s research.

To date, the tool has reviewed nearly 3,000 serosurveys from 116 countries and territories. The SeroTracker team has published the largest global systematic review of serosurveys to shed light on global patterns of infection and communities that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Yan says it has been gratifying to provide a tool that has been useful to policy-makers and public health officials in making evidence-informed decisions.

“We make this data available to different people for their purposes and that makes it more of a collaborative project,” she says.

The Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization used the platform to develop global models of disease spread. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation looked at SeroTracker data to guide investment in serosurveys in low- and middle-income countries. Publications such as The Economist referenced the website to estimate excess deaths from COVID-19, while the New York Times examined the site’s seroprevalence data to look at the true toll of the pandemic in India.

Yan and her team are now looking beyond COVID-19 to determine how the platform could be used in other scenarios involving different diseases. They recently received a grant from the Canadian Medical Association Joule Innovation Fund to work on machine learning algorithms that can predict whether an abstract will be included in a search to make the process more efficient.

Yan says developing the platform has been a rewarding experience, allowing her to contribute to the global pandemic response.

“[Working on SeroTracker] gave a really cool community and a real purpose to work towards.”

SeroTracker is funded by Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force through the Public Health Agency of Canada, the World Health Organization, Canadian Medical Association Joule Innovation Fund and Robert Koch Institute.

U of T experts tapped to help lead COVID-19 Immunity Task Force

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 04 May 2020 15:05:59 +0000

U of T experts tapped to help lead COVID-19 Immunity Task Force

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 05/04/2020 - 11:05

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The COVID-19 Immunity Task Force will glean its insights from at least one million blood tests to be collected over the next two years (photo by Robin Utrecht/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Coronavirus

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Experts from the University of Toronto will help lead a federal task force charged with obtaining reliable estimates of COVID-19 cases in Canada – and therefore potential immunity levels – and improve understanding of the disease’s impact on different groups and regions.

The task force’s pan-Canadian leadership group includes President Emeritus David Naylor, a professor in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine who is co-chair of the task force, and Vivek Goel, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, and a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. It also includes Allison McGeer, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and in the department of medicine, who is also the director of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 23, the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force will glean its insights from at least one million blood tests to be collected over the next two years. The tests will look for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies, which indicates prior exposure to the coronavirus.

“Many people have limited symptoms or no symptoms – that’s clear from the literature and from Canadian evidence this far – and most of those individuals would never be tested through diagnostic swabs for active COVID-19 disease,” said Naylor, a renowned health-care policy expert and former dean of U of T’s Faculty of Medicine.

“Therefore, we can only figure out if they have been infected by looking back, and that means using serology tests that look for antibodies in the blood indicative of past COVID-19 infection.”

The task force comprises experts from many Canadian post-secondary institutions in addition to U of T, as well as representatives from government and health agencies. They include Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, and Mona Nemer, the chief science adviser to the prime minister.

“The University of Toronto takes very seriously its responsibility to contribute to our understanding of COVID-19 and generate knowledge surrounding this disease’s impact on diverse populations across Canada,” said Goel, a noted public health expert and founding head of Public Health Ontario, which was set up in response to the 2003 SARS outbreak.

“The task force will dedicate itself to providing high-quality data on degree and duration of immunity to inform policies surrounding, among other things, physical-distancing measures and related restrictions on social and economic activity.”

Better data crucial to Canada’s recovery from COVID-19: David Naylor in the Globe and Mail

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:34:33 +0000

Better data crucial to Canada’s recovery from COVID-19: David Naylor in the Globe and Mail

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 03/30/2020 - 13:34

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(photo by Tim Fraser)

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As hospitals brace for a wave of COVID-19 patients, policy-makers need to strike a balance between slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, boosting health-care capacity and mitigating damage to the economy.

That’s according to a Globe and Mail op-ed co-authored by University of Toronto President Emeritus David Naylor, a noted health-care policy expert and former dean of U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, and Tim Evans, director of the McGill School of Population and Global Health at McGill University.

As countries scramble to obtain protective equipment and other clinical supplies, “Canada’s governments must intensify their collaborative procurement efforts to avoid hospitals and ICUs being overrun,” as well as protect health-care workers, the pair write.

Where testing data is concerned, Naylor and Evans call for “detailed de-identified” data to be shared in real time with decision-makers as well as the public.

“What decision-makers need, accordingly, is a balanced scorecard synthesizing the demographics and risk profiles of new and existing cases, and linking those profiles to testing patterns, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths,” say Naylor and Evans, adding that better data means better informed short-term decisions about measures like physical distancing.

Read the op-ed in the Globe and Mail

Two PhD students at U of T who hail from Atlantic provinces receive C. David Naylor University Fellowships

davidlee1 — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Two PhD students at U of T who hail from Atlantic provinces receive C. David Naylor University Fellowships

davidlee1 Mon, 11/04/2019 - 00:00

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Seshu Iyengar of Fredericton is one of two PhD students who are recipients of C. David Naylor University Fellowships, named after U of T's 15th president (all photos by Perry King)

Topic

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Seshu Iyengar and Joel Goodwin have a great deal in common.

They are both in the first years of their PhD programs at the University of Toronto, studying in the sciences, and are active in their communities. They are from the Maritimes – Iyengar is from Fredericton and Goodwin is from New Glasgow, N.S.

The two are this year’s recipients of C. David Naylor University Fellowships, which recognize outstanding candidates from the Atlantic Canadian provinces. Named after David Naylor, U of T’s 15^th president, the fellowship provides $30,000 to students who are entering the first year of a full-time doctoral or doctoral-stream program. The C. David Naylor Fellowships were established through the generosity of the Arthur L. Irving Family Foundation.

C. David Naylor fellows are chosen based on their strong academic standing and their commitment to community service.

“It’s been a humbling privilege to have met a steady stream of amazing students from Atlantic Canada doing graduate work at U of T with supports from fellowships that carry the name of some defunct academic bureaucrat,” said President Emeritus Naylor. “However, they should really be called Irving Foundation fellows, because the program is truly a testament to the vision and generosity of Arthur and Sandra Irving.

“The Irvings are tireless volunteers and life-long philanthropists who have supported many fine institutions and good causes in the Atlantic region,” he added.

“At a recent dinner in Toronto, past recipients of the C. David Naylor Fellowship gathered to welcome and congratulate this year's recipients Seshu and Joel,” said Arthur and Sandra Irving in a statement. “All the fellows had an opportunity to share their research. It was a proud moment as we reflected on the wonderful group of outstanding students from Atlantic Canada who are now a community of David Naylor fellows, so wonderfully named after our good friend who we hold in the highest regard.”

Seshu Iyengar

Iyengar, a graduate of the University of New Brunswick (UNB), excelled in the classroom, earning two bachelor’s degrees – one in philosophy and the other in biology-physics and mathematics.

Outside of the classroom, he established a vegan and vegetarian club and led UNB’s philosophy society. Off-campus, he promoted the value of science education, which included a Ted Talk he gave in 2017.

Iyengar is taking a multidisciplinary approach to his studies at U of T. Working on a PhD in physics, his research will focus on biological physics, examining the physical principles involved in modelling biological processes like aging and cancer. Under the supervision of Andreas Hilfinger, an assistant professor in the department of chemical and physical sciences at U of T Mississauga, Iyengar wants to better develop drugs for cancer treatments, improve patient interventions and enhance genetic therapies.

“We can ask the question: ‘Is it actually physically possible for this [cell] receptor and this drug to interact the way they are supposed to?’” said Iyengar, who will study biological data and their theoretical statistical constraints.

He finds U of T to be a great environment for interdisciplinary thinkers. “The people I’ve been meeting so far are absolutely incredible. You meet so many smart, engaged and quite diverse people.”

He said he is grateful to be named a fellow, and that the U of T is showing a strong connection to Atlantic Canada.

“It’s nice – anytime someone gives you a title, you’re going to perk up a bit.”

Joel Goodwin

Joel Goodwin earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Acadia University, in Wolfville, N.S. The New Glasgow native is beginning his PhD in the forestry program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design with a particular interest in forest insect pest management.

Under the supervision of Sandy Smith, a professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, and Jeremy Allison, an ajdunct assistant professor, Goodwin will be studying trap optimization for bark, woodboring, ambrosia and other related beetle species – all considered invasive species in Canada.

Goodwin will be travelling to northern Ontario and central Louisiana to collect data and better understand the beetles' behaviour and how they interact with their environments.

Inspired by his master’s degree research, which involved the behaviour of invasive leaf-mining weevils in Nova Scotia forests, Goodwin says he wants to better understand insect behaviour to save native trees.

“Canada is big on importing and exporting and, with climate change, we can provide a home to these species who maybe couldn’t live here before and have routes to get here now,” said Goodwin.

Away from class, Goodwin was an active volunteer. He worked with with the Acadia Gameathon fundraiser, which raised money for charity, and was a volunteer co-ordinator with the Wolfville Farmers’ Market, which provides a weekly meal to local farmers. He also volunteered with the Sensory Motor Instructional Leadership Experience, where he was paired with and mentored an adult with an intellectual disability.

Getting involved in the Wolfville community enabled Goodwin to give back to a community that had given him so much.

“I was fortunate enough to have a strong support system behind me when I was beginning my journey at Acadia, but I realized that not everyone had a similar support system,” he said. “My extracurricular involvement was my way of helping those around me feel as though they belonged to a community.”

Goodwin said he is thankful to be named a fellow. “It feels good. The title is nice, for sure, and the monetary prize attached to it definitely helps in Toronto.”

U of T experts and Friesen Prize winner debate gene editing, AI and other disruptive medical technologies

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 15:50:23 +0000

U of T experts and Friesen Prize winner debate gene editing, AI and other disruptive medical technologies

geoff.vendeville Mon, 10/21/2019 - 11:50

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McGill University's Bartha Knoppers, winner of the 2019 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research, delivers a lecture at an event co-sponsored by U of T's Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Artificial Intelligence

Awards

CIFAR

David Naylor

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Medicine

Genomics

Hospital for Sick Children

Joint Centre for Bioethics

Massey College

Women's College Hospital

Gene editing represents a promising new pathway to treat disease-causing mutations and other medical conditions. But as with other powerful emerging technologies, it also raises many ethical and legal concerns.

On Thursday, a panel of distinguished University of Toronto experts and McGill University’s Bartha Knoppers, a world-leading expert on the issues surrounding biomedical research in genetics and genomics, grappled with the ethical dilemmas posed by gene editing and other disruptive new technologies, as well as their potential to revolutionize medicine.

Knoppers said gene editing raises difficult questions involving the rights of children and future generations – questions that erupted into public consciousness last year after a Chinese scientist claimed to have used the powerful gene-editing tool, Crispr, to alter human embryos, which were then implanted in the womb of a woman who gave birth to twin girls.

News of the experiment, intended to protect the girls – whose father is HIV-positive – from the virus, was greeted with outrage and even calls for a moratorium on gene editing research.

But Knoppers said a ban would be the wrong approach since it would “silence debate” and wouldn’t cover “outlier” scientists. Instead, she argued for emphasizing the rights of children and patients, while taking into account existing laws and international obligations.

“Let’s see whether there’s some sort of road map for translation as we move to perhaps one day having germline editing under certain conditions,” she said.

Knoppers, the winner of the 2019 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research, made the remarks during a Friesen Prize lecture at Women’s College Hospital that was co-sponsored by U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, a new interdisciplinary home for scholars studying the impact of technology and innovation on society. Other sponsors included U of T’s Joint Centre for Bioethics, Massey College and Friends of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In the panel discussion that followed experts, including U of T President Emeritus David Naylor, picked up on the theme of disruptive technologies and their impact on medicine, focusing on big data and artificial intelligence.

Panelist Gillian Hadfield, i naugural director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society , as well as a U of T professor of economics and law, remarked on the role of universities in developing governance systems for introducing algorithmic decision-making in all kinds of fields, including health care.

Alan Bernstein, president and CEO of CIFAR (the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research) spoke about AI’s untapped potential to provide new diagnostic tools and treatments.

Meanwhile, Ronald Cohn, the president and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children and chair of U of T’s department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, described how AI and data are already being used in the hospital’s intensive care unit to save young lives. The unit gathers millions of data points every second – “the amount of data we collect per patient, per second, is the same amount that falls down, in terms of water, Niagara Falls,” Cohn said.

The wealth of data has helped the hospital create an algorithm predicting with 75 per cent accuracy whether a child will have a cardiac arrest, according to Cohn. “If you have an algorithm in place that tells you five minutes ahead of time the worst case scenario, you’re at least all assembled around the bed and you can act when it happens … or maybe you can actually prevent it from happening.”

U of T President Emeritus David Naylor, an expert in health-care policy, said the university has the “firepower” to lead multidisciplinary debates “about where science and society are going, and how health care will evolve” (photo by Johnny Guatto)

For his part, Naylor, an expert in health-care policy who served as U of T’s president from 2005 to 2013, said we now “live in a very different era” – one in which ethical, regulatory and governance issues will cause people to rethink how they do science.

Just over a year ago, he teamed up with U of T’s Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer of the sub-field of AI known as deep learning, to write companion pieces for the world’s most widely circulated medical journal about how AI can be harnessed to improve health care.

Naylor, who received the Friesen Prize last year, said Thursday’s panel discussion is exactly the kind of conversation that needs to continue to generate ideas and policy recommendations.

“We have the firepower – between the Joint Centre for Bioethics and the [Schwartz Reisman] Institute and all of the people who are interested in these issues in the city – to begin to have these important multidisciplinary debates about where science and society are going, and how health care will evolve,” he said.

Canada's political parties should share plans to support basic research, U of T experts write in Toronto Star

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:53:14 +0000

Canada's political parties should share plans to support basic research, U of T experts write in Toronto Star

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 07/23/2019 - 12:53

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(photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

Our Community

Chemistry

David Naylor

Faculty of Arts & Science

Fundamental Science Review

Research & Innovation

Two renowned University of Toronto's researchers are urging Canada’s federal political parties to articulate their plans to support Canadian science and innovation ahead of October’s federal election.

In a column for the Toronto Star, University Professor Mark Lautens, from the department of chemistry, and President Emeritus David Naylor, who chaired the federal government's fundamental science review, warn that Canada is falling behind the U.S., Germany and other industrialized nations when it comes to funding basic research.

Policy-makers should also be wary of common misconceptions about research, write Lautens and Naylor. That includes the belief that Canada already spends heavily on research – “Canada sits about 20th in the OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] in research spending as a fraction of GDP,” the authors say – and that focusing on applied, as opposed to fundamental, research yields better innovation outcomes.

Supporting academic research creates “an environment that nurtures the next generation of innovators for both the private sector and civil society,” according to Lautens and Naylor.

“It’s mostly a bet on future talent. And it’s also a long-term investment that can pay big dividends – witness the revolution in artificial intelligence as the highest profile, most recent, Made-in-Canada example.”

Read the column in the Toronto Star

U of T President Emeritus David Naylor calls for continued support of science: University Affairs

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 15:47:15 +0000

U of T President Emeritus David Naylor calls for continued support of science: University Affairs

geoff.vendeville Wed, 06/05/2019 - 11:47

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U of T President Emeritus Dr. David Naylor spoke about the importance of investment in science at a research summit in Ottawa last month (photo by Tim Fraser)

Topic

Our Community

David Naylor

Fundamental Science Review

Naylor Report

Research & Innovation

Speaking two years after he and his colleagues warned about flat-lining investments in research, University of Toronto President Emeritus Dr. David Naylor recently reiterated the need for continued support of science to ensure the country’s future prosperity.

An article this week in University Affairs recounted a keynote speech in which Naylor urged the scientific community to be in “permanent campaign mode.” The summit, held last month in Ottawa, was organized by the Canadian Consortium for Research, an umbrella group representing 50,000 researchers and 650,000 students at universities, government labs and the private sector.

“We have thousands of people dying of measles because ignorance is an epidemic,” said Naylor, who led a blue-ribbon panel that looked at the state of science funding in Canada and made sweeping recommendations for reform.

“Anti-science, anti-research views are a contagious, malign force in the world. Research is about the entire country’s future – public, private sector and civil society. It’s about talent, not technology. It’s about people, not patents. It’s about creating a critical capacity in young people and not about commercialization.”

Watch U of T honorary degree recipient David Naylor deliver his convocation address

Romi Levine — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 16:49:15 +0000

Watch U of T honorary degree recipient David Naylor deliver his convocation address Romi Levine Tue, 06/04/2019 - 12:49

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U of T President Emeritus and honorary degree recipient David Naylor tells grads 'life is a team sport'

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 31 May 2019 14:15:13 +0000

U of T President Emeritus and honorary degree recipient David Naylor tells grads 'life is a team sport'

geoff.vendeville Fri, 05/31/2019 - 10:15

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David Naylor, U of T President Emeritus and former dean of medicine, receives an honorary degree from U of T for “his outstanding service for the public good, excellence in the academy, and service to the University” (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

Research & Innovation

Startups

Undergraduate Education

When he got the call offering him the job of president of the University of Toronto, Dr. David Naylor suddenly felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

“It was one of the more acute attacks of imposter syndrome that I’ve had,” he told the Globe and Mail in 2005 after he was tapped to be the university’s 15th president.

He needn’t have worried. Few can claim to have made as great an impact on the university or – indeed – beyond it. Not only did Naylor take steps to boost U of T’s research, innovation and student experience, he has been a driving force for increased public funding of post-secondary research and improved organization of health care right across Canada.

For “his outstanding service for the public good, excellence in the academy, and service to the University,” Naylor receives a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the Faculty of Medicine’s convocation ceremony on June 3.

Watch David Naylor deliver his remarks:

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Naylor, who earned his medical degree at U of T in 1978. He later went on to study sociology and social history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. It was there that he met his future wife and fellow Rhodes Scholar, Ilse Treurnicht, the former CEO of the MaRS Discovery District who received an honorary degree from U of T last year. Naylor even taught himself to speak Afrikaans, the language spoken in Treurnicht’s native South Africa, according to the Toronto Star.

Naylor eventually returned to U of T to become dean of medicine, a post he held until 2005. It was during his tenure as dean that he rose to national prominence. He was asked to lead an inquiry into Canada's response to the SARS crisis involving all levels of government. The committee's report recommended an overhaul of Canada's public health system and spurred the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada. His many accolades include being named an Officer of the Order of Canada and an induction into the Medical Hall of Fame.

(photo by Tim Fraser)

As U of T’s president, Naylor sought to leverage the university's strength in research to enhance the student experience. The university introduced the One series of small-class learning opportunities, a co-curricular record and the President's Teaching Award for outstanding faculty. The Towards 2030 strategic planning exercise that took place under his watch laid out a long-term vision for a regional “University of Toronto system” characterized by three campuses with strong individual identities.

Naylor’s focus extended well beyond U of T. He lent his expertise to a panel looking into the ways the federal government could foster innovation in health care, improve accessibility and reduce costs. More recently, he led a blue-ribbon group of experts reviewing how basic science is funded in Canada. The panel’s final report led to significant federal investments in fundamental research.

“More needs to be done to improve administration and governance of federal supports for research, and more investment is definitely needed,” Naylor said in an interview with U of T News last spring.

“But extramural science and scholarship in Canada are in a much better place than was the case a year ago.”

David Naylor's message to the Class of 2019:

The mass media continues to mythologize individuals and individual accomplishment, and it’s easy to be seduced by social media into worrying more about your “digital brand” than your personal relationships. That’s a dangerous snare and delusion. Life is a team sport. The lion’s share of credit for accomplishments will sometimes still go to individuals. And yes, leadership matters. But solo geniuses are few and far between. Most of the things that will matter to the future of this complex world can only be accomplished through major collaborative efforts. In short, you will not only be judged by the company you keep. Your prospects for success, your resilience in the face of setbacks, your career trajectory, your happiness and your life’s legacy also depend on who you choose as travelling companions in the decades ahead – and how well you work with those companions you did not choose or would not have chosen.

David Naylor

Bernard Langer, a Canadian surgery pioneer, remembered in the Globe and Mail

Read more in the Globe and Mail

Student-built dashboard aims to more accurately track global COVID-19 infections

U of T experts tapped to help lead COVID-19 Immunity Task Force

Read more about the Immunity Task Force in the Globe and Mail

Better data crucial to Canada’s recovery from COVID-19: David Naylor in the Globe and Mail

Read the op-ed in the Globe and Mail

Two PhD students at U of T who hail from Atlantic provinces receive C. David Naylor University Fellowships

Seshu Iyengar

Joel Goodwin

U of T experts and Friesen Prize winner debate gene editing, AI and other disruptive medical technologies

Canada's political parties should share plans to support basic research, U of T experts write in Toronto Star

Read the column in the Toronto Star

U of T President Emeritus David Naylor calls for continued support of science: University Affairs

Read more about David Naylor’s remarks in University Affairs

Watch U of T honorary degree recipient David Naylor deliver his convocation address

Read more about U of T President Emeritus David Naylor

Read more about Convocation 2019

U of T President Emeritus and honorary degree recipient David Naylor tells grads 'life is a team sport'

Watch David Naylor deliver his remarks:

David Naylor's message to the Class of 2019: