At Concordia: Honours chemistry

After Concordia: LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, 1996. Ontario Bar, 1998; Registered Trademark Agent, 1998.

Today: Associate with Toronto law firm Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh, Canada’s largest firm practising exclusively in intellectual property and technology law.

Focuses primarily on trademarks, and has experience in patent prosecution and litigation and access to information issues as they relate to the pharmaceutical industry.

Registered trademark agent; member of the Canadian Bar Association; Associate of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada; member of the International Trademark Association.

Concordia memories: “My senior research project under Professor John Capobianco. Although tedious at the time, I do have fond memories of those dreadful 24-hour helium runs and my failed, but valiant, attempts at fully grasping the Judd-Ofelt equation.”

Personal: Lives in Toronto with her husband, Alan Teare, and daughter, Amélie, 18 months.

At Concordia: Theoretical physics, Science College

After Concordia: Commonwealth Scholar, 1985-88. PhD, Philosophy of Science, University College London, 1992. Certified Mentor of the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy, 1996. Certified Fellow of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, 1999.

After holding research fellowships at University College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, became lecturer in philosophy at the University of British Columbia, and moderator of the Canadian Business and Professional Ethics Network at UBC’s Centre for Applied Ethics.

Today: Associate Professor of Philosophy, City College of New York.

Has been a philosophical counsellor and consultant for 12 years. Past president of the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy (ASPCP), and founding president of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association; Fellow of the Institute for Local Government at the University of Arizona; Fellow of the World Economic Forum (Davos).

Publishes regularly in decision theory, ethics, philosophical practice and other scholarly fields. Author of international bestseller, Plato Not Prozac (HarperCollins, 1999), textbook Philosophical Practice (Academic Press, 2001), and The Big Questions (Bloomsbury, 2003).

Concordia memories: ”They are uniformly wonderful. My deepest gratitude goes to Elaine Newman, the founder of the Science College, whose favourite word was ‘elegant’ and to whose vision and mentorship I owe my academic career. For sheer eccentric brilliance, I will always remember Professor Rudi Kovacs and his myriad ways of twisting space, at all hours.”

Personal: Hobbies – classical guitar; has digitized several albums in diverse idioms. Table hockey – three-time Canadian Open champion.

At Concordia: Biology and psychology, Science College

After Concordia: PhD in neurosciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md., 1992.

MD (cum laude), Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 1997.

Today: Director, Memory Disorders Unit, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore; Assistant Professor of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Hospital; clinical instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School; neurology consultant, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital. Member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Medical Association, International Brain Research Organization, Massachusetts Medical Society and Society for Neuroscience.

Research at Johns Hopkins focuses on finding effective ways to prevent memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. Published extensively in international journals such as Nature, Journal of Neuroscience and Lancet. Has received several teaching awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Academy of Neurology in 2001. Also author of The Memory Cure: How to Protect Your Brain Against Memory Loss and Alzheimer’s Disease (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

Concordia memories: ”I’ll never forget the day Dr. Elaine Newman welcomed me to the Science College with a smile. Joining the College turned out to be the best decision I made as an undergraduate.”

Personal: Married Bita Velashjerdi, BEng 99, in 2002.

At Concordia: Biochemistry

After Concordia: PhD in biochemistry, University of Ottawa, 1983.

Post-doctoral Research: Molecular Virology, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, England, 1983-87. Joined the Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, 1987.

Today: Professor of Virology/Parasitology, and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill.

Research: Human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. “We have identified several oncogenes within the genome of HPV, and our focus is now to define how these viral oncogenes are involved in malignant transformation.”

Human Leishmania infection is often fatal, particularly in children in developing countries. “We are now beginning a WHO-supported human clinical trial in Peru for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.”

Concordia memories: ”One of my favourite memories is of spending endless hours in the small round library between classes where a lot of studying, homework and some socializing went on. It was a great learning environment because of the close friendships that developed.”

At Concordia: Biology

After Concordia: MS in physiology, University of Ottawa; PhD in genetics, Harvard Medical School, 1997; post-doctoral fellow at MIT, 1997-2001.

Received Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, 2001, from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, given to only 18 scientists from Canada and U.S.

Today:Assistant Professor, Program in Gene Function and Expression and Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Mass.

“Aging occurs in most living organisms, and yet it is still poorly understood at the molecular level. We use genetic and molecular analysis to understand how genes control lifespan. We believe our studies will be important in understanding the molecular mechanisms of aging and further, may reveal universal components to this process.”

Concordia memories: “Working late on my senior year project on rainbow fish, in the lab of Dr. Sylvia Ruby. I had to harvest the fish and extract the parts I needed. I was alone in the basement, which was dark, a bit scary and creepy. When I finally got home that night, my mom served fish for dinner. I couldn’t eat it!”

Personal: Lives in Wayland, Mass., with her husband, Allan Dines, a photographer, and children David, 7, and Jared 3.