News Release Communique
World-Renowned Synchrotron Scientist to Lead Canadian Light Source Lab
Following an extensive international search, Dr. Bill Thomlinson, a world-renowned expert in synchrotron medical imaging, has been selected to lead Canadian Light Source Inc. (CLSI) at the University of Saskatchewan, effective Nov. 1.
The five-year appointment, a unanimous decision of the CLSI board, was announced jointly today by CLSI board chair Dr. Arthur Carty, who is President of the National Research Council, and Peter MacKinnon, President of the University of Saskatchewan. Thomlinson succeeds Interim Executive-Director Mark de Jong.
"I am delighted that Dr. Thomlinson has accepted the position of Executive-Director of the Canadian Light Source (CLS)," said Carty. "His scientific and managerial leadership skills will be an asset as he works with the Canadian user community to develop the synchrotron to its full potential. His first-hand experience at other synchrotrons will be very important at this critical phase as we move into the start-up and operation of the CLS."
Thomlinson will also be appointed to a tenured position in the U of S Department of Physics.
"We are delighted to have found a synchrotron scientist of Dr. Thomlinson's international scientific stature and administrative skills to launch this tremendous new national facility which will be one of the most advanced synchrotrons in the world," said MacKinnon. "With more than two decades of distinguished synchrotron experience in the U.S. and Europe, Dr. Thomlinson will enable CLSI to become a global leader in science and innovation."
Thomlinson is currently Head of the Medical Research Group at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France where he has led a highly successful medical imaging beamline group for the past three years. He helped start lung and mammography imaging, and in 2000, led the first human angiography (blood vessel imaging) studies at the ESRF.
Thomlinson is widely published with a broad range of interests in synchrotron science, and has made many contributions to the worldwide synchrotron community (see attached backgrounder). He also brings to the job a wealth of experience dealing with a large and diverse user community, exceptional administrative skills, and expertise in safety management.
The U of S-owned CLS will be one of the world's most powerful synchrotrons when it starts operations in January of 2004. Its brilliant light - millions of times brighter than sunlight -- will be used by university, government and industrial researchers for unprecedented studies in material, chemical, and biological sciences.
Thomlinson said he is looking forward to leading the CLS through its challenging start-up years and to working with users, funding partners, the U of S and the Saskatoon community to develop a world-class facility.
"I am excited about joining the outstanding CLS team that has worked for so many years to bring the facility into existence and to its present state of construction," he said.
"The Canadian scientific community has a great need for this state-of-the-art research facility. It will take its place among the great synchrotrons of the world and provide a tool that will help Canada maintain its position as one of the truly innovative technological nations. With academic and industrial users working side by side, creativity in solving problems in material, chemical, and biological sciences is assured."
He stressed that all of this will depend on the Canadian synchrotron community "making the CLS a focus for those research projects for which the facility is designed." He added that the core group of U of S and CLS synchrotron scientists "has to grow large enough to create the local environment to which others from all over Canada will seek to come."
CLS funding partners include the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian government (including Western Economic Diversification, Natural Resources Canada, the National Research Council, NSERC, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research), Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, Ontario Innovation Trust, Alberta Innovation and Science, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, U of S, the City of Saskatoon, SaskPower, and Boehringer Ingelheim, University of Western Ontario, and University of Alberta. GlaxoSmithKline has also provided funding for a U of S chair in an area of synchrotron science.
For more information on the CLS, visit: www.lightsource.ca
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Warden
U of S/CLS Research Communications
Tel: (306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:02