Louis (Lou) Siminovitch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1920-05-01)May 1, 1920 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | April 6, 2021(2021-04-06) (aged 100) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Awards | Order of Canada Order of Ontario Flavelle Medal (1978) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology, genetics |
| Institutions | Ontario Cancer Institute Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute Samuel Lunenfeld Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital University of Toronto |
| Thesis | The Preparation of disulphur decafluoride (1944) |
| Doctoral advisor | R.L. McIntosh |
| Notable students | Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou |
Louis SiminovitchCC OOnt FRS FRSC (May 1, 1920 – April 6, 2021) was a Canadianmolecular biologist. He was a pioneer inhuman genetics, researcher into the genetic basis ofmuscular dystrophy andcystic fibrosis, and helped establish Ontario programs exploring genetic roots of cancer.
Siminovitch was born inMontreal, Quebec, the son of Goldie and Nathan Siminovitch, who were Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe.[1] He won a scholarship in chemistry toMcGill University, earning a doctorate in 1944. He then studied at thePasteur Institute in Paris. In 1953 he joinedToronto'sConnaught Medical Research Laboratories. Later he joined theUniversity of Toronto and worked there from 1956 to 1985.[2] One of his doctoral students wasJoyce Taylor-Papadimitriou.
He helped establish the Department of Genetics at theHospital for Sick Children as geneticist in chief, where he worked from 1970 to 1985. From 1983 to 1994 he was the founding director of research at theSamuel Lunenfeld Research Institute ofMount Sinai Hospital (Toronto). He was the founder and the first Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics at theUniversity of Toronto, then called Department of Medical Cell Biology.[3]
He was the author or coauthor, at last count, of over 147 scientific papers, reviews, and articles in journals and books.
He married Elinore, a playwright who died in 1995. They had three daughters. The annualElinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre is named in his and his wife's honour.[2]
Siminovitch died in April 2021 in Ontario at the age of 100.[4]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
