Three members of the McMaster community were named today to a new 18-member Ontario Science and Innovation Council. The creation of the new body was announced in Toronto by Jim Wilson, minister of energy, science and technology.

Doug Barber, Chair of the University's Board of Governors, Russell Joffe, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Ron Yamada, a board member of the Networks of Centres of Excellence at McMaster, will sit on the council.

Barber will serve as vice-chair of the council. Suzanne Fortier, vice-principal, academic at Queen's University, will chair the council.

The council will offer advice to the government on strategic planning and policy initiatives. The ministry awards about $240 million annually in research grants.

A fourth member of the McMaster community, Stephanie Atkinson, a professor of pediatrics, has also taken up a post on a government board. Atkinson has been named a member of the new Canadian Institutes of Health Research governing council. CIHR was officially launched yesterday. It replaces the Medical Research Council of Canada.

(With files from the Hamilton Spectator, June 8)

To view the ministry release, use the link below.