Biography:

Dr. Ronald E. Pearlman received a B.Sc. in Honors Chemistry from McGill University and an AM and Ph.D. from Harvard University from the Committee on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, working with Nobel Prize winner Konrad Bloch. Following two years of postdoctoral training at the Biological Institute, Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen Denmark, he returned to Canada as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at York University. Dr. Pearlman has published over 100 papers in peer reviewed journals and presented his work nationally and internationally. He was an associate of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIfAR) Evolutionary Biology Program, has served on the Gairdner Foundation Medical Review Panel, on the Gairdner Foundation Medical Advisory Board, and is presently the Associate Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation and the co-ordinator of the Gairdner high school outreach programs.  He has served on the Council of the Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIS), presently as Past President and Advisor. He served as Associate Dean (1999-2004) and Dean (2005-2007) of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University.  He formally retired in 2008 becoming University Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar and maintains an active research program using genomic and proteomic techniques in addressing questions of gene organization and expression. With his expertise in ‘omic’ technologies, he has served on the Scientific Advisory Board and Steering Committee for the Tetrahymena Genome Project.