Message from Norman Rosenblum, INMD Scientific Director
June 2022

It was an absolute pleasure to attend a recent INMD Institute Advisory Board (IAB) meeting in-person at Laval University May 25-27.  The meeting started with a Meet & Greet and Poster Session held at the Institut sur la Nutrition et les Aliments Fonctionnels (INAF) Hall where over 25 students and trainees presented posters.  It was terrific to meet with these students and learn about the research that they are undertaking in the INMD mandate areas. It was also great to interact with the INMD research community at Laval and to reconnect with familiar faces, many of whom are research leaders in Canada in the areas of obesity, nutrition and cardiometabolic health.  Among those who welcomed the IAB to Laval was Dr. Jacques Simard, Professor and Vice-Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Medicine, who joined the IAB for dinner.  Dr. Simard talked about the value of interdisciplinary team-based science, and the way that Laval University has supported their faculty members in participating and leading research teams. He also spoke about training and nurturing research leaders of the future, including clinician-scientists, and it was evident that Laval has created an exceptional training environment.

The focus of the IAB meeting was on the implementation of the INMD Strategic Plan 2021-2026 and Strategic Priorities. Given the time required to develop and launch new CIHR strategic funding opportunities and the need to proceed with the implementation of the INMD Strategic Plan, the IAB meeting was timely. The themes of health equity and heterogeneity in metabolic health and disease were discussed at length over the course of the meeting.  You can expect to hear more about these themes as we continue to explore and develop the ideas that were shared at the IAB meeting.

I wish to thank the research community at Laval University for their warm welcome and enthusiasm. I especially wish to thank Dr. Benoit Lamarche for providing the lectureship to the IAB and for his work with Annie Lapointe and Dr. André Tchernof in supporting the organization of our meeting activities. Finally, I wish to thank the IAB members for participating in the meeting and sharing their ideas and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to meet in-person again with colleagues and share ideas.

Wishing you all a safe and healthy summer!

Norman Rosenblum, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS
Scientific Director
Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes

Date modified:

2022-06-27